Dealing with social anxiety disorder

In order to know how to deal with social anxiety disorder you must know what exactly it is and what power it may try to hold over you. You must be prepared to take baby steps in order to learn how to deal with social anxiety disorder. This article is your first step.

Wherever a social function is you must be sure you have your support there with you whether it a friend or significant other. A huge part of social anxiety not knowing what to do or how to escape. Having someone there gives reassurance and a small amount of safety and understanding.

You feel your self short of breath and light headed. You search the crowded room for the exit doors as you begin to get chest pains. You circle around and everything and everyone else seem oblivious. Except all the faces you see spinning past you as they stare at you. You see them and say “They are all staring at me, I am fat, I am ugly.” All these thoughts race through your head. All you know is you are trapped, if you let yourself be. When you don’t know how to deal with it at first it can be pretty severe.

According to Wikipedia “Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a diagnosis within psychiatry and other mental health professions referring to excessive long-lasting social anxiety causing relatively extreme distress and impaired ability to function in at least some areas of daily life. The diagnosis can be of a specific disorder (when only some particular situations are feared) or a generalized disorder. Generalized social anxiety disorder typically involves a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being judged by others and of potentially being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions. These fears can be triggered by perceived or actual scrutiny by others. While the fear of social interaction may be recognized by the person as excessive or unreasonable, considerable difficulty can be encountered overcoming it. Approximately 13.3% of the general population may meet criteria for social anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the highest survey estimate, with the male to female ratio being 1:1.5 respectively.[1]

Physical symptoms often accompanying social anxiety disorder include excessive blushing, sweating (hyperhidrosis), trembling, palpitations, nausea, and stammering. Panic attacks may also occur under intense fear and discomfort. An early diagnosis may help in minimizing the symptoms and the development of additional problems such as depression.