Published by Serge Taylor on 29 Aug 2008
How do I overcome social anxiety?
Despite the fact that social anxiety is one of the most commonly occuring psychological disorders very little is known about how and why it happens and why it continues to become even more common.
The condition can present itself in many different ways. General paranoia where someone feels like everyone is watching them when logically they know that is not true is one such example.
Fear of the phone ringing or someone knocking on the door or wanting to lock themself away from the dangers of the outside world are very common symptoms of social anxiety disorder.
In the end social anxiety sufferers experience a life of constant worry and apprehension about how they are seen and how they are judged by others. Because of this fear they withdraw and keep away from people and to a large extent the outside world as a whole.
A very common example of where social anxiety would be especially problematic is public speaking or being interviewed.
Oftentimes this generalised fear will turn into a full on social phobia which is a much more severe form of the condition that has now become a psychiatric disorder. The signs here in addition to the extreme self consciousness is severe fear and anxiety to go with it.
And there is the ever present overwhelming worry about being watched and judged by others and the fear of embarrassing or humiliating themselves in front of other people. Usually some social trigger will set things off. This does not even need to be actually happening just percieved to be happening.
Today as the numbers of people with social anxiety increases many methods, both conventional (from medication to psychotherapy) and alternative (from acupuncture to hypnosis) are being offered as possible solutions. There is something you can do to help with your social anxiety.