Social Anxiety
Social anxiety is one of the most common forms of anxiety. When you suffer from social anxiety, you tend to feel uncomfortable, nervous or shy is any social situation. You may feel like you will do something embarrassing or humiliating whenever you are in front of others.
Symptoms
The things you feel when you suffer from social anxiety are similar to regular anxiety. Here are some examples:
Negative thoughts (“I’ll have nothing to say”, “people won’t like me”)
Lack of confidence in handling social situations, big or small
Blushing/trembling
Anxiety with other people
Consistently feeling embarrassed or discouraged in social situations
Racing heart rate
Avoiding social situations
Sweating
Dizziness
When Does It Become A Problem?
Social Anxiety becomes a problem when you start avoiding regular day-to-day activities because of the anxiety and fear of being embarrassed. You may find that you will avoid going to events because of the symptoms of anxiety you experience during and/or beforehand. Perhaps the negative thoughts you think before an event are enough to stop you from going to the event altogether. Some activities you may avoid if you have social anxiety are:
Going to the grocery store
Taking the bus
Maintaining relationships
Going to the gym
Work meetings or interviews
Stay home instead of going to a party/event
Tips for Calming Social Anxiety
1. Understand your own social anxiety
Learning what events and situations trigger your anxiety can be very beneficial in helping you to put yourself at ease. With social anxiety, understanding how and why social events trigger the feeling of being nervous, experiencing anxious or negative thoughts and the resulting physical symptoms is the first step to healing the cyclical process of anxiety and avoidance. You can begin to understand why these feelings come up and how to deal with the specific situations that affect you, increasing your confidence!
2. Think Realistically
When you think thoughts like:
“no one will like me”
“I will look stupid”
“I won’t have anything to say”
“I am so nervous, I don’t think I can do this”
These are negative thoughts you are having about yourself – not thoughts that other people have about you. Thinking these things can cause you to feel more anxious, and increases the choice to avoid and not socialize because you feel embarrassed. Learning to think more positively can reduce those feelings and give you more confidence going into social situations. Try and remember that these thoughts are only yours and are not facts about what others are thinking.
3. Breathing Techniques
When the feelings of dizziness and rapid heart rate start creeping up, try to calm your breathing. It’s ok to feel nervous - when you start to experience nervousness, using breathing techniques can bring down your anxiety level. Taking slow deep breaths will help lower your heart rate which then helps lower your anxiety. Try breathing in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, and then breathe out for 4 seconds. Repeat this as many times as needed.
4. Focus on others, not yourself
When entering a social situation that may cause anxiety, focus on the other people around you. Anxiety is not as visible as some people think it is. Focus on listening to what the other person is saying to you and don’t focus on saying the right thing or trying to say or do the perfect thing.
If social anxiety is holding you back, don’t hesitate to contact us to set up an appointment with an anxiety therapist.
