One of the great challenges in overcoming mental-health problems is admitting to having them in the first place. Social-anxiety is a type of psychological dysfunction that can have symptoms that are not necessarily as dramatic as other mental-health conditions, but nonetheless can be highly debilitating for those who experience them. Once you’ve admitted to suffering from it – you’re likely to have taken a big step towards managing its symptoms, but it can often be problematic in identifying the symptoms in the first place.
Essentially, social-anxiety is a disorder that can make you feel uncomfortable, ill at ease or awkward in many social situations – be it with people you know well or have encountered for the first time. It can create a barrier that stops people from living their lives, and interacting with people in the manner they’d like to, and can be a cause of great concern for the millions of people who suffer from it.
As with other types of anxiety it can manifest itself in a range of symptoms and sensations, which can include: tightening in your chest, going red, sweating, jumbling words and finding it difficult to speak, shaking and muscular spasms, negative thoughts, lack of confidence and shortness of breath.
If you feel you suffer from it, you can overcome its worst effects, by identifying its symptoms – so you can begin to understand them, and try and device methods of dealing with them. Strategies used to lessen the effects of social-anxiety include: considering the nature of your lifestyle and gauging its impact on your self-esteem. For instance, if you are overweight, you may be able to project a more confident self-image, if you lose weight, and if you feel intimidated by a person within a social situation, you could try a projection technique in which you construct an absurd mental picture of them – such as sticking a big nose on them and imagining they speak with a comical voice.
Most of all, it’s important to remember that millions of people suffer from various forms of social-anxiety, and that you are absolutely not alone.
Comments are closed.