Solve Your Social Phobia and Stop Anxiety

Social phobias or social fear is a feeling of worrying, nervousness and/or fear when you are in social or public situations. It can be something as ordinary as walking to the shops, going to a party, speaking to friends or colleagues on the phone, holding a meeting at work, shopping in a mall or travelling on public transport. There is an underlying, popular belief that others are watching and judging, and this worry about what others think can lead to anxiety.

It is scenarios such as these that cause the body to suffer from palpitations, excessive sweating, breathlessness, nausea, trembling etc symptoms like this are most likely caused by anxiety and it is very common with those who have a a social phobia or fear. There are many levels and severity of an fear, varying within each individual and circumstance but the reasons are usually the same. At some point in the past there has been a situation that has triggered a release of adrenalin in your body that was caused by a feeling of stress.

However, there can sometimes be an excess of adrenalin as the situation was perceived for some reason to be much more stressful than it realistically was. Due to this your brain conditions itself into believing that it is in danger when it experiences this and causes the body to react how it does. Anxiety and social fear are closely linked and are the result of irrational thought processes. If you ever go into a social or public situation and think to yourself ‘people are laughing at me, I am going to say something stupid so I won’t talk then people won’t look at me’ or ‘If I stand in this corner people wont be able to see me blushing etc’. There is a constant worry and belief that somehow you are being judged or looked at in a derogatory way.

It is an awareness of yourself and what you think you see around you that creates this fear and reaction in your body. But it is this fear that can hold you back in life and take control. It is common to hide away from social situations naturally thinking that this is better for you, but truly it is not. If you believe there is a problem then there will be. Unfortunately the things you see or think that cause this anxiety or social phobia is more a perception than reality, something called a ‘Social Illusion’. This is a totally normal and common feeling, it is this fact that must be acknowledged in order to start changing the way you think.

Social phobias are self fulfilled and perpetuated which is why it is very difficult to even contemplate overcoming the control it has over you. The worry about what others think of you leads to you fearing social situations more and more which then induces a physical anxious reaction which then circles back to the fear of the situation as you physically and psychologically learn that something bad will happen to you hence the Adrenalin release. However, the reality check is that there is a pretty high chance that nothing will happen to you, that people really are not looking at you as they are absorbed in their own lives and that what you really see it not what is really happening. Stemming from this is probably something you do not realise you do but at some point you probably do, do it. Social safety nets are created by your subconscious when you feel threatened or conscious of yourself this can be something as simple as covering your mouth when you speak, hiding in a corner, positioning yourself furthest away from anyone in a meeting or avoiding lifts in case you have to stand in it with someone and they look at you.

Social fears can be changed, as it has been explained that it is basically a frame of mind that has been triggered from one negative experience or perception, it can be reversed into a more realistic thought. There are numerous therapies and techniques in existence that broach this. But the first step is realising why you feel like you do and that by changing the way you think about things can have the biggest effect on your anxiety. Simply take a look around you next time you feel anxious; are people really looking at you? And what if they are? They may have before, they may again or they may never have really seen you, but has anything happened to you? The answer is more than likely, no. Take this thought and change your negative thoughts and feeling process and turn it into a positive one. There is not a overnight cure, anxiety and social fear is something that you have made it and can be unmade if you are willing to try such things as positive association, CBT, NLP, diary keeping and mind triggers.