Social Anxiety Disorder – What It Is & How To Treat It
Social anxiety or social phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that produces an extreme fear response in social situations or even when thinking about them. This can be anything from just leaving the house, going shopping, speaking on the phone, interacting with other people or engaging with groups.
How common is social phobia?
Social phobia has always been quite a common problem. It usually starts during adolescence and often does not go away without treatment.
But recently, with the outbreak of Covid 19, it has become a huge issue for many people who have not previously suffered.
Social anxiety disorder symptoms
Symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of general anxiety disorder except that the triggers are social in nature. Symptoms include:
Worry about everyday social activities
Avoiding social activities or situations
Worrying about the embarrassment and blushing
Feeling like you’re being watched and judged all the time
Fearing criticism
Panic attacks
Low self-esteem and low self-confidence
Physical anxiety symptoms such as heart palpitations, sweating, feeling sick, trembling
An overriding fear of dread, fear of panic in situations that wouldn’t typically merit it
Related issues
Many people find that their social phobia is actually linked to another fear or phobia, low sel
f-confidence, past traumatic events, a fear of authority or other complex issues. Discovering the root cause or underlying issue is important in finding relief.
Do I need help with my social anxiety?
If this is significantly affecting your life it might be time to seek help for social anxiety disorder. Finding treatment isn’t always easy, but it can drastically improve your life.
Self-help treatment options
There are a few things you can do to start to try and unravel your anxiety issues. Try and understand the triggers for your social phobia. When did it start? What do you think is behind it? Perhaps keep a record of each day and the struggles you have.
You can try relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, mindfulness, exercise and yoga to see if these can settle the symptoms.
You can also try gradual desensitisation and challenge yourself to overcome small challenges each day. Try and address any negative behaviour patterns or unhelpful assumptions you are making. Don’t catastrophize or always assume the worst.
Social phobia treatments
Some of the above advice is easier said than done and can be much more easily achieved with the help of a professional therapist.
Common treatments you might be offered for social anxiety include guided self-help, group therapy or medications.
Some of the Advantages of Dealing with Anxiety using Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is an entirely natural yet powerful treatment (in the right hands) that uses your mind and body's ability to heal itself.
No negative side effects. Generally speaking clients find the positive benefits of hypnotherapy affect their life much more broadly than they expected as they see improvements in several areas of life.
Get straight to the root causes of the anxiety, deal with and removing the driver(s) that generated the anxious feelings in the first place.
Hypnotherapy removes anxiety and panicky symptoms more rapidly using hypnosis than other talking therapies that don't use hypnosis.
Empowering you with resilience. Working with me, you will develop and master your way of dealing with anxiety and stresses in your life more positively which, if practised regularly, will allow you to be more resilient against life’s challenges in the future.
Using my advanced and unique approach, Hypnotherapy can provide you with real relief from the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks, leaving you free to live your life in a calmer, much more balanced way.
