Those with social anxiety imagine the social arena as a minefield rife with potential opportunities for embarrassment, conflict and rejection, and so avoid them at all costs. However, considering that happiness studies consistently find strong relationships to be a marker of wellbeing, people have a lot to lose by holding such beliefs. And, despite social anxiety disorder being the third most common mental disorder after depression and alcohol dependence (and often just as destructive) it doesn’t garner as much discussion.

SFU postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jennifer Trew is working to change this with her research. She completed her PhD in clinical psychology at UBC in 2013, and her doctoral dissertation presented a framework to help understand social interaction anxiety and identify ways to overcome social avoidance. She was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at SFU from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to build on these novel findings.

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