Understanding Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder is the third largest psychological problem in the United States today. It affects 15 million people a year. People with this disorder are misdiagnosed frequently misdiagnosed and sometimes are labeled as being schizophrenic, manic-depressive, clinically depressed, have some type of panic or personality disorder. Horrible guess work by physicians and mental health professionals. Not only does this disorder affect the person suffering with it, but also others that you may encounter.
For most people, it is difficult to make sense out of what the person is going through. Many people that know someone that is having social anxiety have no clue how to be supportive or even how to help them. The best way to start helping people that suffer from a social anxiety disorder is to understand as much about the disease as you can. Let’s begin by defining the term social disorder anxiety.
Why Is It Called Social Anxiety Disorder?
Social anxiety disorder or as it is sometimes referred to, social anxiety phobia is an anxiety that appears when someone is extremely afraid of social events or experiences because they are afraid that they might get embarrassed or experience disgrace or shame. A person with this phobia will withdraw from as many social interactions as possible. They simply prefer to be alone even when they are around familiar people. A person that suffers from social anxiety may feel overwhelmed and focused on the fact that others notice their every movement, people are critiquing what they say and do all the while making negative judgments about them. This of course is not true, but the person suffering from this disorder is known to have irrational thoughts where their feelings about people and situations are exaggerated.
What is interesting about this disorder is its association with shyness. People who are shy suffer from social phobia or social anxiety when having to meet other people or interacting with others in a group setting. For some shy people, the thought of having to interact with strangers invites fear. One of the worst circumstances, is when meeting people who are considered authority figures. This includes their supervisor and others who they may consider is seen as being superior to them in some way. People with social anxiety may get a lump in their throat and their facial muscles may freeze up when they meet someone they find is intimidating. Their anxiety level is very high because they are so focused on not failing or appearing to be incompetent.
Most people at one time or another have faced some type of embarrassing situation where they have been criticized or laughed at for some reason or another. The normal person can laugh at these momentary experiences as nothing and move on. A person who suffers from social anxiety will find these types of situations extremely devastating which may cause them to become depressed. It is important that the person is aware of this disorder and to understand how they can overcome and/or manage it.
Ways To Overcome Social Anxiety Disorder
Focus On The Positive:Part of the fear that people with this disorder have is caused from low self-esteem. They are not confident in their own strengths. One of the first things that a person with this disorder should do is look within themselves and determine their strengths. Once the person has found out their strengths, that should be their focus. The goal being is to build up their strengths and work on them consistently.
Work On Conversing With Others: Because of the disorder, sufferers may suffer from not having very good conversation skills where they are at a loss for words. Sometimes not talking is also a result of the social phobic being afraid to say something that may embarrass them. To overcome this deficiency, one can practice speaking in front of a mirror or even practicing with a good friend or family member. They should think of situations and be able to practice the responses to situations that they may encounter.
Seek A Mental Health Professional: These feelings of inadequacy and negative thoughts occur in social situations that should be met and conquered in therapy. Usually these anxious feelings are tied to thoughts that are entwined in a vicious cycle of negative expectations and negative appraisals. There really is no way out without having the appropriate therapy program. It is important to understand that the process to overcome this disorder does not happen overnight. It may take awhile to see some improvement in this area, but taking the initial step to overcome social anxiety is a great start.
One thing that all socially anxious people share is the knowledge that their thoughts and fears are basically irrational because they know in actuality that people are not really critically judging or evaluating them. They understand that people are not trying to embarrass or humiliate them, but since they uncomfortable with social situations in addition to being shy, it is difficult for them to believe anything else. It’s a way to justify their fear of interacting with others. In order to work on this disorder, a person should be self aware and know their strengths and develop them to the highest level, learn how to be more comfortable interacting with others and if necessary, seek a mental health professional for additional assistance. Social anxiety does not have to run your life, you can manage it and still find success in social situations.
Tagged with: social anxiety • social anxiety disorder • social anxiety disorder symptoms. shyness • social phobia
Filed under: Social Anxiety
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