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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can ... - WordPress.com

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more than ever on the ability to meetthe demands <strong>of</strong> the Culture <strong>of</strong> Personality.<strong>The</strong> pressure to enterta<strong>in</strong>, to sellourselves, and never to be visiblyanxious keeps ratchet<strong>in</strong>g up. <strong>The</strong> number<strong>of</strong> Americans who considered themselvesshy <strong>in</strong>creased from 40 percent <strong>in</strong>the 1970s to 50 percent <strong>in</strong> the 1990s,probably because we measuredourselves aga<strong>in</strong>st ever higher standards<strong>of</strong> fearless self-presentation. “Socialanxiety disorder”—which essentiallymeans pathological shyness—is nowthought to afflict nearly one <strong>in</strong> five <strong>of</strong>us. <strong>The</strong> most recent version <strong>of</strong> the Diagnosticand Statistical Manual (DSM-IV),the psychiatrist’s bible <strong>of</strong> mental disorders,considers the fear <strong>of</strong> publicspeak<strong>in</strong>g to be a pathology—not an annoyance,not a disadvantage, but a disease—ifit <strong>in</strong>terferes with the sufferer’sjob performance. “It’s not enough,” one102/929

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