Causes and Perspectives
Research into the causes of social anxiety and social phobia is wide-ranging, encompassing multiple perspectives from neuroscience to sociology. Scientists have yet to pinpoint the exact causes. Studies suggest that genetics can play a part in combination with environmental factors. Social phobia is not caused by other mental disorders or by substance abuse. Generally, social anxiety begins at a specific point in an individual's life. This will develop over time as the person struggles to recover. Eventually mild social awkwardness can start to show symptoms of social anxiety or phobia. Probably the most common example is when a person is either abused emotionally or physically by peers or parental figures at a young age. The person will tend to relate the past experiences with what is going on at the moment he or she experiences anxiety. To avoid this they create subconscious fail safes such as thinking through what they say or do excessively or trying to balance out perceived mistakes by being either excessively good or bad.
Read more about this topic: Social Anxiety Disorder