Many sufferers cope by arranging their lives around their symptoms. They can't visit their children's school, can't do the shopping or go to the dentist. They may even actively avoid promotion at work, even though they are quite capable of doing a more demanding and more financially rewarding job. About half of those with a severe phobia, particularly men, will have difficulty in making long-term relationships. About one to two in a hundred men and two to three in a hundred women will suffer from a social phobia.
Some people are so upset by their social phobia that they develop a depressive illness.
This may need treatment in its own right, quite apart from the social phobia. If somebody constantly avoids places where people meet, they may in the end develop a fear of those places even when there is nobody there. They may then find themselves unable to go out - this is called agoraphobia . Others may use alcohol, drugs or tranquillisers prescribed by doctors to cope with their symptoms and may become addicted to them. However, in spite of their anxiety and panic attacks, people with social phobia don't seem to have more heart attacks than anybody else.