Social Anxiety: Clinical, Developmental, and Social Perspectives

Description

Clinicians, social and developmental psychologists and behavioral geneticists have all conducted research over the past ten years which is essential to furthering our understanding of and treatment of social anxiety disorders. If researchers and clinicians are to successfully combat this disorder, the literature must fully integrate studies on social anxiety, shyness, and embarrassment with the research on social anxiety disorder subtypes, biological theories and cognitive-behavioral or pharmacological treatment outcome studies. This book weaves together research findings gathered by renowned minds across these various disciplines, and chapters deal with both theory and research. Thorough exploration is given as to how to define what constitutes social anxiety, and assessment of the condition and its relationship to other psychological disorders. The biological basis and treatment approaches are also all explored in full. Coverage includes key issues not disucssed fully by other existing books, including related disorders of adult and childhood, relationship to social competence and assertiveness, relationship to perfectionism, social skills deficit hypothesis, comparison between pharmacological and psychosocial treatments, and potential mediators of change in the treatment of social anxiety disorder. * The most comprehensive source of up-to-date data, with review articles covering a thorough deliniation of social anxiety, theoretical perspectives, and treatment approaches* Consolidates broadly distributed literature into single source, saving researchers and clinicians time in obtaining and translating information and improving the level of further research and care they can provide* Each chapter is written by an expert in the topic area * Provides more fully vetted expert knowledge than any existing work* Integrates findings from various disciplines - clinical, social and developmental psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, - rather than focusing on only one conceptual perspective* Provides the reader with more complete understanding of a complex phenomena, giving researchers and clinicians alike a better set of tool for furthering what we know* Offers coverage of essential topics on which competing books fail to focus, such as: related disorders of adult and childhood; the relationship to social competence, assertiveness and perfectionism; social skills deficit hypothesis; comparison between pharmacological and psychosocial treatments; and potential mediators of change in the treatment of social anxiety disorder population