Many professionals and sufferers continue to criticise a perceived underdiagnosis and undertreatment of Social Anxiety Disorder and associated disability, and that not enough is being done to overcome the barriers faced by this group (e.g. Olfson et al., 2000)

By contrast, others are critical that the diagnostic boundaries have been stretched too far and that clinical and media work is promoting the idea that any problems with shyness or social worries are a pathological medical condition requiring medical treatment. Some see this as being driven by pharmaceutical companies, either by direct advertising to the public or their financial influence on psychiatry.[63] This view can be associated with, but is not exclusive to, anti-psychiatry.

Some argue that problems with social anxiety in individuals can be seen as indicating problems with society – for example a competitive culture, power imbalances, lack of care or social education in families and communities – and are critical of focusing disorder and treatment only on individuals.