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What do Major League Baseball players Khalil Greene of the St. Louis Cardinals and Dontrelle Willis of the Detroit Tigers have in common with singer-actors Barbra Streisand and Donny Osmond? Along with a large portion of the population, they have all struggled with social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia. People with the disorder battle with extreme levels of shyness and self-consciousness, often avoiding social situations due to intense discomfort and fear of embarrassment. The odds are1 in 8.26 that an adult in the United States has ever been diagnosed with social phobia. Women have slightly higher odds (1 in 7.69) than men (1 in 9.01.) Greene and Willis both spent time on the disabled list during the 2009 Major League Baseball season while they coped with their anxiety, and Streisand and Osmond have been open about their diagnoses for years. Streisand even took nearly 30 years off from performing live due to the intense stage fright brought on by the disorder.

Although it is only recently that much attention has been paid to disorders like social phobia, descriptions of anxiety in social situations can be found from as early as Hippocrates’ time, around 40 B.C. “He dare not come in company for fear he should be misused, disgraced, overshoot himself in gesture or speeches, or be sick; he thinks every man observes him,” wrote Hippocrates, as quoted in Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, a 17th century book on depression. Social phobia was first included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ third revision, DSM-III, which was published in 1980. This marked the beginning of its official recognition by the American Psychiatric Association as a real disorder.

Aside from disrupting people’s ability to function in social situations, social anxiety disorder is also dangerous in that it frequently co-presents with substance abuse. The odds an adult in the United States who has social phobia also has a substance use disorder are 1 in 6.23.

Treatments do exist for social phobia, although it tends to be a disorder that can persist, in varying degrees of severity, over a lifetime. Drugs and therapy can help control it, but it typically doesn’t go away entirely. Cognitive behavior therapy has been proven helpful. In therapy, patients learn to control their own negative thoughts and react in a more positive way to the situations that occur around them. Antidepressants such as Paroxetine, Sertraline, and Venlafaxine (marketed under the names Paxil™, Zoloft™, and Effexor™ respectively) are also frequently prescribed to treat social anxiety disorder.

Celebrities are not immune to the diagnosis of social anxiety disorder, nor are they immune to the potential long-term struggle that comes along with the diagnosis. Both Willis and Greene returned to the disabled list a second time in 2009 for anxiety after poor performance following their first stints on the list. And eventually Streisand and Osmond were able to learn how to cope with their anxiety. Both have been able to resume performing.