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Occupational Hazard: Social Anxiety More Likely than Depression to Keep People Unemployed

Social Anxiety More Likely than Depression to Keep People Unemployed


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Job interviews are stressful for most, but the process can be unbearable for people with social anxiety. As a result, social anxiety sufferers often wind up unemployed or in jobs below their training level. Ethan Moitra, a clinical psychologist at Brown University, decided to quantify this problem by comparing unemployment rates across similar disorders. His results were surprising: individuals with social anxiety were more than twice as likely to be unemployed as those with depression and generalized anxiety, which had minimal effects on employment. Psychotherapy can help reduce social anxiety, Moitra says, but early detection is key.

Erica Westly is an author and journalist based in Seattle. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Nature Medicine and the New York Times, among other outlets.

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SA Mind Vol 21 Issue 6This article was originally published with the title “Occupational Hazard” in SA Mind Vol. 21 No. 6 (), p. 10
doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind0111-10b