Social Anxiety Disorder

There is one form of anxiety that manifests as a certain kind of inconvenience in the company of others, individuals or groups. It’s social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia.

I suffered heavily from this particular type of anxiety which caused me to miss out on many chances in life. I’ll use the term social phobia further in this article.

People who have social phobia often have difficulty getting in contact with other people.

For example, people may be reluctant to stand in line at the store because they think everyone is looking at them all the time and judging them or such people have difficulty in establishing contacts with other people because they think that those people would reject them. These would be the simplest forms of social phobia and the majority of population is affected by this.

When a person has social phobia, that person usually has a fear of meeting new people and a fear of being in a larger group of people, a fear of getting in touch with people. Also this person has a habit of always unnecessarily worrying about what other people think about them.

This phobia can be manifested as an increased fear of a speech in front of a large group of people and a fear of going to some public meeting with a large number of people and the similar situations. People who have symptoms of social phobia are usually too self-conscious and too worried about what other people think about them and they expect the worst possible outcome of a situation.

If you recognize yourself in the description of people who suffer from social phobia, you have to understand one thing: other people do not think about you as much as you think. That’s the main thing that you absolutely must understand, because most of the people who suffer from social phobia think too much about what others think of them. The truth is, as I said, that others don’t think about you that much! All of these people have their own lives and are looking for the ways to make their lives better. You need to break that illusion of thinking that other people think about you all the time.

A person suffering from social phobia experiences the following symptoms usually in the company of others:

* Increased sweating
* Nervousness
* Rapid heartbeat
* Nausea
* Tremor
* And sometimes even panic attacks.

Usually when a person is too shy in normal social situations and contacts, it can be a sign that this person is developing social phobia and therefore that person should somehow react.

If the quality of life of a person is violated and this person is unable to establish contact and relationships with other people, then this could also be a sign that the person is suffering from social phobia.

Also you should take into account that if a person thinks too much about what others think of them, thinks negatively about them, thinks about how they will be embarrassed in front of others, has a fear of rejection from others and fear of being humiliated in front of others, then this person may be suffering from social phobia.

If you suffer from social phobia, then realize that the possible cause of this phobia is a previous bad experience in your life. For example, if you are someone who was psychologically tortured, humiliated and stuff like that, then that could be cause for this phobia. The cause can be an experience in which you were somehow ashamed in front of other people and that made you become fearful of all future similar situations.

Some of the other factors that should be considered are the genetic factor. Maybe someone in the family also suffered from social phobia and there lies your lack of self-esteem, depression etc.

If you think about these factors, you will find it easier to get to the real cause of your social phobia, and when you do find the cause, then you will find it much easier to know what you need to do to overcome social phobia.

Although there are various medicines and medical treatments for social phobia, it is always better to understand it and beat it naturally in my opinion. If you are very shy and if you think it may be possible that your shyness will develop into a social phobia, you should try adapting a new way of thinking and thus give your best to overcome shyness and social phobia.

Here are some of the most important tips I can give you:

Go to the very core, the root of the problems that cause your shyness, it is probably low self-esteem. If you don’t like how you look or if you are too self-conscious of your looks, I suggest that you ask a close friend to help you raise your confidence a little bit.

All the people, including you, have some characteristics related to both physical appearance and the inner appearance. Point out your positive attributes, work on it! Even some nice new clothes you bought for yourself will give you extra confidence in certain situations where you get in contact with other people. It is important that you feel good and relaxed and when you feel this way, then it will be much easier to get in contact with other people.

If you had a very bad experience in the past, if someone hurt you or humiliate you or the like and if you think you have social phobia that you are unable to overcome, then it wouldn’t be bad at all to seek the assistance of a professional therapist. Sometimes people are too afraid to seek professional help or are too embarrassed to do so, because they worry about what others will think of them.

You should ask yourself, what is more important? What others think about you or your health and how you feel? You cannot move in the direction of a better and pleasant life if there is something that is bothering you.

Things get complicated when you have something that is bothering you, which is also associated with some bad experience in the past. Understand this, you don’t have to be the slaves of the past and you don’t have to carry the psychological burden from your past!

Always try to think positive! If you simply can’t think positively, then think about this: every person is unique in a special way. All people have their own advantages and shortcomings and that is what makes people unique. Understand that you are also unique, and I am sure, if you think a little that you could find a lot of positive things about you that are better than they are in that other person.

You must learn to value the positive things about you and to emphasize them as much as possible. Work on it every day and that way you will develop a new, more beautiful and healthier view of things.

When you change the way you look at things and the more you start to value yourself, it will be much easier to get in contact with other people and you will be less self-conscious, you will not be blocked by this social phobia!

If the fear of contact with other people prevents you from living a normal and pleasant life, then you need to do something about your social phobia right now! Realize that things will not be solved by themselves when it comes to social phobia. Why? Because it’s about you and your contacts with other people, only you can decide to change for better! People are social beings. They socialize with other people, contact, collaborate, engage in relationships etc. Understand that there is nothing wrong with that, it’s the human nature to socialize and hang out. If you want to change yourself for the better and your contacts with other people and to overcome social phobia, I suggest you to start immediately, because there is no better time to do it than now.

If my article wasn’t enough, then the best book that I can recommend you is The Shyness and Social Anxiety System: Scientific Techniques To Eliminate Shyness or Social Anxiety, Build Conversation Skills and Make New Friends…

It focuses completely on shyness and social phobia and is the main reason I managed to overcome this.

Originally published at https://anxietyrelax.com.