If you suffer from social anxiety disorder (SAD) – panic of social or embarrassing situations – you should seek treatment as soon as possible. Many people who suffer from this condition don’t seek help until their symptoms become severe. This often leads to other conditions that are even worse. Social anxiety disorder is usually caused by a distorted view of social situations, combined with fear of embarrassment or ridicule. Fortunately, social anxiety treatment can be very successful if you have a strong desire for change.
The best way to effectively treat social anxiety therapy is often through medication – or, in some cases, both. You usually need about 12 to 16 weekly therapy sessions. The main objective is to build self-confidence, learn new coping skills to deal with the most common social situations that frighten you, and eventually become out in public.
Your therapist will determine the best social anxiety therapy for your unique case. He or she will start with a personal history to discover triggers, such as childhood traumas or other events that may have led to your current condition. Once you’ve had a chance to reflect on your past experiences, your therapist will help you develop new ways to cope with the stressful situations you face in public.
In social anxiety therapy, therapists also teach sufferers how to recognize their own thoughts and feelings that lead to anxiety symptoms. One helpful technique is called cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring involves breaking down the problem into smaller, more manageable steps. For example, instead of worrying that someone might look at you differently when you’re talking to them, you might redirect your thinking to imagining that you’ll have a good conversation with the person.
By using cognitive restructuring, sufferers can learn to break bad social anxiety triggers into smaller steps, which make progress a lot faster. Cognitive restructuring also helps people learn how to confront their hot thoughts and conquer them. Most people with social anxiety disorder tend to worry about things like having a conversation with a total stranger, or standing up in front of a large group of people. These hot thoughts can lead to feelings of nervousness, chest discomfort, sweating, dizziness, and even panic attacks.
When you are undergoing social anxiety therapy, you will be taught how to make progress through these fears. Your therapist will teach you how to gradually relax. During this time, you will learn to distract yourself from the fear by diverting your attention to something else. Eventually, you will gain access to a relaxed state, and you will no longer feel anxious.
The process of overcoming social anxiety disorder isn’t easy, but it can be done. As you work through each step of the therapy process, you will build upon the knowledge that fear and panic attacks are caused by exaggerated worry. You will be taught how to become an expert at noticing when you begin to feel nervous. This is important because you’ll need to learn how to manage these symptoms when they occur. People with social anxiety disorder may become very good at recognizing the beginning signs of a nervous situation, but if they can’t identify the triggers, they will be very vulnerable to extreme bouts of anxiety. Once you are able to recognize the signs of a nervous situation, you can then use simple techniques to overcome those fears.
If you think you have social anxiety disorder, talk to your doctor about getting help. Social anxiety disorder isn’t something you have to live with. Take action now to overcome your disorder and regain control of your life.