Being shy can have its advantages as well, according to Thomas Benton in his article " Shyness and Academe ", published in May 2004.

Rather, according to Bernardo J. Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute, introverts choose to avoid social situations because they derive no reward from them, or may find surplus sensory input overwhelming.

Shyness differs from social anxiety, which is a broader, often depression-related psychological condition including the experience of fear, apprehension or worrying about being evaluated by others in social situations to the extent of inducing panic.

* Listings of support groups for people with social phobia or social anxiety problems, including Love Shyness.

It includes the original 10 clinical scales ( Hs, D, Hy, Pd, Mf, Pa, Pt, Sc, Ma, Si ), six validity scales (?, L, F, F1, F2, K, VRIN, TRIN ), 31 Harris Lingoes subscales, 15 content component scales, the Personality Psychopathology Five ( PSY-5 ) scales ( AGGR, PSYC, DISC, NEGE, INTR ), three social introversion subscales ( Shyness / Self-Consciousness, Social Avoidance, Alienation ), and six supplementary scales ( A, R, MAC-R, ACK, PRO, IMM ).

Shyness can originate after a person has experienced a physical anxiety reaction ; at other times, shyness seems to develop first and then later causes physical symptoms of anxiety.

Negative Traits: Shyness, timidity, fear, self-consciousness, drown in detail, depression.

Shyness may come from genetic traits, the environment in which a person is raised and personal experiences.

Shyness may merely be a personality trait or can occur at certain stages of development in children.

Shyness has also a strong cultural dimension.

Shyness is most likely to occur during unfamiliar situations, though in severe cases it may hinder an individual in his or her most familiar situations and relationships as well.

Shyness may fade with time ; e. g., a child who is shy towards strangers may eventually lose this trait when older and become more socially adept.

Shyness usually involves a combination of both symptoms, and may be quite devastating for the sufferer, in many cases leading them to feel that they are boring, or exhibit bizarre behavior in an attempt to create interest, alienating them further.

Shyness is considered to be a neutral personality trait by people who are not shy, but a very negative trait by those who are shy themselves.

In his book Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness ( 2008 ), Christopher Lane raises some important questions.

Sociologist Susie Scott, in her book Shyness and Society ( 2007 ), is one expert who has sought to challenge the pathological interpretation and treatment of shyness.

* Shyness & Love: Causes, Consequences, and Treatment –- online text of Brian G. Gilmartin's 1987 book, as well as information regarding " love-shy " support and advocacy groups.

Shyness, too, is a branch of faith.

Shyness, fearfulness, over submissiveness, aloofness, lack of biddability, or aggression ( especially toward humans ) are all traits that can occur, but are less likely to exhibit.

Shyness is very atypical, as is aggressiveness.

* Gough, H., & Thorne, A., " Positive, negative, and balanced shyness: Self-definitions and the reactions of others " in Shyness: Perspectives on Research and Treatment ISBN 0-306-42033-3.

* Shyness of contact – they have a marginal degree of contact with other cultures and people.

These values give direction to the life of the middle-class man or woman, dictating the methods of child rearing, determining the pattern of community participation, setting the style for the psychiatric treatment of middle-class illness, and informing the congregational life of the major denominations.

Some health insurance policies also define a medical condition as any illness, injury, or disease except for psychiatric illnesses.

Emil Kraepelin ( 1856 – 1926 ) introduced new medical categories of mental illness, which eventually came into psychiatric usage despite their basis in behavior rather than pathology or etiology.

In criminal trials, the insanity defense is where the defendant claims they are not responsible for their actions due to mental health problems ( psychiatric illness or mental handicap ).

The ICD also has a category for enduring personality change after a catastrophic experience or psychiatric illness.

From a diagnostic standpoint, organic disorders were those held to be caused by physical illness affecting the brain ( that is, psychiatric disorders secondary to other conditions ), while functional disorders were considered to be disorders of the functioning of the mind in the absence of physical disorders ( that is, primary psychological or psychiatric disorders ).

During the 1960s and 1970s, psychosis was of particular interest to counterculture critics of mainstream psychiatric practice, who argued that it may simply be another way of constructing reality and is not necessarily a sign of illness.

Most cases of progressive cognitive disturbance in this age group are caused by psychiatric illness, alcohol or other drugs, or metabolic disturbance.

Discussions of " outpatient commitment " began in the psychiatry community in the 1980s following deinstitutionalization, a trend that led to the widespread closure of public psychiatric hospitals and resulted in the discharge of large numbers of people with mental illness to the community.

Juvenile wards are sections of psychiatric hospitals or psychiatric wards set aside for children and / or adolescents with mental illness.

Psychiatrists may advocate psychiatric drugs, psychotherapy or more controversial interventions such as electroshock or psychosurgery to treat mental illness.

* Gender Identity Disorder & Transsexualism – Synopsis of Etiology in Adults provides an alternative to the current classifications of psychiatric disorder and mental illness.

Dr. Kellner stated " Rather than cause brain damage, there is evidence that ECT may reverse some of the damaging effects of serious psychiatric illness.

These psychiatric innovations signaled a break with a culture relegating psychiatric patients to asylums, which had prevailed because most serious forms of mental illness were treated only unsatisfactorily by extreme measure, or as unamenable to treatment.

Ireland caused three women to suffer psychiatric illness.

Visual hallucinations are associated with organic disorders of the brain and with drug and alcohol related illness, and not typically considered the result of a psychiatric disorder.

The field of psychosomatic medicine fell into disrepute clinically due to this incorrect use of this term, which was largely due to the influence of psychoanalytic theory on psychiatric physicians and the inaccurate application by non-specialists in the first part of the 20th century who considered this form of illness to be akin to malingering, thereby further harming the sufferer.

Münchausen syndrome is a psychiatric factitious disorder wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention or sympathy to themselves.

Obesity is most commonly caused by a combination of excessive food energy intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, although a few cases are caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications or psychiatric illness.

Symptoms of late-onset Tay – Sachs-which typically begin to be seen in adolescence or early adulthood – include speech and swallowing difficulties, unsteadiness of gait, spasticity, cognitive decline, and psychiatric illness, particularly a schizophrenia-like psychosis.

" Diagnoses of " mental illness " or " mental disorder " ( the latter expression called by Szasz a " weasel term " for mental illness ) are passed off as " scientific categories " but they remain merely judgments ( judgments of disdain ) to support certain uses of power by psychiatric authorities.