We perhaps all dreaded making a phone call to someone or an organisation at some point in our lives. Perhaps you recognise the embarrassment of spilling your drink over yourself at a night out or perhaps you like so many others hate speaking in front of groups of people. So imagine of your whole life was controlled by these fears.
When the phone rang you couldn’t answer it because you believe you would become tongue-tied and make a fool of yourself. You daren’t eat or drink infront of others for fear of being judged for what you eat or how you eat. Anxiety can seem to interfere with every aspect of your life, with a negative impact on your normal routine. Without treatment it can bring the person to a place where they cannot cope with life.
Social anxiety or phobia give the sufferer a distorted view of the dangers of social situations. In addition to being self-conscious, they are anxious that they will make mistakes or embarrass themselves. As a result certain situations can make them extremely distressed.
Like most phobias, the sufferer may be aware that their fear is unreasonable or extreme, yet fear still grips them as they approach the ‘risk’. Many are forced to conclude that there is something wrong with them, but that they can never be cured. They may begin to avoid social situations.
Social anxiety responds well to both medication and to talking therapies and your GPs will be able to offer treatment options. In broad terms the medication is to lower the symptoms of the anxiety so that the talking therapy can allow you to work with the situations that cause the problem. There are also techniques like deep breathing that can make a real difference in the moment, especially for example if you are prone to panic attacks. Working with a counsellor can help get to the causes of the anxiety and can lessen the impact of the fears and thought processes that go on at these ‘trigger’ points. As with many problems the sooner you tackle the issue the better the chance of success, but that can be a very alarming step to take. It is perhaps one of the reasons that therapists report that with anxiety treatments they try very hard to lower the anxiety of the client so that they can take small steps that are less frightening so that they reach their ultimate goal and improve their outlook.
As I indicated at the start of the article we all feel anxious at some point in our life in respect of interactions with others. However, we do not all suffer from social phobia. Yet if you feel that your anxiety about social situations is changing the way that you act or conduct your life perhaps you should talk to someone about it.