Social Anxiety in Winensburg Ohio

     Mental health disorders need to be taken a lot more seriously and need to stop being deemed as bad or shameful. It is an actual chemical imbalance that causes certain people to act out or behave 'abnormally'. An example of  mental health disorder is social anxiety. This is  is a mental health disorder, that many Americans do not take seriously. Despite contrary belief , it is the third largest mental health care problem. Social anxiety is the fear of interaction with other people that brings on self- consciousness feelings of being negatively judged and evaluated and as a result leads to avoidance. If someone constantly feels anxious in social situations , but is fine when they are alone, then most likely they suffer from social anxiety. There are different forms of social anxiety, for example there are people with specific social anxieties, like people that are afraid to speak in front of large groups of people.  
     In the novel by Sherwood Anderson called, Winseburg Ohio, he explores the deeper meaning of living in a small mid western town , and how that can mentally effect a person. He gives us many different stories and perspectives from different people in the town. In each chapter it is a completely different story and character, but all the stories and characters seem to all be connected at a deeper level. In the chapter, “Hands”, we are introduced to a character names Wing Biddlebaum.  His story is incredibly interesting. This man lives alone on the outskirts of this town, he does not have many friends at all. In fact, he only has one friend and that is it. He does not try to interact with the other people in his town because he is ashamed. He used to be a professor until he was accused of molesting a young boy, because he cannot keep his hands to himself. He moved to Winseburg after this and changed his name and everything about his life. I believe that he may suffer from social anxiety. He does no interact with anyone in the society because when he does he feels ashamed, so because of that he avoids those types of interaction, which is exactly what people who suffer from this disorder feel. He also is content and happy when he is alone in his home not bothered by anyone which is another symptom. Along with him the rest of the people in this town suffer from their own mental and inner demons as well, this book does a great job of exploring the idea that your immediate environment affects your mental health and all around well being.