Social Anxiety

Over the last decade we're more engaged in social media and technology and to be honest none of us really interact with each other like we used to back in the old days. You know what we used to ring each other on the phone or to hang out you have to go and meet each other in person. Nowadays we can, this tweet to each other, facebook messenger, whatsapp, etc... So how can knows what social anxiety is?

What is social anxiety?

Social anxiety is the persistent fear of a social situation or you may be exposed to the negative judgment of others is also the fear that you will do something in these social situations that may be embarrassing and humiliating. Now some examples of these social situations include meeting new people, attending a social event such as a party, a work, public speaking, starting a new job, starting a new school, dating, visit a new environment. It's really important to note here right that if your anxiety is very severe and you find yourself in these social situations you will endure it with massive discomfort and if why these social situations is an upcoming event that you have to attend there's a good chance you might try to avoid it altogether.

There's numerous causes of social anxiety. These include bullying, family conflict, isolation past traumatic experiences, sexual abuse, chemical imbalances in the brain and much more. The thing is you know all of us have had bad experiences in the past but unfortunately some of us never really get over those traumatic events and this naturally causes issues for us later on in life.

There's many different components to this disorder but I'm gonna focus on one component which I believe is at the core of this mental health problem and that is your assumptions and internal beliefs. Again, we all have assumptions and beliefs about the world around us, about people, about ourselves but those who suffer from social anxiety tend to have the following beliefs and if you're reading this and you do suffer from social anxiety see if any of these resonate with you.

• I assume that people have x-ray vision and can always see how I'm feeling on the inside

• If others see that I'm anxious they will find this unacceptable and reject me

• I assume that if I make a fool of myself in front of others, they will look down at me and negatively judge me

• I assume that I need to impress others in order for them to like me

• I automatically assume that when I'm in public, I will be negatively judged

• I will withdraw from any social situation due to the fear and assumption that I'll be scrutinized, humiliated or that I'll do something to mess the entire situation up and caused myself embarrassment

There are times where all of us feel like this to a certain degree but with social anxiety sufferers they tend to have these assumptions and beliefs on a regular basis - in every single social interaction or social event. The issue with this is there are assumptions and internal beliefs directly influence how we perceive the world around us - how we interact with other people and even how we perceive and interact with ourselves. If you're a social anxiety sufferer and you have these assumptions, when you come into contact with one of the social situations that I written above, it's gonna trigger anxiety even the for of attending one.

Social situations may trigger anxiety. Once the anxiety is triggered, a range of symptoms is going to take place in your mind and your body. For example, your mind will start racing with thoughts usually negative ones, your body will become stifled and stiff and you'll find it difficult to maneuver, your fight-or-flight response will get activated and cause you to sweat, trembl and blush, your heart will start beating faster, your breathing will be more heavy and rapid and basically you'll begin to act in a way in which you normally wouldn't do if you're in a safe comfortable environment. You'll also begin to engage in what psychologists call safety behaviors and these are designed to reduce the social threat. For example, if you're speaking to someone you avoid eye contact or just in general you avoid meeting eyes with anyone in public. You'll start to censor what you have to say in order to be accepted and you'll also try and find a way to escape the feared social situation.

When the anxiety is triggered, you also become extremely self focused and that is where you put all your attention on your inner body and you start to assume that what you feel on the inside must be a reflection of what people are thinking on the outside. The reason this is done is because our emotions are massive motivators. In fact they're probably the strongest motivators in this entire world and influence everything we do.

Just to recap

Social anxiety is the persistent fear of a social situation where you may be exposed to the negative judgment of others. It's also the fear that you'll do something in these social situations that may cause you to feel embarrassed, ashamed or humiliated.

There's many causes of social anxiety includeing bullying, conflict, isolation, traumatic experiences, sexual abuse, chemical imbalances in the brain and many others.

There are many components to social anxiety but we focus o assumptions and beliefs and these assumptions skew and influence your perception of the world around you, of other people and even of yourself. Once these assumptions come into contact with a feared social situation, it triggers anxiety. Once the anxiety is triggered, symptoms such as sweating, blushing or trembling take place. Your figth-or-flight response becomes activated and your mind starts racing with negative thoughts. You begin to engage in safety behaviors which are designed to reduce the social threat.

I hope I've outlined it clearly enough for everyone to understand it's important to remember that social anxiety affects people differently. Some people might have social anxiety very severely and they might not even know to leave the house or go to any social event whereas others might have a little social anxiety and be able to go to social events but not cope with it. It does vary from person to person.