Understanding Social Anxiety Symptoms

Everyone gets nervous from time to time but for some people nerves are a massive problem when they get severe social anxiety symptoms. Social anxiety is all too common. So much so in fact that it is the third largest mental health care problem in the world.

Sufferers from this disorder essentially have a fear of social situations that require meeting other people. They often fear being judged and even criticized by other people. As a result the unfair perception of people with social anxiety is that they are shy, withdrawn, disinterested or worse still rude.

If you recognise these things as a social anxiety sufferer, you will know how restrictive this disorder is. There are plenty of things you want to do, but feel you cannot do them. So how bad are social anxiety symptoms and what can be done to overcome them, if anything?

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Well let’s look at a list of some scenarios where people feel anxious and it holds them back:

· Meeting new people - especially anyone in authority.
· Teasing and criticism
· Being the center of attention
· People watching you while you are doing something
· Public speaking

In addition to these sufferers may also avoid making eye contact with people, get embarrassed easily. They may also feel self conscious about making phone calls, talking, swallowing or writing in front of other people. This is how restrictive social anxiety can be.

What is so frustrating for people with social anxiety is that they know their fear is usually irrational. However, they feel completely powerless to do anything about it. Avoiding these stressful situations seems to be the only answer. I’m sure you can appreciate how debilitating this must feel.

However, there are times when these things cannot be avoided. Even so, in thinking about what might happen (and probably won’t happen), sufferers can feel very scared. Emotional social anxiety symptoms include anxiety, nervousness, and big fear, racing heart, excessive sweating, trembling, twitching muscles, blushing, dry throat and ongoing negative thoughts.

These symptoms can be overcome and there are medical and therapeutic ways of dealing with the issue. However, to start with there are a few techniques you can try at home to deal with your anxiety. For example relaxation techniques can help to bring the mind and body in to state of relaxation. These include breathing or counting exercises that will relax you and ease your anxiety.

If that fails to deal with your anxiety problems, another option is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This will help overcome worry and stress by receiving coaching on how to retrain the mind and remove negative thoughts and paranoia. This can be done by visiting a therapist, who will talk to you and find out about your social anxiety symptoms.

The therapist will help you understand how certain problems can affect how you feel emotionally and physically. As a result of these sessions you will hopefully be able to change your thoughts and behaviour and deal with situations that were previously too stressful.

If all else fails, a visit to your physician may be necessary. He or she can prescribe medication to help control the symptoms such as antidepressants, beta blockers or benzodiazepines. However, prescribed drugs may have some side effects, which is why therapy or relaxation techniques should be your first port of call to rid yourself of these infuriating symptoms.

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