Know that social anxiety disorder symptoms are curable and can be improved with the right interventions if you or someone you care about is experiencing them. A mental health expert can assist in providing techniques to overcome symptoms of social anxiety once social anxiety disorder has been recognized. You will discover techniques for handling severe symptoms of social anxiety in this article, along with information on when to seek professional help.
What is disordered social anxiety?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) describes social anxiety disorder, also referred to as social phobia, as an intense fear or anxiety in one or more social situations where the person is exposed to potential scrutiny by others. Panic disorder, phobia-specific disorders, and generalized anxiety disorder are examples of further anxiety disorders. Everyday activities, such as job and school assignments, might be hampered by social anxiety, particularly when they entail speaking or interacting with people. Situations requiring social interaction, such as group projects, job interviews, or school presentations, can cause of anxiety in the affected individual. Many people may feel apprehensive or anxious in any of these situations, but people who suffer from social anxiety are more vulnerable. But treatment and medication can often be used to manage its symptoms, much like in the case of other anxiety disorders.
What signs of social anxiety are present?
It's common to misinterpret social anxiety for shyness or reserve. It may, however, be a complicated mental illness with a crippling terror reaction as well as a range of physiological and psychological symptoms. The primary cause of the extreme anxiety that is linked to social phobia is typically a fear of being poorly judged or humiliated. People who suffer from social anxiety may feel uncomfortable or ashamed in front of other people and worry that they will be rejected. When speaking in front of an audience or meeting new people, a lot of people experience anxiety or uneasiness. However, because social anxiety produces so many symptoms, such as the following, these emotions may appear intolerable to individuals who suffer from it:
flushing and perspiring
Keeping your eyes closed
accelerated heart rate
Shivers
Tension in the muscles and rigid stance
Breathlessness or lightheadedness “Blanking out” in thought. Stomach ache and nausea People who suffer from anxiety disorder frequently discover that their fear of the symptoms outweighs their fear of social situations. Since these sensations can be so unbearable and uncontrollable, many people who deal with this illness will purposefully steer clear of certain situations in order to prevent the worry. Furthermore, it's not unusual for people to start feeling anxious weeks ahead of time for an occasion where they might have to socialize. Additionally, they might still be stressed out about what happened and worried about how other people would see them afterwards.
What is the disorder's cause?
Similar to other anxiety disorders, social anxiety can stem from a wide range of circumstances, including complex interactions between environmental and genetic risk factors. One possible risk factor is, for instance, having family members who have previously experienced mental health issues. A heritable basis for social anxiety was validated by a study that examined genetic risk variations for social anxiety in twins. Nevertheless, the study's research scientists were unable to find a link between neuroticism and introversion—two characteristics that are common to social anxiety disorder. An individual's upbringing and the social milieu they experienced at home or at school might also be linked to social anxiety disorder. The development of social anxiety disorder later in life may be influenced by traumatic experiences in interpersonal relationships, such as abuse, teasing, and bullying while the person is young or in their adolescence. In the early stages of a person's social development, excessively controlling parents may also be a factor in the illness.
Involvement of neurological system in anxiety disorder
The neurological system may be involved in social anxiety disorder. In addition to all the other social and environmental triggers, particular brain regions might increase a person's susceptibility to anxiety, which can result in social anxiety. As an illustration, the nervous system's hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a crucial role in regulating the stress response. Research has indicated that individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder exhibit elevated salivary levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and a hyperactive HPA axis in comparison to individuals without social anxiety. Higher levels of stress hormones are released in response to perceived threats, and this heightened stress response is triggered by any threat. This could be the reason behind their anxiety-related symptoms, which include the flight-or-fight reaction.
How to handle symptoms
Depending on your individual history and the intensity of your symptoms, different treatment approaches are used to address social anxiety disorder symptoms. Usually, therapy and/or medicine are used in tandem for treatment. Treating social phobia requires an understanding of the causes of social anxiety as well as the reasons behind the symptoms that you encounter.
Conversational treatment
Through self-discovery, social anxiety therapy can assist you in understanding your thoughts and reactions to situations. Treatment for social anxiety disorder should involve psychotherapy of some kind, such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
