A Positive Direction To Overcome Social Anxiety

By Author: Graham Stoney
Total Articles: 2
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There are innumerable individuals who suffer from excessive and unreasonable fear of getting exposed to social situations. As such, these people turn unbelievably self-conscious whenever, they have to attend any social occasion. Even as trivial an event as cutting the birthday cake in the office in front of colleagues gives these people a cold sweat. These people happen to be extremely scary on the aspect of public speaking, as well as eating and drinking in front of others. It is obvious that individuals suffering from the specific disorder avoid going to parties and remain equally jittery with their dates as well.  Moreover, these people avoid speaking over the telephone and by no chance they try to be the centre of attention at any event.

According to scholars who study the human mind, the problem, of anxiety disorder for the people mentioned above originate from a certain factor. These folks suspect that the world watches, judges and criticizes them from close quarters. It is this paranoia that drives them to the brink in course of time.

To put it in simpler words, individuals ...
... suffering from the anxiety disorder imagine and believe the society will rebuke and humiliate them if they commit a mistake at any social circumstance.  Based on this anticipatory suspicion these people remain scary every moment at the back of their minds. In fact, as it has been observed in reality, this anxiety is furthermore compounded by the lack of social skills or exposure to social events. There are even people who are aware that their fear is absolutely baseless and unreasonable, yet they are unable to overcome it.

As a matter of fact, these people suffer from distorted thinking and nurture negative opinions about others. Cases like these should undergo proper treatment procedures or else, the problem may negatively affect an individual’s both personal and professional lives. The physical symptoms of the disorder are manifested by pounding heartbeat, excessive sweating, shaking body muscles, stomach upset and diarrhoea, etc. As such, being in a perpetual state of confusion is another significant symptom that denotes the problem. On the other hand, even children who suffer from social anxiety, tend to throw more tantrums, while crying and clinging to their parents, almost, every time, all the more. 

One of the most effective ways to overcome this psychological disorder is the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, which is more popular by its abbreviation, CBT. In this therapy, an individual’s thoughts are streamlined and guided towards a more rational direction, teaching her/him to react differently to those situations that triggered the anxiety. It is a systematic procedure that takes time to build up confidence in an individual, which in turn helps the person to overcome the challenge. The treatment therapy also includes exposing the person to such social situations in real life from which, the anxiety triggers.

Invention of the internet has undoubtedly proved helpful to overcome problems like the one mentioned here as well. There are many web portals that provide online courses these days that prove effective on the ongoing aspect.