How to Know if You Have Social Phobia
All of us have felt nervous while facing certain social situations. You must have often heard people who have acute stage fear, or that mingling with people makes somebody uncomfortable. While going on dates or giving presentations may undoubtedly be some of the topmost everyday situations where people feel nervous, it can eventually turn into an issue if such problems persist.
Social anxiety disorder: An overview
For people who find themselves at the brink of feeling socially awkward quite often, here are some things you should know about this condition. A social anxiety disorder is commonly referred to as a social phobia. With this disorder, everyday interactions can generate a lot of fear, anxiety, embarrassment, and even self-consciousness. The person may often feel that they are being judged or continuously scrutinized for their behavior.
When a social anxiety disorder takes over a person, the need to avoid uncomfortable situations can really disrupt their life. This severe stress can turn worse when the fear begins to affect their daily routine. Be it at school, college or work – the avoidance of social interactions may just be one of the topmost symptoms of social anxiety that the person is probably ignoring.
To that effect, we have put together a list of some of the most common signs of social anxiety that you should watch out for:
Emotional and behavioral signs and symptoms
Apart from the usual nervousness, symptoms of social phobia constitute avoidance and fear which may hamper with your schedule. These signs may start showing in your mid-teens, though they can sometimes be seen in adults and younger children as well.
Here are some emotional symptoms of social anxiety that you should keep an eye out for:
- You may find yourself frequently avoiding situations where you feel you may be judged. You may have a persistent fear that you are embarrassing or humiliating yourself in front of others.
- Another common sign of social anxiety is developing a fear of interacting with strangers.
- You may also feel yourself needing to make an extra effort to hide your anxiety or social awkwardness from others.
- You may constantly avoid situations where you have to interact with people.
- As somebody suffering from social awkwardness or social anxiety, you may find it a struggle to gather the courage to endure social situations.
- Even if you do face a situation, you may still anticipate failing at the said activity.
- You will often find yourself expecting the most negative outcomes from social situations.
- You would definitely avoid situations that require you to be the center of attention.
- Lastly, if you have social anxiety, you will spend a lot of time after every social interaction analyzing your performance and keeping a list of the mistakes that you feel you may have made during your interaction.
People who suffer from a social phobia may often exhibit certain physical symptoms too. These include the following:
- Your heartbeat may rapidly rise in social situations.
- If you are suffering from a severe social anxiety disorder, then you may even experience lightheadedness, dizziness and in some situations even catching your breath may become difficult.
- You may experience trembling and sweating quite often in a socially awkward situation.
- Sometimes, you may even feel your mind go completely blank in such situations.
- Lastly, nausea, upset stomach, and muscle tension may also present themselves as signs of social anxiety disorder.
If the symptoms increase from being just emotional to also physical, then the treatment of social anxiety disorder becomes unavoidable. That’s because it may start affecting your health and hinder your daily functioning.
However, before embarking on a course of treatment it is important to know whether you really do have social phobia or just shyness.
Is it really social anxiety?
One of the most common misconceptions regarding social anxiety symptoms is that anybody who finds it difficult to hold a conversation may have it. However, it is important to understand that you may just be shy and not really in need of social anxiety therapy.
The key difference between social phobia and shyness is that when a shy individual is put in a socially awkward situation, he takes some time but eventually becomes comfortable with it. On the other hand, a person suffering from social anxiety would see their symptoms worsen.
Additionally, very few individuals see their shyness turning into full-fledged social anxiety. In fact, social awkwardness does not come hand in hand with being introverted. These individuals may often talk normally, but deep down they’re struggling with a whirlwind of thoughts.
Another common difference that you can watch out for is the frequency you think about situations that you have found stressful. For people suffering from a severe social anxiety disorder, going back to unpleasant thoughts of uncomfortable situations is quite a common occurrence. They may live and re-live those circumstances over and over again. However, a shy individual would not really suffer from stress in a similar manner. Even so, don’t be too hard on yourself, because there are means available for treating social anxiety.
If you feel that self-help for combatting these issues is not working for you, don’t worry, there’s still hope. Even though a social anxiety disorder comes under the category of mental health conditions, there are simple solutions available for it. We can teach you proper coping skills as well as provide a proper combination of medications and psychotherapy helping you to navigate social interactions more calmly. However, to gain the confidence you want or even to improve your interaction abilities, first recognizing the symptoms of social anxiety is very important.
If the aforementioned symptoms resonate with you, please don’t worry at all. There is a solution. With a little initiative from your side and the correct expertise, you will be able to find relief for this problem without much impact on your daily life. Treating social anxiety on time is also quite important. To ensure that these symptoms do not act as a hindrance to you in later life, please feel free to schedule an appointment with us. Our experts will be able to guide you through the solutions and be your support.