What is Social Anxiety?

Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a psychological condition marked by excessive and irrational fear and avoidance of social situations. It is often wrongly confused with shyness, which is simply a lack of confidence in meeting new people, and is quite normal in people with a more diffident personality -- in fact, most shy people can function quite well in society. Social phobia, on the other hand, can be crippling, and in some cases can prevent sufferers from living a normal life.

Social anxiety disorder can sometimes affect people in a general way, making them intensely anxious and fearful of any situation where they come into contact with people. More commonly, however, it is triggered by particular situations which may be specific to the individual. These could include being the center of attention, eating or drinking in company, attending a party or social gathering, asking a question or giving a report in a meeting, or even using a public toilet.

Social Anxiety Symptoms

If you are a sufferer from social anxiety, and you encounter one of these situations, you will experience a number of symptoms which will clearly distinguish the condition from ordinary shyness or lack of confidence.

Psychological or emotional symptoms include being convinced that you are going to behave in an embarrassing or humiliating way, and being terrified that other people will see that you are in a nervous state. You may have an urge to escape from the situation, so overwhelming that you actually act on it.

Along with these psychological symptoms, you are likely to have physical symptoms, including palpitations or a rapid heartbeat, difficulty in catching your breath, sweating, and a feeling of dizziness or light-headedness. You could even experience nausea, upset stomach or diarrhea. These symptoms could amount to a full-blown panic attack, in which you can't breathe and may be convinced you are having a heart attack.

There are also a number of longer-term signs that you could be suffering from social anxiety. You may find that you regularly experience several weeks of intense anxiety, including difficulty in eating or sleeping, in advance of any social event, or an occasion where you will have to speak in front of a group. Possibly you will find you are unable to go anywhere on your own and always have to bring a friend with you, or that you regularly need to drink alcohol before a social occasion.

You can also take the well-known Social Anxiety Test, The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale to have a more precise determination on whether you are suffering from social anxiety disorder.

Why Do you Get it?

Social anxiety disorder is the second most common mental health condition in the USA, affecting around 19 million people, and twice as many women as men. It most commonly develops in the teenage years or young adulthood, although it can occur at any age, including childhood. Typical sufferers are people with very few, if any, social or romantic relationships, who tend to feel they are social failures or rejected by society.

As far as is known, there is no one single cause of social anxiety disorder, but research suggests it is likely to be due to a combination of psychological and biological factors. A large proportion of affected people can identify a specific incident in their past that caused them embarrassment or humiliation, and consider their phobia dates from this time. However, others say they have had the disorder since they were children and can't remember a time when they didn't have it.

Generally, subconscious responses of panic, fear and anxiety are controlled by the amygdala, two small organs in the brain that are part of the limbic system which regulates our emotional life. It's the amygdala that generate our immediate responses to fear-inducing situations, and normally keep them within reasonable limits. However, by being frequently exposed to anxiety-provoking stimuli, it is thought that the amygdala can be conditioned to respond with a higher than normal anxiety level, which makes people more prone to disorders such as social phobia.

How to Overcome Social Anxiety?

It is possible to treat social anxiety disorder with medications, such as antidepressants or sedatives. However, this is not considered the best way to go, as it helps to alleviate the symptoms, but doesn't get to the root of the problem. On the other hand, there are a variety of therapies which have proved very effective for large numbers of people.

One of those most widely used for social anxiety is CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy. This is a talking therapy that aims to help you change the way you think and behave. It is based on the idea that your emotions, thoughts, physical sensations and actions are all interconnected and affect each other, so that negative thought patterns can cause you to be trapped in a vicious cycle -- these patterns can be changed by helping you break down your problems into manageable segments.

A particular type of CBT that is often used with social anxiety is exposure therapy. Because simply talking about feelings is sometimes not enough, exposure therapy trains you to deal with actual situations, initially by imagining the situation, and working through your fears in a non-threatening environment. You can then be gradually exposed to the real-life situation, with the therapist's support.

A very specialized form of CBT is The Linden Method, which focuses on the changes that take place in the amygdala in the brain, to give rise to social anxiety. The idea is that as the amygdala have been conditioned to produce these extreme responses in your subconscious mind, your subconscious needs to be retrained to respond appropriately. The method offers 9 pillars, or guiding mantras, for you to follow, and complying with these on a regular basis can help you overcome and eliminate your anxiety. Many people say they have found this very effective for treating social anxiety.

There is no way of actually preventing social anxiety disorder. However, the sooner you seek help after your symptoms become apparent, the more effective your treatment is likely to be. With treatment, the outcome is usually very good, and many people go on to live happy and productive lives.