Who is not familiar with the feelings of nervousness and anxiety during a social or social interaction? Sometimes you get tongue-tied when meeting a stranger, or your palms get sweaty before a big presentation. Similarly, having to talk among people or having to walk into a room full of strangers, most people deal with such situations easily, but for every person, these moments are not so easy and exciting. Such human conditions come under the scope of social or social anxiety.
If you suffer from social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, you may experience extreme levels of nervous tension during the anticipated situation. This is why you avoid all kinds of social interactions because on occasions that normal people take as normal, such as eye-to-eye contact or simple routine conversations, you are anxious and nervous. go As a result, you are cut off not only from the social and societal aspects of life, but from society in all respects.
Scope of Social Phobia:
The average number of people suffering from social phobia can be estimated from the fact that about 5.3 million people suffer from it during a year in a country like the United States. The average age of onset of this disorder is adolescence. The age range is between eleven and nineteen years. Social phobia is one of the most common mental health disorders, so if you suffer from this phobia, there is absolutely no need to despair. But! The hard part in all of this is how brave you are to seek professional help instead of suffering the disorder in silence.
Here’s a look at whether your reticence in social and community matters is limited to shyness and reluctance, or whether it’s more of a disorder where you need to see a mental health therapist. There is an urgent need to refer to
When does social phobia occur?
Most people experience fear and anxiety during any social activity, while in some people the fear is limited to one or two specific occasions, such as interacting with people or initiating a conversation. Difficulties Although each person with social anxiety disorder is affected differently, the following are some common occurrences:
• During communication between ordinary persons
• While meeting strangers
• While dating etc
• Make eye contact during conversation
• While walking into a room full of people
• Using a public toilet
• On occasions of attending parties
• While going to school, college, university or your professional work
• During the initiation of a conversation with someone
You may not have any problems during some of these activities, like giving a speech is easy but going to parties is a nightmare for you, or meeting someone one-on-one. I have excellent skills but could not step into a crowded classroom.
Socially and socially anxious individuals have different reasons for fear and anxiety in specific situations, but in general the following factors lead to this unconscious feeling of fear:
• Fear of being scrutinized and observed by others during social activities
• Being embarrassed and humiliated by someone. In this case, sweating, trembling and reacting in the form of embarrassment
• Accidentally offending someone
• Being the center of attention
Feelings during Social Phobia?
One person’s experience of this may differ from another, but if you have this disorder and are suffering from full-blown depression, you may experience the following:
• A sense of extreme self-restraint when dealing with social issues
• Chronic, intense and persistent fear of what other people think of you
• Feelings of anxiety and shyness when being watched, eg when giving a presentation or talking to a group of people.
• Reluctance to communicate with others
• Desire to avoid visual contact
Physical symptoms:
People with social phobia may also experience the following physical symptoms:
• Rapid heartbeat
• Muscle tension
• Dizziness, light-headedness
• To blush
• Crying
• Sweating
• Abdominal cramps, diarrhea etc
• Difficulty breathing
• A sense of being out of one’s being
You may have these symptoms immediately before an event or you may spend weeks worrying about it. And afterwards you spend a lot of time and mental time worrying about how to deal with the matter. Energy is wasted.
Causes of Social Anxiety Disorder:
There is no single cause of social anxiety disorder:
• Genetic factors are one of the reasons for this. If someone in your family has social phobia, you are at risk of developing it.
• It may also be related to increased activity in the part of your brain (Amygdala) that deals with emotional states and controls reactions during fear.
• The disorder usually begins around the age of thirteen and can be linked to incidents of abuse, bullying or teasing.
• Moderately shy children are also likely to grow up to suffer from social and social anxiety, as are overcontrolled children of authoritarian parents.
• If there is a health problem that results in people’s attention being drawn to you because of your voice or appearance/structure, then this condition can also be triggered.
