What exactly is social anxiety disorder? Basically, social anxiety disorder is just a specific kind of anxiety disorder that has got to do with social situations. It is also known as social phobia. When a person is suffering from social anxiety disorder, he or she might have a tremendous, unreasonable and excessive fear of social situations or people. This social anxiety disorder is usually caused by a fear of being watched and judged closely by others.
When you have social anxiety disorder, you would probably be constantly feeling afraid that you might make mistakes in front of other people, and thus look bad, humiliated and embarrassed in front of them. This fear, if not taken good care of and kept under control, may eventually manifest itself into a full blown panic attack. If you already are having panic attacks, then you might want to seek for some panic attack help.
Since these people often feel fear when it comes to social situations or interacting with others, they may eventually try to avoid social situations or talking with other people completely. This is called running away from their fears, and can make their disorder worse if they continue to keep doing that. Even though a lot of people who suffer from this kind of disorder know that their fear is unfounded and totally unreasonable, somehow or another they feel powerless to try and overcome it.
If you do not know whether you have social anxiety disorder, here are some questions to help guide you along to finding out:
- Are you afraid of drinking and eating in front of other people?
- Are you afraid of being the center of attraction in groups or among your friends?
- Are you afraid of social situations such as parties where there will be a lot of people you don’t know?
- Are you afraid of talking on the telephone?
- Are you afraid of using public toilets?
- Are you afraid of taking public transport?
If your answer is YES to all of the questions above, then you are definitely suffer from some kind of social anxiety disorder. Even though this is the case, do not be scared as this is something that is treatable and very manageable, especially if it is still in the early stages.
Treating a social anxiety disorder is basically the same as learning how to overcome social anxiety or learning how to get rid of shyness. Social anxiety disorder today is found in more than 25 % of adults, which is a very high percentage and number.
Therefore, there is nothing to be ashamed of if you know that you have a social anxiety disorder. Get it treated as soon as possible so that you can achieve the life you have always dreamt of!