Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is characterized by fear and worry about social situations. As such, the neurobiology of social anxiety disorder follows the symptoms of fear (phobias and panic over social situations) and worry (social worries). Fear is regulated by a part of the brain called the amygdala, and worry is controlled by the cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical (CSTC) circuit. So in social anxiety disorder, the malfunctioning of the amygdala and CSTC circuits are intermittent and severe, occurring in an expected matter when confronted with social and performance situations.
