What Is social anxiety?
Social anxiety is a fear of being judged by others, it was previously known as a social phobia. A phobia is an overwhelming fear that is difficult to control. Social anxiety is more than a feeling of being shy and takes control of a person’s mind when worrying about an event. A socially anxious person will be in crippling worry about an event before and after it happens. Both children and adults can develop social anxiety.
Signs and symptoms.
There are different signs to look out for when social anxiety takes over an individual these include:
- Avoiding social events. Someone who suffers from social anxiety won’t want to attend social gatherings, this could be not attending parties or going to places that will have a lot of people in such as restaurants or shopping centres.
- Fear of embarrassing yourself. If you suffer from social anxiety you tend to overthink regardless of the situation and they almost certainly end up with you being embarrassed or a negative outcome
- Difficulty doing things when others are watching. Socially anxious people will struggle to do simple stuff when others are watching, this could be talking to a group or demonstrations.
- Fear of criticism. All people have a level of fear for criticism but when someone suffers from social anxiety, how people preserve that person is very important to them and they want to please everyone all the time.
- Avoiding eye contact. if you suffer from social anxiety you will avoid eye contact when engaging in conversations with others because you believe they are criticizing you
Signs and symptoms sometimes differ for children. These include:
- Crying excessively
- Overly reliant on parents/guardians
- Not seeking help when needed
- Avoiding interaction with others
Physical signs and symptoms:
- panic attacks. A panic attack comes in levels from mild to severe, it is always best to seek medical attention when someone has had a panic attack.
- heart palpitations. Having heart palpitations is an abnormal/irregular beating in the chest.
- Nausea. A feeling that you are about to be sick, this can come in waves and sometimes leads to sickness.
- Excessive sweating. This does not include sweating during/just after exercise, excessive sweating is your body’s reaction to being anxious.
- Irritation. You quickly become irritated by the large crowds and it affects how you are feeling around others. feeling as if you are not in control of a situation can cause angry outbursts and irritation.
What affects can social anxiety have?
Suffering with social anxiety people may see a decline in self-confidence. We see a decline in people as they become more and more anxious about being social in all aspects of life. as your confidence declines your work, school and relationships can all be affected. When someone is socially anxious, they worry about talking In Front of others in case they embarrass themselves In Front of others. When at work communication is important in most jobs but as social anxiety takes over a person, they can become unable to talk affecting how they work or their relationships at work.
Children can suffer from social anxiety. It can affect school. They may lack the confidence to ask for help or even talk to other pupils at school during the day. If a child is struggling with schoolwork and doesn’t ask for help it will affect their learning and understanding, knocking their self-confidence down.
Social anxiety affects a person’s self-confidence. If you worry about being embarrassed you will lack confidence because you always think about different negative outcomes that can happen. The negative thoughts impact a person’s sense of self-worth causing a decline in their confidence levels.
All relationships rely on social skills. If someone is not understanding towards your social anxiety your relationship will be impacted. it can be very lonely for you suffering with social anxiety due to finding it difficult to start new relationships.
What help is there for people with social anxiety?
When seeking help, it is best to go to your local GP. They will carry out different assessments on you to find the best help for you. Once you have a diagnosis a mental health specialist might make contact for an appointment. Here you will talk about treatments available and have a more detailed assessment.
There are two main groups of treatment to help combat social anxiety. Treatment at home and specialist treatments help improve symptoms of anxiety.
At home treatments include:
- Breaking down situations into smaller parts and focusing on them one at a time, an example of this is going to a special event. This is a socially anxious person’s worst nightmare but when broken down may become doable. Instead of thinking of the whole event, it may be best for you to think about the arrival then. Then when you first enter, after that you can think about saying hello to the host then grabbing a drink, breaking down the situation makes it less scary.
- Relaxation techniques. Yoga, listening to music or guided visualization are all good ways to relax. By relaxing you are keeping your anxiety levels low and preventing an anxiety attack from arising.
- A treatment at home plan can be given to parents and carers of children to help with coping at home.
Specialist treatments include:
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This is a type of counselling that changes the way you think. This type of therapy would improve social anxiety levels in someone who suffers with this mental illness. As they change the way they think they also gain confidence and may start being able to attend social events and visit busier places.
- Anti-depressants. You may receive a course of anti-depressants if you suffer from social anxiety to help with symptoms.
Who’s affected by social anxiety?
Gender and age don’t have a role when developing social anxiety Social anxiety is very common. ‘In the United States, epidemiological studies have recently pegged social anxiety disorder as the third largest psychological disorder in the country.’ ‘By Thomas A. Richards, Ph.D. www.socialanxietyinstsute.org’. although social anxiety can affect anyone for any reason there are factors that put you more at risk. Your family history can play a part in whether you develop social anxiety. If either your parents or siblings have this mental, you are also likely to develop it. Another risk factor is a negative past experience. Previous rejection and bullying can play a part in if you develop social anxiety, you may feel crippling worry that others don’t like you and humiliated when attempting to socialise.