| Shyness is quite prevalent in our world today. Most | | | | his drive to get approval from other people due to |
| people experience shyness to some degree in their | | | | the fear that he will be rejected again. |
| dailyinteraction with the people around them. Perhaps | | | | Donny Osmond - a shy person? |
| you find yourself hesitating to reply when a new | | | | You would not believe it, but former child star and |
| acquaintance is being introduced to you - that is | | | | well-known showbiz personality Donny Osmond was |
| shyness. Or maybe a long-lost friend calls you up | | | | diagnosed about four years ago with social anxiety |
| again after so many years, yet you discover that | | | | disorder. This disorder causes the patient to |
| you are not so eager to renew ties with him - that | | | | irrationally dread performing or being in a social |
| too is shyness. People who are naturally shy often | | | | situation - not the best condition to have if you |
| say they want to fight this habit. The good news is | | | | make a living by performing in front of screaming |
| that you can successfully combat shyness in yourself. | | | | crowds. Donny related in a July 2007 interview that |
| The degree of shyness we experience may range | | | | there were occasions when he had to perform, even |
| from simple insecurity to the debilitating tendency to | | | | though he would have preferred dying to going out |
| avoid social contact with others. But when does | | | | before an expectant crowd. |
| shyness begin to be developed in us? | | | | Donny traces his social anxiety to the demands that |
| Causes of shyness: | | | | showbiz exacts from child stars to be perfect both |
| For some people, shyness may be an inborn trait, | | | | on camera and in their personal lives. Such |
| sometimes passed down from parent to child. Others | | | | perfectionism is demanded from him even now that |
| may become shy in childhood because an adult in his | | | | he is an adult. No one can survive that kind of |
| family (perhaps a parent or an older sibling) acted in a | | | | pressure without caving in somehow because no one |
| domineering way over him. The shy person then | | | | is perfect. |
| tends to avoid interacting with his peers because he | | | | Donny has a therapist, Jerilyn Ross, who noted that |
| fears being made to feel weak (which was how he | | | | Donny came down with the condition because he |
| felt in the presence of that domineering adult.) | | | | wanted to please the people around him by trying to |
| We all have this driving need to be loved and | | | | be perfect in every performance. |
| appreciated, from the time we were children to our | | | | How Donny copes: |
| adult years. A person whose basic need for approval | | | | Donny is effective in combatting shyness stemming |
| as a child was rebuffed many times over may | | | | from social anxiety disorder by following mental |
| develop a fear of seeking that approval, which may | | | | exercises that Ross taught him. For example, when |
| carry over into his adult years. So you wind up | | | | Donny feels butterflies in his stomach, Ross teaches |
| becoming an adult who shies away from contact | | | | him to visualize the butterflies to be fluttering around |
| with other people because you are afraid you will get | | | | in a certain formation. This helps Donny to lighten up |
| the same response that you usually did before. | | | | before a performance so that even when he is not |
| Make no mistake, all adults would like to be the | | | | at his best, he does not crumple because of his fear. |
| center of attention - but a shy person fights against | | | | |