Effects of Social Anxiety Disorder:
A person affected by this disorder is deprived of living the life of his choice. He avoids as much as possible a situation which a normal person would not consider to be of any importance. So when you try to avoid some or all of these types of situations during social behavior, your personal relationships are adversely affected as a result. Further following effects may be encountered:-
• Inferiority
• Negative thoughts
• Sensitivity to any kind of criticism
• Poor social performance, with no signs of improvement
What you can do in case of social anxiety:
If social anxiety disorder is causing you to have problems living up to your desires and having problems making or maintaining friendships, you definitely need treatment. Talk to a doctor or therapist who has reasonable experience in treating this disorder. They can tell you if your social phobia is normal or if you need treatment.
How is social/societal anxiety disorder treated?:
Both prescription drugs and CBT are effective treatments for social anxiety disorder. Depending on your situation, you can adopt both methods simultaneously. These are described in detail below:
Treatment with drugs
- For some people, prescription drugs are a convenient and effective treatment. Medications work with the goal of reducing the uncomfortable and often painful symptoms. Sometimes they not only reduce the symptoms dramatically, they even eliminate them. However, some people do not respond well to the drug, and others have no effect at all. There is no way to predict whether a drug will help you. Sometimes you find that a particular drug is effective for your symptoms only after trying several different drugs.
- In this respect, four drugs (Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Effexor) have been approved by the authoritative international body. However, some other medicines can also be effective in its successful treatment. The benefit of drug therapy is that it can be very effective and only needs to be taken once a day. However, there are some caveats regarding their use. First, medications only treat symptoms. Your symptoms may return when you stop taking the medicine. Second, some people have side effects from anti-anxiety medications, including headaches, nausea, stomach pains, and trouble sleeping.
- Medications for social anxiety (which are also used for depression) have also been issued with a warning by the authority that these medications may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or Adolescents taking these drugs should therefore be closely monitored for changes in suicidal ideation.
- For many people, the benefits of medications outweigh their harms, so it’s up to you and your doctor to decide whether or not to take them.
- Consult your doctor immediately if you experience any side effects of the medication you take for social anxiety disorder, including feelings of inferiority and depression. Also, do not stop taking any medication without consulting your doctor, as stopping a medication suddenly can cause serious side effects.
- Consult your doctor immediately if you experience any side effects, including feelings of inferiority or depression, while taking medication for social anxiety disorder. Do not stop using any medication without consulting your doctor, stopping a medication suddenly can also cause serious side effects.
CBT:
Therapy with a qualified and trained therapist can help identify and change thoughts that cause anxiety in social and community situations. A type of behavioral/behavioral therapy is exposure therapy. In the treatment of social phobia, there are many treatments. Through this therapy, you are gradually introduced to situations that are uncomfortable and unsettling for you. And wait until you feel comfortable. During this process, your mind is learning that the social situation you were afraid of is actually not that scary after all. Most therapists who practice exposure therapy start with a small problem. They do it by chasing them. Then when you feel some ease and comfort, move on to more difficult exposures.
The advantage of this therapy is that you are treating the underlying problem and not just the symptoms of social anxiety disorder. So when you stop receiving behavioral therapy, your symptoms are much less likely to return. Is.
Other treatments:
The following other treatments have also been tried to treat social anxiety disorder:
Relaxation therapy:
With this treatment method, you learn relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and meditation. Although relaxation therapy can help with some specific social phobias, it is not considered an effective treatment for generalized anxiety disorder.
Beta blockers:
These drugs were originally used to treat high blood pressure or other heart problems, but some have been shown to be effective in treating people with a specific type of phobia called performance-related social anxiety disorder. This happens when you are afraid to prove your effectiveness somewhere like public speaking etc.
Although beta blockers are not effective in treating generalized social anxiety disorder, the fear of a specific situation that occurs at a specific time, such as giving a speech in class, is a pressing problem for you.
When you should talk to a doctor:
First of all, it is important to know that if you have social anxiety disorder, it is not unusual because many people have it. If you have unusually high anxiety and fear about social situations, talk openly with your doctor about treatment. If left untreated, social anxiety disorder can lead to depression, drug or alcohol problems, school or work problems, and poor quality of life.