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How To Control Social Anxiety

Social Phobia Can Extend Beyond The Social Event

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A person with social phobia can feel anxious while simply anticipating an upcoming social event. After the event, the person may replay the conversations they had and rate their performance. Brooding on these feelings of social failure can make the person feel even worse, and reinforce the desire to avoid social situations in the future.

How To Overcome Social Anxiety

Heather Lyons, Ph.D.

Does the thought of giving a presentation in front of others make you physically ill? Have you turned down invitations to social events because you might be introduced to new people? Or do you avoid eye contact with people on the subway for fear they might initiate small talk? If you answered yes to these questions, you might suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder.

Boundary Anxiety And Fear Is Real

7. Take a breath. The physical symptoms of anxiety include increased heart rate, pounding chest, dizziness, and muscle tension. Learning to take a minute and slow down your breath can help you take back control of your body.

Simply take a seat, get comfortable, and take the biggest breath youve taken all day and hold it in for four seconds. Then exhale slowly, pushing out as much air as possible. Take another deep breath filling the stomach with air and continue until you feel your breath slowing down to its normal rate.

8. Act confidently. There are a large number of adults suffering from social phobia and crippling shyness. You can learn to be confident in the same way you learned to ride a bike. Act more confidently, and people will react positively.

This doesnt mean you need to be the class clown or the center of attention. Its just about being more assertive. Something that feels terrifying at first will gradually feel better each time.

9. Find social situations and engage. Make a conscious effort to be more social. Actively look for supportive social environments that can help you overcome your fears. Perhaps start with a social skills training class. Here you can properly practice your social interactions before heading out into the real world. This will give you some tips on what to say and do when you find yourself in a social situation youre unfamiliar with or anxious about.

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Strike Up A Conversation

Do you shy away from talking to strangers? Do you avoid eye contact at the grocery store? Do you look at your feet in the elevator? Today, instead of doing what you normally do in those situations, try doing the opposite. Engage the other person in a bit of small talk, just for the sake of getting the practice and learning not to be afraid.

How Psychotherapy Can Help

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You should also know that social phobia wont go away on its own, but treatment of social anxiety is entirely possible. One of the most effective treatments for anxious people is psychotherapy specifically, an approach called cognitive behavioral therapy .

CBT is a type of therapy that helps you identify and explore your negative thoughts and behaviors and replace them with more logical and positive ones. For example, assume your social anxiety disorder has made you terrified to visit a new restaurant. Youre afraid youll do something embarrassing in front of people, like mispronounce a menu item or use the wrong utensil, or perhaps the waiter will want to engage in small talk. Your therapist will walk you through each of these fears and negative thoughts, helping you to question each of them rationally. Then he or she will help you reframe this particular social situation in a new, more positive and more realistic way.

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Here Are Five Ways To Help You Deal With Social Anxiety

The connection between the body and the mind is complex, and although dealing with social anxiety can seem as simple as throwing yourself into a conversation, it takes a lot of effort to get there. Here are five simple ways to help with dealing with this mental disorder.

Therapy

When dealing with any mental disorder, it is always important to speak to a professional first. This will help you understand the severity of your social anxiety and thus help with finding suitable ways for you to deal with it. One of the most effective psychotherapy is Cognitive-behavioural therapy which helps eradicate negative behaviours and beliefs that contribute to anxiety.

Exercise

Research has shown that exercising can help with combating mental disorders such and anxiety and depression. Exercising helps with blood circulation to the brain, which then leads to better brain functionality and helps with improving mood disorders.

Control your breathing

Social anxiety and its overwhelming feeling of worry can increase your heart rate and affect your breathing patterns. Therefore, channeling your concentration to controlling your breathing can help with reducing your heart rate and blood pressure, which automatically reduces your stress levels.

Limit alcohol

Challenge your negative thoughts

What Is Selective Mutism

Some kids and teens are so extremely shy and so fearful about talking to others, that they don’t speak at all to some people or in certain places . This form of social phobia is sometimes called selective mutism.

People with selective mutism can talk. They have completely normal conversations with the people they’re comfortable with or in certain places. But other situations cause them such extreme anxiety that they may not be able to bring themselves to talk at all.

Some people might mistake their silence for a stuck-up attitude or rudeness. But with selective mutism and social phobia, silence stems from feeling uncomfortable and afraid, not from being uncooperative, disrespectful, or rude.

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Things People Do To Control Social Anxiety

If you’ve been waiting until you feel that your social anxiety is under control to stretch yourself outside your comfort zone, you may never get to that place. In the meantime, why not “fake it until you make it” by doing little things that can help you feel more in control of your social anxiety, instead of it controlling you?

Finding Help For Severe Social Anxiety

Overcoming social anxiety to resume a crowded life

Despite the depth and intensity of its symptoms, severe social anxiety is highly responsive to treatment. The first step is to receive an accurate diagnosis for the condition , and once that takes place the recovery process can begin.

And the age of diagnosis is irrelevantanyone can eventually overcome the most disabling symptoms of social anxiety disorder, if theyre willing to ask for help.

Recovery regimens for social anxiety sufferers usually include a combination of psychotherapy , medication , social and life skills training, andholistic mind-body techniques for stress management and improved emotional control. Long-term care for social anxiety is a necessity in most cases, withcounseling and therapy at the forefront of the recovery program.

For those who feel overwhelmed by severe social anxiety symptoms, and for those with co-occurring mental or behavioral health conditions, inpatient treatment programs administered by mental health professionals in a residential treatment facility can be tremendously beneficial.

In this peaceful environment, social anxiety sufferers will receive full, complete, and unconditional support from staff and peers alike.Evidence-based therapies and complementary treatment services will be provided by experts who understand the depth of suffering that severe social anxiety can cause.

