Case Study 5:
A 28-year-old woman is a rising junior executive in her investment company. Her increasing duties require her to make periodic formal presentations to the senior management of the company. However, she becomes intensely anxious at the thought of speaking in public. When she is forced to give a presentation she begins to feel anxious days in advance of the talk and the anxiety increases as the time for the talk approaches. She is concerned that her anxiety will become noticeable during the talk or that she will do something to embarrass herself.
Diagnosis:
The case study presented has social phobia. The diagnostic criteria for social phobia, a marked and persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others. The individual fears that he or she will act in a way (or show anxiety symptoms) that will be humiliating or embarrassing, matches the case study.
Therapy:
Appropriate therapy for the patient would be cognitive-behavior therapy which involves helping patients gradually become more comfortable with situations that frighten them. The process involves three stages. The first involves introducing people to the feared situation. The second level is to increase the risk for disapproval in that situation so people build confidence that they can handle rejection or criticism. The third stage involves teaching people techniques to cope with disapproval. Another important aspect of treatment is called cognitive restructuring, which involves helping individuals identify their misjudgments and develop more realistic expectations of the likelihood of danger in social situations. Another option would be supportive therapy.
Summary:
The case study described has social phobia where she becomes extremely self-concious and develops anxiety because she's afraid of embarassing herself. There're different methods of therapy to help, but the best seems to be cognitive-behavior therapy. This is where she mentally traings herself to cope with public speaking situations.
Sources:
Social Phobia, Treatment
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6 comments:
Great blog! :) You mentioned everything that I needed to know and more. You did a great job on describing the case study and it shows that you really understand the case.
Nice job!
Thought everybody worried that they will "mess up and be embarrassed", but i guess some people just worry extensively.
haha, I have the same case as you! Hmm, I think a lot of people might have something close to Social Phobia because we get really nervous/scared when talking in public but it's not like, a big BIG thing you know? I like how you explained everything clearly:)
Great post! Hmmm... Maybe I have social phobia. I don't like to make speeches in public because I'm afraid of embarrassing myself :)
I thought your post was very detailed and explained social phobia very well. The only thing that wasn't explained was what supportive therapy is.
The structure is perfect. Work on a more clear point of view. Everything else was great.
I got a good understanding of what social phobia is. You described the three stages of cognitive behavior therapy well. good job
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