Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
The reasons people develop SAD are not entirely clear, but may involve both genetic and environmental influences. In one study of over 1200 adolescents, those subjects whose parents had social phobia were almost 5 times more likely to have SAD, or social phobia, themselves than adolescents whose parents did not have SAD.[1] Adolescents who parents had other anxiety disorders, depression, or alcohol use disorders were 3-3.5 times more likely to have SAD than adolescents whose parents did not.[1] The same study suggested that overprotective parenting or parental rejection could also contribute to SAD in adolescents.[1] *
Two studies suggest genetic influences are associated with a greater chance of exhibiting abnormal anxiety in disorders like SAD.[2][3] A study of identical and non-identical twins suggested that genetic influences contribute to a person's general degree of anxiety as a personality trait.[2] The other study of twins and siblings estimated that as much as 50% of the likelihood of developing SAD could be attributed to genetic factors.[3]
Brain imaging studies suggest that people with SAD have unusual activity in part of their brain that processes emotional responses, especially negative ones.[4][5] In fact, this activity may correlate with the severity of patients' SAD symptoms.[4]
SAD may be associated with abnormalities in the way certain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, function in the brain.[6][7] For example, a recent study found that patients with SAD have as much as 36.4% less binding potential for serotonin in certain areas of the brain compared to people without SAD.[8]
*Not all products approved for SAD are indicated for use in children and adolescents.
References:
- ^ Lieb R, et al. Parental psychopathology: parenting styles, and the risk of social phobia in offspring. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2000;57:859-866.
- ^ Stein MB, et al. Heritability of social anxiety-related concerns and personality characteristics: a twin study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders. 2002;190:219-24.
- ^ Middeldorp CM, et al. Familial clustering of major depression and anxiety disorders in Australian and Dutch twins and siblings. Twin Research and Human Genetics. 2005;8:609-15.
- ^ Phan KL, et al. Association between amygdala hyperactivity to harsh faces and severity of social anxiety in generalized social phobia. Biological Psychiatry. 2006;59:424-9.
- ^ Straube T, et al. Effect of task conditions on brain responses to threatening faces in social phobics: an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Biological Psychiatry. 2004;56:921-30.
- ^ Sareen J, et al. Striatal function in generalized social phobia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Biological Psychiatry. 2007;61:396-404.
- ^ Lochner C, et al. Genetics and personality traits in patients with social anxiety disorder: a case-control study in South Africa. European Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007;17:321-27.
- ^ Lanzenberger RR, et al. Reduced serotonin-1A receptor binding in social anxiety disorder. Biological Psychiatry. 2007;61:1081-9.
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