Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in the world. However, several different types of anxiety impact people, so it can sometimes be hard to pin down and recognize different signs and symptoms. That’s often the case with social anxiety.
Most people have heard of social anxiety but might not fully understand it. If you’re worried that you might be dealing with social anxiety, it’s more important to understand it and why/how it develops rather than focusing solely on the symptoms.
With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at social anxiety and how you can better recognize if it’s impacting experiences in your life.
What is Social Anxiety?
The most basic definition of social anxiety is a mental health condition in which social interactions cause irrational fear. Sometimes, even the idea of social interactions can trigger the anxiety.
Beyond fear, social anxiety can also increase intense thoughts such as feelings of embarrassment, self-doubt, and humiliation.
You might find yourself constantly worried that people are talking about you behind your back. You might be afraid of saying the wrong thing and offending someone.
Because social anxiety can trigger different things in different people, having a basic understanding of it makes it easier to connect the symptoms to the condition.
What Causes Social Anxiety?
Typically, experiences and your environment are the greatest contributors to social anxiety. Stressful life experiences like abuse, bullying, domestic violence, or even family conflicts can trigger social anxiety.
Other situations, like losing someone you love or even excess stress, can trigger this type of fear.
For some, social anxiety can stem from childhood. Suppose you had parents who were fearful of social situations or consistently brought you down with verbal threats. In that case, you might worry about saying or doing the wrong thing in a group of people as an adult.
Recognizing the Symptoms
Once you have a basic understanding of social anxiety, you can connect any symptoms you might be dealing with to that understanding.
Some of the most common symptoms include rapid heartbeat, digestive issues, sweating, trembling, or difficulty catching your breath.
Before a social event, you might start to think about the “worst-case scenarios.” It’s not uncommon for people with social anxiety to think about everything that could go wrong when they’re in a group of people, fueling their fear. Unfortunately, those fears are often highly irrational and will likely never happen. However, they can feel extremely real to the person thinking of them.
What Can You Do?
If you think you might be dealing with social anxiety, take comfort in knowing it doesn’t have to control your life forever.
Social anxiety doesn’t mean you want to isolate yourself from others. It means there’s room to decrease the intensity of fears causing you to feel more comfortable in moments of isolation.
One of the best ways to work on the effects of social anxiety is to seek out professional help. Most types of anxiety are very manageable but rarely go away on their own. Therapy is a great way to get the help you deserve in a safe and effective setting.
Our therapists can help you get to the root cause of your social anxiety. When you have more information about yourself; where it comes from, how it impacts you, and noticing the start of experiencing it, then you can learn and create new skills to decrease the impacts. Therapy can also make it easier to manage your symptoms, even on your own. Eventually, you can get to a place where anxiety doesn’t consume your thoughts whenever a social event comes up.
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If you want to improve your social life and gain tolls to help decrease the affects of social anxiety, consider starting your therapy journey. Contact us for more information or to set up an appointment with one of our highly skilled therapists. Serenity Experiential Family Therapy Center offers therapy services in Colorado.