A social phobia common in Japan but almost nonexistent in the
West is
Taijin Kyofusho, an incapacitating fear of offending or harming
others
through one's own awkward social behavior or imagined physical
defect
(Kirmayer, 1991). The focus of cognition for a sufferer of this
phobia
is on the harm to others, not on embarrassment to the self as in
social
phobias in the West. Taijin kyofusho is described by Japanese
psychiatrists as a pathological exaggeration of the modesty and
sensitive regard for others that, at lower levels, is considered
proper
in Japan.
(P. Gray, 1994)
Lock M. East Asian medicine in urban Japan. Berkeley, University
of California Press, 1980: 222-224.
Tanaka-Matsumi J. Taijin kyofusho. Culture, medicine and
psychiatry, 1979, 3: 231-245.
Prince R, Techeng-Laroche F. Culture bound syndromes and
international classification of disease. Culture, medicine and
psychiatry, 1987, 11: 3-20.
Reynolds D. Morita therapy. Berkeley, University of California
Press, 1976.
Most psychologists believe that people with panic disorder
develop their
social phobia or agoraphobia because they are afraid of being
incapacitated or embarrassed by a panic attack in a public place.
In a
sense, they are afraid of their own fear. (McNally, 1990)