Social Phobia
An Interpersonal Approach

This book presents an alternative approach to social phobia, arguing that it can only be formulated and understood in interpersonal terms.

Ariel Stravynski (Author)

9781316617939, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 September 2016

342 pages, 5 b/w illus. 10 tables
23 x 15.3 x 1.8 cm, 0.5 kg

'This book provides both beneficial and questionable information to the reader. … Stravynski provides a comprehensive analysis of social phobia that has future implications in a multitude of fields.' Scott Sainato, Social Work

Social phobia is a disorder involving an intense fear of being judged by others and it affects the lives of many people. This book takes a critical stance towards the received view of social phobia as a disease of sorts, characterized by abnormal anxiety and caused by an inner mental or physical defective mechanism. Ariel Stravynski adopts an alternative approach to social phobia – as a purposeful interpersonal pattern protective against public humiliation or private rebuff. In this conception, fearfulness is the emotional facet of the socially phobic interpersonal pattern, rather than its driving force. This theoretical framework emphasizing dynamic transactions is articulated in terms of an anthropological psychology and Stravynski argues that social phobia can only be formulated and understood in interpersonal terms. He integrates all available knowledge on social phobia into his proposed framework and exemplifies its application by extending it to the assessment and treatment of the disorder.

Part I. The Interpersonal Approach: 1. Social phobia in interpersonal perspective: a conceptual framework and theoretical statement
Part II. What Is Social Phobia and What Is its Nature?: 2. The received view: social phobia construed as a disorder (disease) of anxiety
3. The interpersonal outlook: social phobia construed as an extended fearful interpersonal pattern
Part III. What Causes Social Phobia?: 4. Reductive dualism I: social phobia as a consequence of bodily (brain) defects
5. Reductive dualism II: social phobia as a consequence of mental (cognitive) defects
6. Causality at the interpersonal level: a multi-causal analysis
Part IV. Applications of the Interpersonal Approach: 7. Assessment and functional analysis
8. Treatment: undoing and overhauling social phobia
Part V. Conclusions: 9. Concluding remarks.

Subject Areas: Clinical psychology [MMJ], Psychiatry [MMH], Psychology [JM]