Question

Case Study: Robin

Robin has really struggled to socialize with people in recent weeks. Though she was very outgoing in her past, Robin has always hated conflict. In fact, every time she encounters conflict, she finds herself shaking and unable to speak. Recently, after a few conflicts with random people at work that evoked these shaking and inability to speak episodes, she found herself shaking and unable to speak when engaged in a conversation with anyone. Robin knows that this is the source of her new fear of socializing, but she can’t seem to stop this reaction every time she is around people in a social setting.

What concept of behaviorism can explain this new development in Robin’s behavior? Use detailed terminology to explain how both of these situations listed above relate to this concept. How could issues with generalization and discrimination exacerbate or help in this situation? With respect to the concept listed above, how can Robin utilize this concept to help lower her fear of socializing if she finds that it is getting out of control? Again, use detailed terminology to describe this process.

Answer 1

It is a usual practice to become nervous or self-conscious in certain situations in daily life while interacting with the society. But social anxiety disorder or social phobia is an irrational and uncontrollable fear of social activities or social interaction. Here the patient will be afraid of self actions being viewed by others in a critical manner and that thought may result in embarrassment and humiliation. There will lead to marked distress and disturbance in daily functioning.

some people with this disorder feel anxiety in most social situations but some others feel anxiety in a specific social situation only. The situations which trigger the symptoms of social anxiety can be different, such as eating in the company of others, public speaking, performing on stage, participating in groups, speaking to strangers, speaking to authoritative figures, making phone calls, etc. In social anxiety disorder, different people come to fear different situations.

The physical symptoms commonly associated with social anxiety include headache, digestional problems, insomnia, trembling, or shaking, inability to speak, sweating, fatigue, rapid breathing, muscle tension or pain, and pondering heart.

Here Robin is suffering from a social anxiety disorder or social phobia. Robin is shaking and becoming unable to speak which are the physical symptoms associated with social anxiety

On one or two occasions it has occurred due to social anxiety disorder during the conflict with others and later generalization is exacerbating the situation. Generalization is the transfer of past learning into new situations and problems. Although the fundamental cause of her shaking and inability to speak while interacting is due to social anxiety disorder, generalization is worsening the situation. The behavioral process is occurring when similar stimuli predict similar consequences due to the learning process.

Here Robin might be struggling with negative thinking due to overgeneralization., that she might feel that once she has shaken and became unable to speak while interacting and that experience will certainly apply in all similar situations in the future. This overgeneralization will bring a pattern of similar uncontrollable mistakes and affect daily activities.

Robin can utilize this concept to lower her fear of socializing by reframing the overgeneralizations. For reframing with the help of a behavioral therapist she can identify her negative thoughts and replacing them with positive empowering thoughts. Reframing is a powerful tool used to overcome overgeneralization. Realizing the negative thoughts that are inhibiting her from interacting with others and what makes her tremble and speechless, she can overwrite it with positive self-talk, reframing with positivity will help to overcome the situation.

Another way behaviorism explains this social anxiety disorder of Robin is Social learning theory. Here earlier Robin was very extroverted and she learned from her experiences through observation to avoid conflict situations. Social exposure is a key factor in learning. Also, the social environment is a key factor in the development of one's own beliefs and capabilities. In CBT the behaviorist act as a companion and role model of the patient .and expresses confidence in the clients capabilities and motivates them to reach the destination. by applying the newly learned behavior . Social learning can contribute to the development of social anxiety disorder and at the same time, social learning can help the client to recover from social anxiety disorder.