| As difficult as social anxiety disorder is for adults, the | | | | which they walk. |
| effects of this condition are exponentially more | | | | This is why social anxiety withdrawal is even more |
| damaging in the lives of children. When confronted with | | | | common in children than it is in adults. Unfortunately, for |
| sudden fears of humiliation before their peers, many | | | | children suffering from social anxiety, withdrawal from |
| children avoid some of the most integral parts of their | | | | social interaction is the exact opposite of what they |
| social development. The simple act of raising one's | | | | need from a developmental standpoint. Childhood is the |
| hand in class becomes a nightmare to a child suffering | | | | period when most people learn the social and coping |
| from social anxiety, as they fear that their fellow | | | | skills that sustain them for the rest of their lives. A child |
| students and the teacher will somehow judge them in | | | | whose fears cause him or her to withdraw from social |
| a negative manner. For many children suffering from | | | | interaction and turn ever more insular will, if untreated, |
| this anxiety disorder, withdrawal from normal social | | | | tend to grow into an adult with severe anxiety and |
| interaction is commonplace. | | | | withdrawal issues. Proper treatment at an early age is |
| What makes this condition so much worse in children | | | | critical in preventing the disorder from growing worse |
| is their relative lack of coping skills. A child's mind is not | | | | as the child gets older. |
| developed to the point where he or she can | | | | Of all of the ill effects of this disorder, social withdrawal |
| effectively recognize that their thoughts are irrational - | | | | is the worst. It is the one reaction to anxiety that |
| contrasted with the adult sufferers of Social Anxiety | | | | ensures the condition's survival and power over the |
| Disorder who often know that they are thinking in an | | | | individual's life. In the case of children, withdrawal can |
| irrational manner, but simply cannot control their own | | | | mean lost opportunities for all of the things that make |
| thoughts without treatment. In the case of a child, | | | | childhood enjoyable: camping trips, sports participation, |
| irrational thoughts that they are constantly being | | | | and even academic opportunities. Unless treated, social |
| evaluated are often as real to them as the ground on | | | | anxiety can literally rob children of their childhood. |