All About Social Anxiety Disorder
Everyone gets nervous in social situations from time to time. But if anxiety about being around others is getting in the way of the life you want to live, it might be time to consider treatment for social anxiety disorder.
What is Social Anxiety?
Everyone gets nervous in social situations from time to time. Whether it’s a big presentation, a first date, or a difficult conversation, it's natural to sometimes worry about how things will go, how we will perform, and how we may be perceived. Indeed, without a little bit of trepidation ahead of time, we might not be spurred on to take action to prepare for that particular situation. (You could imagine how a first date might turn out if you didn’t care about how you came across).
Some people, however, experience so much anxiety and worry around social situations that it becomes disruptive and dysfunctional. They may steer clear of certain environments or interactions, and might even experience symptoms of panic. Over time, symptoms of social anxiety can get so bad that folks might stop speaking at all except to a select few people, or they might isolate themselves in order to avoid having to interact with others.
For others, social anxiety only shows up in specific situations. Someone might struggle with eating in public, or with giving a presentation at work. Others might only feel intense anxiety when speaking to a member of the opposite sex, an authority figure, or even a specific member of their family or work team. Despite the specificity of their triggers, these individuals can still experience significant impacts on their quality of life.
How is Social Anxiety treated?
Like most anxiety disorders, social anxiety is brought on and maintained by a complex mix of behavior patterns (often referred to as “safety behaviors”), cognitive distortions, and dysfunctional patterns of attention and awareness. As such, effective treatment addresses all three of these symptom domains.
One of the more common approaches to treating social anxiety is a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) known as Exposure Therapy. Through this treatment modality, individuals learn to discontinue the patterns of behavior and thinking that maintain their anxiety while gradually engaging in feared activities and situations so that their nervous system can learn new patterns of responding.
Metacognitive Therapy can also be helpful for individuals with social anxiety, specifically by correcting faulty beliefs about safety behaviors, as well as increasing control and awareness of unhelpful patterns of attention (for example, focusing on one’s internal experiences of worry and rumination during a conversation, rather than relevant external information).
Ready to start?
I offer specialized treatment for Social Anxiety both in-person in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as well as online throughout Louisiana. Reach out now to schedule a free consultation.