If you struggle with social anxiety but can't afford or access therapy wouldn't
it be nice to have the tools and information that therapists provide available for free.
Well that is what I'm going to give you in this series of videos on social anxiety.
So stay tuned click, on subscribe and then the notification bell.
In this first video I'm going to talk about the different types of social anxiety,
the causes, symptoms, the risks and challenges for people with social anxiety
and how it can be treated using cognitive behavioral therapy.
Social anxiety may be limited to performance situations like public speaking or it may
be specific like a fear of eating in front of others or using toilets when others are present.
By the way the latter is called pauresis and I have a whole series of videos on that subject.
But the most common type is where the fear is more generalized to any social situation.
You may have a fear of being judged, rejected or embarrassing yourself.
The severity and symptoms of social anxiety disorder can vary. People with high functioning
social anxiety are often able to live a relatively full life despite their social anxiety,
but for others life can be very limited with difficulties working or forming relationships.
In these severe cases there's also a risk of depression
and substance or alcohol abuse. So social anxiety can be a very serious anxiety disorder.
in some cases physical symptoms like sweating, shaking or blushing may be noticeable to others
but often they are not. In social situations people with social anxiety may find their heart
races, their breathing becomes faster and some may even experience a full-blown panic attack.
Social anxiety disorder most commonly starts in teenage years but signs can be detected in
even younger children. The cause of social anxiety is not fully understood but abuse,
bullying, a traumatic event, over critical or overprotective parents are thought to be some of
the likely contributors. Certain personality types may be more prone to developing social anxiety.
Sometimes physical problems like a stammer can cause social anxiety
though bullying or how the parents deal with the issue is often the real root cause.
Social anxiety can also be learned if a parent suffers from it
as the child notices the fears and behaviors of the parent.
These negative early life experiences result in maladaptive beliefs about themselves and
the world around them. Often people with social anxiety are extremely capable and likable people
but they believe otherwise. Their minds are often occupied with
negative thoughts about being inadequate, useless, unlikable, unattractive or uncool.
They think others are likely to judge them negatively, reject them or disapprove or
disagree with anything they may have to say. To cope with these negative thoughts
and beliefs they develop behaviors to try to protect themselves from what they fear
will happen in social situations. In psychology these behaviors are known as safety behaviors.
In most cases these safety behaviors will involve appearing more introverted such as avoiding eye
contact and avoiding social situations but in some cases they may act more extroverted.
This is driven by mistaken belief that people only like extroverts.
They may also use extroverted behaviors to hide their anxiety from others. If you want
to know more about extroverted social anxiety disorder see my video link in the top corner.
Whether introverted or extroverted, these safety behaviors reinforce the negative thoughts
and prevent these maladaptive beliefs from ever being challenged. They assume that others will
perceive them in the way that they perceive themselves. Though some are able to live a
full life despite the social anxiety for others life can be very lonely and happy and stressful.
The good news is that although it may not be possible to eliminate social anxiety a
hundred percent it is very possible to change where you are on the social anxiety scale.
The most effective way to do this is using cognitive behavioral therapy.
CBT teaches you how to challenge the beliefs and negative thoughts about yourself and the
world around you. It takes time, but as your beliefs change the anxiety symptoms reduce
and you are able to enjoy more and more social situations.
Fear is processed in part of the brain called the limbic system.
CBT involves using the logical part of the brain to challenge and retrain the limbic system. It
requires just a pen and paper but more importantly a lot of patience and a lot of perseverance.
In this video series I will give you tasks to do and links to CBT forms from a great self-help
website. CBT is suitable for most people but if you have experienced extreme trauma like
sexual or physical abuse or you self-harm or feel suicidal then you really need the help of
support from a counsellor or psychiatrist and should not use this series of videos.
But if you are suitable for CBT, subscribe and click on the notification bell
and look out for the next video in the series.