SOCIAL ANXIETY

Social Anxiety is a feeling of discomfort, fear, and apprehension that is based on interactions with others. Social Anxiety specifically refers to a fear of being negatively judged or looked down upon by others. Social Anxiety can not only be felt during an interaction but also felt when thinking about past and future social interactions. Social anxiety is very commonly felt by people with other mental health conditions. 

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facts

Statistics

Some of the main social interactions that stir up social anxiety are

• Starting a conversation with a stranger.
• Speaking in a class or meeting.
• Attending a party.
• Joining a conversation.
  
• Performing on a stage.
• Being alone in public.
• Eating in front of others.
• For more information visit: https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/top-10-list-feelings-social-anxiety-causes​ 

• 15 million (6.8%) Americans have Social Anxiety Disorder.
• Social Anxiety Disorder is equally common among men and women, typically beginning around age 13.

It is possible to live a normal and healthy life with social anxiety! The most important thing to know about social anxiety is that it does not need to define your life. 

Statistics from http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

Recovery Stories

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Childhood anxiety, even severe and chronic, doesn’t necessarily stand in the way of success and achievement. But caring parents will do anything to help relieve their children of misery. Scott Stossel, the editor of The Atlantic magazine, tells his story of struggling, coping, and living a very productive life.
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"By the time I started nursery school, I had developed severe separation anxiety. By age 10, I had a proliferating array of pretty intense fears and phobias—of heights and enclosed spaces, of flying, and especially of vomiting. So my parents took me for a psychiatric evaluation, and I was diagnosed with a range of anxiety disorders. 

"I got worse before I got better, but psychotherapy and medication got me through middle school, and I managed—despite intermittently debilitating anxiety—to have a successful academic career in high school (which I mostly disliked) and college (which I mostly loved)." 

To read more of Scott's story (along with the stories of many others) check them out here: http://www.adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/personal-stories/childhood-darkened. 

Author Jennifer Shannon credits her own daughter's struggle with social anxiety as inspiration for writing The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook for Teens. Here, Rose speaks about her social anxiety as a teen and how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helped.

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Aaron Burstein - Social Anxiety at 130 BPM

Warning: Foul language
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Draw My Life - Social Anxiety


Warning: Foul Language

​living with social anxiety

A Dangerous Cycle
​Social anxiety can greatly impact one’s self-esteem and create a negative self-image. It can be a dangerous cycle as feelings and displays of anxiousness feed the negative self-image and embarrassment of the person affected, who is likely to already have a low self-esteem. Social anxiety is often accompanied and made worse by other mental health conditions.

In education and employment
Social anxiety can cause large problems for students and workers when it comes to completing their tasks and keeping in touch with their superiors as well as their peers.

• Letting your superiors (teachers, bosses, counselors) know about your struggles with social anxiety will allow you and your superior to be on the same page concerning your condition. By telling your superiors that you have SAD you are letting them know that they are in a position to help you accomplish your goals by limiting the situations that could cause great anxiety. 

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We want to make clear that social anxiety  does not always lead to lower self esteem. Here is a comment by a young adult who reviewed our website:
"I have social anxiety myself, but very good self esteem. I noticed that a lot of the info about social anxiety [says that is] fear of being judged or seen negatively, which is true for a lot of people. But most of my anxiety is just fear of going out*... with not much thought process behind it. I don't think I'll be judged, but I feel uncomfortable in the sight of others...."
 ~Anonymous

*This fear is not to be confused with agoraphobia.

How to get help for social anxiety

• Learn about social anxiety.
  • Observe your own social anxiety and identify which situations make you feel most anxious and what physical symptoms you have in these situations.
• Learn to relax.
  • Finding a strategy to make yourself feel relaxed and comfortable is a big help in overcoming anxiety. 
  • Some strategies include: slow down your breathing, relax your body by relaxing your muscles, and positive/confident thinking patterns.
  • Try to incorporate these strategies into stressful situations to see what strategy works best for you to alleviate anxiety.
• Work on realistic thinking. Realistic thinking means recognizing when your thoughts and ideas in stressful situations are exaggerated.
  • ​When you recognize that you are anxious or scared about an interaction and begin to think thoughts such as "no one will like me if I say that", "I'll mess this up", or "others will notice me being anxious", try and find evidence for your thoughts through rational questions.
  • ​Some of these questions can be: "how many times has that actually happened?", "what would I say to a friend that was having the thoughts I am having?", and "do i have to please everyone?". These questions, along with others that you can come up with on your own, work to establish rational thinking during stressful times that create irrational thoughts. ​
• Face Your Fears
  • This is the toughest part of overcoming social anxiety. It is very normal to want to avoid social situations that make you anxious, but eventually your fears must be faced in order to create the confidence necessary to live comfortably with social anxiety. However, by slowly increasing the number of social situations that you take part in that you otherwise wouldn't you are working to overcome your social anxiety. 
• Find a therapist that focuses on social anxiety.
  • ​Social anxiety is often misunderstood by therapists. Find a therapist that is skilled in helping those with social anxiety. Therapists that utilize cognitive behavioral therapy are considered to be optimal for treating patients with social anxiety. 

Strategies from: http://www.anxietybc.com/sites/default/files/adult_hmsocial.pdf
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Different Types of Treatment
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a short -term goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment that helps to change patterns of thinking or behavior of people’s struggles and it also helps them change the way they feel.

Resources for CBT:
https://www.anxietybc.com/sites/default/files/ThinkingTraps.pdf
https://www.beckinstitute.org/get-informed/what-is-cognitive-therapy/

Exposure Therapy is a treatment used to treat anxiety disorders by exposing clients to different circumstances they may not be comfortable with.

Resources for Exposure Therapy:
http://www.div12.org/sites/default/files/WhatIsExposureTherapy.pdf
http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-exposure-therapy/

HOW FRIENDS AND FAMILY CAN HELP

Some great tips for friends and family are: 

• Ask "what do you need?"
• Be a good listener.
• Learn about anxiety.
• Encouraging healthy habits.
• Being vocal about acceptance of a friend or family members anxiety as they struggle to overcome it. 

These sites can also help your friends and family learn how to help and understand your social anxiety! Use the information you find to talk with your friends or family, or send them the links!

http://www.anxietybc.com/self-help/how-friends-and-family-can-help
http://www.adaa.org/finding-help/helping-others/spouse-or-partner
http://socialanxietydisorder.about.com/od/copingwithsad/a/helpfamily.htm
http://socialanxietymouse.tumblr.com/helpothers

Second City Improv Skit Used To Help Social Anxiety Disorders

Social Anxiety Support Groups

Here are some great groups who work hard to help those that have Anxiety Disorders.

• Social Anxiety Support-http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/ 
  
• Anxiety and Depression Association of America-http://www.adaa.org/ 
• Social Anxiety Association-http://socialphobia.org/
• Andrew Kukes Foundation for Social Anxiety-http://akfsa.org/ 
• Social Anxiety Institute-https://socialanxietyinstitute.org
  

Books ABout Social Anxiety

Erika Hilliard gives a comprehensive guide on living a confident life while dealing with anxiety.  (Click to go to Amazon page)

Step-by-step guides to self-improvement that utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a way to overcome fears that stem from and contribute to anxiety. (Click to go to Amazon page)

David Karp looks at his own experiences with mental illness while also looking at the experiences of many people from all walks and stages of life. (Click to go to Amazon page). 

This workbook allows the reader to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, recognize the steps that need to be taken to face their fears, and come up with a personalized plan of action in order to lead a confident and healthy life. (Click to go to Amazon page)