First Published Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Online programs developed to treat social phobia can be as effective as face-to-face contact with a therapist, reports Lynnette Hoffman
ONE moment Stewart Coad was proposing to a woman at the Eiffel Tower during a holiday in Paris.
The next he was homeless and living out of his car. Coad, 58, blames his riches-to-rags story — the loss of his once-successful telecommunications business and two failed marriages — on something he has been battling most of his life: social phobia.
Social phobia is an anxiety disorder characterised by an intense fear of being judged, criticised or embarrassed in social or performance situations.