Social Anxiety

WHAT IS SOCIAL ANXIETY?

Social anxiety is characterised by worrying about bad things happening to oneself in a social situation. It may involve worrying about how others may perceive us and lead to unhelpful strategies for coping in social situations, such as avoiding the social situations altogether.

WHY AM I SOCIALLY ANXIOUS?

Social anxiety can be produced by a mixture of different factors, it is not necessarily cause by other people. There can be biological factors such as our temperament i.e. we may be shy, or we may easily react in situations.

Environmental factors such as our childhood can lead to social anxiety. You may have felt criticised by others, or given less opportunities to interact with other children. You may have learned to cope by avoiding things. There may have been negative experiences in life such as bullying, or not feeling supported by care givers. Difficult experiences throughout various stages of life, and not being able to adapt well can also lead to social anxiety. 

Experiencing stress and demanding responsibilities can also lead to social anxiety.  

SYMPTOMS

Typical thoughts

Often social anxiety can lead to thoughts where we perceive a social situation as bad and dangerous. E.g. ‘If I go to the event, no one will talk to me, it will be awkward, I won’t know what to do, people will think that I am an idiot.’ ‘I’ll make a mistake in this situation, I don’t fit in.’ 

Typical behaviours

Due to a negative evaluation of the environment and possible or existing social situations, social anxiety will cause someone to behave in an unhelpful way. Examples include, avoiding social situations so that they can’t go wrong, trying to put a barrier between them and others, e.g. avoiding to make eye contact, or making themselves really busy so there is no time to talk to others. People with social anxiety may rehearse what they plan to say. 

Physical sensations:

People who feel anxious, and are about to go into a social situation, or be contemplating a social situation may start to: shake, feel sweaty, thoughts racing, butterflies in stomach.

Typical Feelings

The rumination of thinking that something bad will happen in a social situation can lead to worry, anxiety, sadness, panic and stress. 

HOW CAN THERAPY HELP?

Counselling can help to understand how experiences led to social anxiety, and how patterns of behaviour keeps the anxiety going. Using Cognitive behavioural therapy, small changes can be made to the beliefs that one holds, in order to change the evaluation of a situation, and make small steps to being able to face social situations. This is done in a graded approach so that it does not feel overwhelming to the client.

WHAT IS ONE THING I CAN DO NOW TO HELP WITH REDUCING MY SOCIAL ANXIETY?

Is there are a way you can conduct an experiment to test out if a social situation would have led to your feared belief? For example, can you test out saying ‘hello, hope you have a nice day’, to someone you would have usually avoided? E.g to a shop assistant or a receptionist at work? Then rate the level of anxiety before and after, and ask yourself if your feared belief came true.