Coping With Social Anxiety Disorder
Being a little nervous when having to interact with people can be normal but if this nervousness becomes too overwhelming and starts to interfere with your life, you may have social anxiety.
Social anxiety disorder is not your ordinary case of nervousness or shyness – it is actually a condition where it can cause many social problems.
The effects of having social anxiety can vary depending on the seriousness. An individual suffering from a mild case, for instance, may find it hard to make new friends or find a romantic partner, but otherwise does alright in his day to day existence.
More severe cases, however, may cause someone to shut himself in complete isolation from the rest of the world, choosing to hide in his house rather than go to work or interact with other people. It may also lead to agoraphobia, so it is important to find help as soon as possible.
Fortunately, there are now several social anxiety disorder treatments and programs that can be used to remedy even the most serious cases. There were many techniques that helped me overcome social anxiety…so I know it can be done!
Social Anxiety Treatment Options
The most popular treatment for social anxiety disorders today, are the ones that make use of the psychological approach.
This self help approach is preferred by many because it does not involve the use of any artificial medications that may have unwanted side effects. These self help programs intend to gradually get to the root cause of the problem with successive therapy sessions.
Many cases can actually be treated using cognitive behavior therapy. It is very effective and very safe. In fact, it’s so safe that it is also used for treating social anxiety in children. Even people who have not yet been officially diagnosed with this disorder but have experienced some of the anxiety symptoms may also benefit from some cognitive behavior methods, effectively stopping their disorder before it takes to big a hold on their mental health.
Psychological treatments may not suffice for more advanced cases, which is when doctors prescribe anxiety medications…however natural methods are the safer option.
These medications have proven to be effective social anxiety treatments but the problem is that many prescription medications come with some negative side effects, like dizziness and nausea. Some medications may cause drug dependency over time. Many anxiety medications are known to be addictive therefore in order to minimize the side effects, one has to make sure to use the medications only in the dosages prescribed by the doctor.
I would also like to add that there are natural solutions! That is all I have used! You can start by writing in a journal, watching the foods you eat, exercise, get good sleep, meditate…and the list goes on.
Be proactive and you can do anything, including overcoming social anxiety.
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About Jennifer Johnson
I have a nephew who suffers from extreme anxiety disorder in social settings. He gets extremely nervous even around family members during holidays. The disorder has interfered with his ability to hold a job. In fact, he is not applying for Social Security disability benefits in part because of this issue. He has been seeing a therapist for some time but it hasn’t helped much in his case.
Hi Flash,
I can totally relate to your nephew’s social anxiety. I used to suffer badly with anxiety at social gatherings and quite often more at family gatherings!
I have learned how to manage my social anxiety over the last few years…hence the reason for my website…so if there is anything I can help you with…please let me know.