If you live with social anxiety, you may often feel self-conscious and experience difficulty feeling comfortable in your own skin. You likely worry that others are judging you or thinking negatively about you. Living with social anxiety can feel like you are constantly in the spotlight. It can also make connection with others painfully difficult. Treatment offers the opportunity to change the story of how you relate to others so that you feel more free, more confident, and comfortable being yourself.
Common Experiences
If you identify with some of these experiences, you likely live with social anxiety. In social situations, your mind goes blank or you feel that you don’t have anything interesting to talk about. You rehearse what to say in conversations, although it often does not come out as planned. After conversations or social interactions you replay the situation repeatedly and are critical of what you said and did. You avoid drawing attention to yourself and being the center of attention because it makes you uncomfortable. Maybe you find yourself worrying that people will see how anxious you are feeling, or you might have the fear that people are laughing at you. You may think that people see you as boring, annoying, dumb, weird, or awkward. Most people experience a high level of anxiety or even panic when having to give a presentation or talk in front of a group. Many people experience loneliness and wish they had better or more friendships/relationships.
What is social anxiety?
Social anxiety is defined as fear or anxiety in social situations. People with social anxiety often worry about judgment or criticism. They believe others will view them in a negative light. Sometimes people just experience physical symptoms of anxiety or panic that can feel overwhelming or even paralyzing. Social anxiety can lead to avoidance of the situations that cause anxiety. Many people feel that their social anxiety greatly impacts their life, keeping them from doing the things they want to and feeling satisfied with their relationships or life. Depression and/or using alcohol or other substances to manage the anxiety are also common.
Social Anxiety Treatment
It might feel like social anxiety is part of your personality, but it is possible to feel less anxious and more confident. We will begin by tailoring our approach to meet your needs. We will explore the different ways you experience social anxiety, so that we can make a plan for what would be most helpful to you. Treatment often includes learning tools to manage anxiety and feel more relaxed in your own skin; while also addressing the thoughts, feelings, and any underlying factors that contribute to your social anxiety.
For treatment to be most helpful, it will include exposure activities. Exposure activities allow you to purposefully experience situations that make you anxious. This will give you the chance to practice new ways of being in the safe context of therapy. The exposure activities will be situations you identify that cause you relatively lower levels of anxiety.
After we have mastered the lower anxiety triggering situations, we will build on those experiences to more challenging situations – always working at your own pace. As we work together, you will begin to notice that you naturally use and incorporate the tools you have learned for managing your anxiety and that you begin relating to yourself and others in the ways you want. Additionally, therapy may include social skills and assertiveness skills or building self-compassion and self-acceptance.