What causes social phobia?

No matter how much research has been done on the subject, we still can´t talk about one cause, but about many factors.What we do know is that it starts during adolescence, probably because during childhood an innate hipersensitivity has beengrowing finally reaching the level of a social phobia.

Theories concerning social phobia can be grouped in three main cathegories:

Hereditary causes:

Feelings of anxiety and fear are present in the human being so as to allow him to recognize and react against the dangers in life, and are of great significance when building a position in a group.The problem comes when these fears are unreasonable and excessive and instead of helping an individual they incapacitate him.Let´s say that the social phobic is terribly exasperated by the idea of his position in the pack, and develops a disproportionate fear of being excluded, isolating himself instead.
It seems that in social phobic´s genetic code instead of finding a normal and healthy tendency towards social anxiety, we find social terror.

Environmental causes:

Environmental causes, specially during childhood, can be very important in the developement of social phobias.At this stage of life, parents have an essential role, an may even suffer from social phobia themselves.
For example, parents who are too protective, parents who worry too much about their children or are shy themselves and try to avoid certain social situations could transmit to their children certain feelings and convictions that could make the children social phobics.

Neurological causes:

Recent research has shown that social phobia can also be the result of chemical unbalance in the brain.This imbalance is due to the defficient distribution of a substance called “serotonin”through the neurons or the brain cells.
Normally we all have fear reflex actions in certain situations, but a defficient distribution would make the social phobic interpret some stimulus as frightening, while a normal person wouldn´t do so.