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How Social Anxiety Can Impact On Your Life

Social anxiety can impact on people in different ways. Some people will find all social situations stressful while for others the fear only kicks in when they have to do something in public. This leads them to avoid situations such as public speaking, or going on nights out where they may be in social situations.

Social anxiety can have a big impact on sufferers lives as they spend their life worrying about events coming up and how they can avoid them.

When in social situations the person can experience many uncomfortable physical symptoms of anxiety. These include:

  • Difficulty concentrating
  • A sense of feeling constantly on edge
  • Physical symptoms like headaches, butterflies in your stomach, blushing, sweaty hands, high blood pressure, dizziness, breathing heavily, feeling faint, sweating

If youre struggling with social anxiety youre not alone. It is an extremely common problem.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Social Anxiety

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT is considered to be one of the leading psychological treatments for social anxiety. All of our online courses use CBT strategies to help ease symptoms of anxiety and depression. Click below to see if CBT can help you tackle your symptoms to improve the way you feel.

Strategies for Managing Symptoms of Social Anxiety

Cognitive Strategies

People with social anxiety disorder tend to overestimate the likelihood of being judged by other people and underestimate their own worth. Theyre often self-critical, can fixate on their own flaws, and constantly compare themselves to other people. They can also be hyperaware of and embarrassed by the physical symptoms of anxiety, like blushing, sweating, or trembling.

Cognitive strategies help people identify and challenge these kinds of thoughts, and learn new, more helpful ways of thinking. In doing so, these strategies help can people become more confident and self-compassionate.

Behavioural Strategies

Two key features of social anxiety are avoidance and safety behaviours. Avoidance is when you miss out on fun or important experiences because of anxiety, for example, skipping a friends birthday party or an important presentation at work because youre afraid of being judged. Safety behaviours are things you do that help you cope with anxiety, like having a few drinks before you get to a party.

Coping With Symptoms of Social Anxiety

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Remind Them How Valuable They Are

Folks with social anxiety are . They often focus on perceived shortcomings and overlook their contributions. Balance out their scales by reminding them how great they really are. Remember, social anxiety is a package deal. It comes with lots of beneficial skills, including deep empathy, prosocial behavior, and high standards, which often means stellar performance.

Those with a touch of social anxiety bring a vital kindness and humanity to the office. Indeed, if you look past the fact that they care about what people think, youll find that, simply, they care about people. And every workplace can benefit from that.

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What Is Social Anxiety Disorder

#STRESS, Stress Management Techniques, Reduction, Test ...

Social anxiety disorder is a common type of anxiety disorder. A person with social anxiety disorder feels symptoms of anxiety or fear in certain or all social situations, such as meeting new people, dating, being on a job interview, answering a question in class, or having to talk to a cashier in a store. Doing everyday things in front of peoplesuch as eating or drinking in front of others or using a public restroomalso causes anxiety or fear. The person is afraid that he or she will be humiliated, judged, and rejected.

The fear that people with social anxiety disorder have in social situations is so strong that they feel it is beyond their ability to control. As a result, it gets in the way of going to work, attending school, or doing everyday things. People with social anxiety disorder may worry about these and other things for weeks before they happen. Sometimes, they end up staying away from places or events where they think they might have to do something that will embarrass them.

Some people with the disorder do not have anxiety in social situations but have performance anxiety instead. They feel physical symptoms of anxiety in situations such as giving a speech, playing a sports game, or dancing or playing a musical instrument on stage.

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Become Your Own Best Advocate

Nobody else is going to look out for you the way you can look out for yourself. Gather knowledge about SAD so that you can make better decisions. Ask for accommodations at work and school if you feel they will help you. Guide others toward better understanding of the struggles you face. Take time out at parties if you feel the need. Nobody else knows what it is like to be you.

A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach

Key Points:

  • Cognitive behavioraltherapy has been shown to be an effective form of treatment for social anxiety.
  • Among other steps, CBT prescribes challenging anxious thoughts, and specifically tracking whether one’s catastrophic predictions about social encounters actually hold true in real life, as a way of realizing that they generally don’t.
  • After an encounter, socially anxious people should congratulate themselves for facing their fears rather than criticizing their performance in post-mortems.

If you find yourself inhibited and anxious in a variety of social situations and you fear that people will see your anxiety and that you will feel humiliated, then you may suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder. Many people with this problem will choose to avoid situations where they anticipate being anxious or they may use alcohol or drugs to self-medicate before entering these situations. Social anxiety is associated with increased risk for alcohol abuse, depression, loneliness, decreased occupational advancement, and the increased likelihood of remaining single. You can complete the Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale and find out if you have symptoms that might indicate social anxiety.

The good news is that you can do something about it.

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Visualize What You Want

What exactly do you want? If you haven’t defined this for yourself, then you don’t know where you are headed or how to get there. Do you want more friends, a better job, or simply not to feel anxious all the time? Visualize having those things that you want this will help motivate you to do what needs to be done to get out of a rut.

Understanding Social Anxiety Disorder

How To Have Less Anxiety On Social Media | The Anxiety Solution

Social Anxiety Disorder , is a form of anxiety disorder that affects 6.8% of American adults, or 15 million people, most of whom are women. Social anxiety is more than simple shyness, stagefright, or occasional performance anxiety. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Fifth Edition , individuals with social anxiety disorder may be inadequately assertive, or excessively submissive or, less commonly, highly controlling of the conversation. They may show an overly rigid posture or inadequate eye contact, or speak with an overly soft voice. People who suffer from social anxiety have a constant and intense fear of any general social interaction. The possibility that someone notices or calls attention to them incites both mental and physical symptoms, so they tend to avoid social situations whenever possible.

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