So You're Feeling Anxious?
One of the challenges of social anxiety is that it feels like you’re the only one experiencing it. But that’s not true. In fact, rates of social anxiety are high and growing in the United States. But Dr. Charissa Chamorro, clinical psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, explains that there are things you can do to feel better.
Stephen Calabria: [00:00:00] From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's Director of Podcasting.
On this episode, and with the holidays upon us, we're tackling a subject many of us are all too familiar with: anxiety. To help us understand what anxiety is, what causes it, and how it can be managed, we're joined by Charissa Chamorro, PhD.
Dr. Chamorro is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Among other things, she breaks down how social media may contribute to feelings of anxiety and how the holidays present unique challenges to those coping with its effects. We're honored to welcome Dr. Charissa Chamorro to the show.
Dr. Charissa Chamorro, welcome to Road to Resilience.
Charissa Chamorro: Thank you, Stephen. I'm so excited to be here.
Stephen Calabria: So how do you define anxiety, specifically Social anxiety disorder?
Charissa Chamorro: [00:01:00] Social anxiety disorder is a mental health condition where a person experiences really intense fear or anxiety about social situations, and it may be talking to a coworker, it may be going to a party.
It could be public speaking, but the fear and the anxiety is so strong and so intense that it leads to impairment or great distress in a person's life.
Stephen Calabria: Is there an evolutionary explanation for anxiety and what separates just normal anxiety from determining that it's a disorder?
Charissa Chamorro: We know that anxiety has been around forever and it makes sense that there's an evolutionary component to it. And in fact, in my clinical practice and my work with patients, I really love to highlight how there is a protective factor to anxiety.
And even beyond that, there are real benefits to anxiety. Many years ago, this might manifest as people being anxious [00:02:00] about not being able to eat. So then that would motivate them to go out and find food. Or not wanting to be caught by a predator.