SOCIAL ANXIETY AND HOW TO DEAL WITH IT.

Social anxiety affects 7% of the population. It is currently the third largest psychological issue that affects people today, but what is social anxiety?

Social anxiety is the “fear of interaction with other people that brings on self consciousness, feeling of being negatively judged and evaluated and, as a result, leads to avoidance.” Majority of people with this disorder experience the following feeling especially in social settling

1. Inadequacy
2. Inferiority
3. Embarrassment
4. Humiliation
5. Depression
6. Uncontrolled nervousness

Those feelings are common in people suffering from social anxiety and/or generalized social anxiety and can be triggered by the following situations,

• Meeting new people

• Interpersonal relationships

• Attention

• Monitorization

• Social functions such as weddings

• Evaluating and criticism

CAUSE AND DIAGNOSTICS

But what is the root of your anxiety? Understanding the root will help you deal with it by realizing that it is not your fault. This is the first step to moving away from its crippling effects on your life. The human mind is programmed to survive, and just like everyone else you have a negative bias that protects you from danger. This bias known as the overactive amygdala, the part of your brain that controls fear. It is also good to notice that social anxiety is different form shyness. Shyness is usually short term in majority of people and does not bring about disruption in one’s life.

The exact cause of social phobia is unknown but recent research shows that it can be caused by a combination of environmental disruptions and a serotonin imbalance. Serotonin is the hormone that stabilizes moods feelings of well-being and happiness, it also helps with sleep eating and digestion. It may also be a matter of genetics if it runs in the family.

TREATMENT AND COPPING WITH IT

As a person who has lived and dealt with social anxiety I can assure you that its not as bad as it may sound. Getting over it may be hectic but it gets easier. Social anxiety is not a chronic disease and can be cured through medication and exercises prescribed to you by your physician. Although it may seem and sound overwhelming it is important to understand that it is not your fault, one major symptom being self-loath. Tring not to drown in the self-pity pot and negative thoughts. Allow your negative bias to work for you for it is strong and for a good reason, its the primary basis of our survival and must be kept at bay incase confronted with threat or trauma we have a strong resource of this energy to help us cope in times of genuine need.

THE POWER OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS

Another way to deal with it is to understand the power of you subconscious. Your subconscious works to achieve the goals you have set for it. Most of the time we consistently focus on the on the negative sides of our lives. The more we preach negativity to ourselves the deeper we sink. We are the sensei of our subconscious dojo and what ever we tell our subconscious it does no argument. It is our soul duty to apply a positive self concept.

POSITIVE SELF CONCEPT AND HOW TO APPLY IT

The first step to this is to recondition your subconscious mind. This is basically a matter of out with the old and in with the new. I personally never used to love how my face looked and when someone told me I look beautiful I would doubt it but they couldn’t be all wrong, in fact I was the one who was wrong! So I took a step towards telling myself that I am beautiful even when I don’t feel so beautiful. In a quote by life coach Shazmeen ‘LIFE IS EITHER HAPPENING TO YOU OR FOR YOU.’

FEED YOUR MIND GOAL

Remember your mind only does what you tell it to and it is very important to orient your mind with the goals you want to achieve both long term and short term. When overwhelmed and conflicting with emotions and thoughts, remind yourself the goals and things you would like to archive. If your goal was to achieve self control during overwhelming moments remind yourself of that.

IMAGINE, VISUALIZE, FEEL

Another way to coup with this is to imagine and visualize the person, emotions and mental stability you want to have. Allow yourself to feel the emotions and replace them with good ones if they don’t serve you. Blocking them only leads to clutter and there is nothing messier than and emotional hurricane. Take your time.

LET GO OF THE FEAR OF FAILURE

Failure is inevitable so the best way to handle it is accepting it and moving on. Many are the times that we get caught up in the pressure of failure while we should be concentrating on the things we can, have and are yet to achieve.

GO FOR THERAPY

Going for therapy doesn’t necessarily mean that you are mentally unstable. Therapy will actually help you deal with it, by giving you skills to deal such as breathing techniques and how to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones. Also using group therapy and exposer therapy will come in handy with dealing with social situations. Put yourself out there!

AVOID STIMULANTS

Taking things such as coffee, chocolate and soda in tremendous amounts may spike up your anxiety since they are rich in caffeine which is a stimulant.

GET ENOUGH SLEEP

Sleep is of the out most importance to the human mind. The mind is accustomed to at least eight hours of sleep. No sleep make you grumpy leading to aggravation which may spike up your anxiety.

TRUST ME YOU GOT THIS

I never thought i could do it but look at me now living my best life. Still in recovery and growing strong, yes its gonna take time so be gentle with yourself and remember you are loved.