Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, corresponds to a person's difficulty in interacting socially, presenting a job in public or eating in front of other people, for example, for fear of being judged, humiliated or others notice your weaknesses.
Social anxiety can be quite disabling and interfere with professional performance and related to social contact, which can lead to the development of other psychological disorders such as severe depression and agoraphobia, which is the fear of staying indoors, closed or staying inside a crowd, for example.
Treatment of social anxiety disorder should be done by a psychologist or psychiatrist who can indicate, depending on the degree of the disorder, the use of anxiolytic medications to decrease the anxiety symptoms.
How to Identify Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder can be identified through features presented by the person, such as:
- Difficulty interacting and talking with others;
- Afraid of speaking in public and on the phone;
- I am afraid to eat in front of others;
- Afraid to give his opinion on a certain subject;
- Fear of walking or working in front of other people.
People with social anxiety are very concerned about other people's self-assessment and usually avoid talking or doing things for fear of what others will find and fear of being humiliated, which impairs their performance at work and at work. social relationships. Therefore, they usually isolate themselves, being oblivious to different situations.
When people who suffer from social anxiety disorder become or feel exposed to situations that require a little more interaction, for example, there are some symptoms such as:
- Increased heart rate;
- Increased respiratory rate;
- Red face;
- Tremedeira;
- Trembling voice;
- Muscle tension;
- Nausea;
- Dizziness;
- Excessive sweating.
The symptoms of anxiety and nervousness are normal when they arise before or during a job interview or at a presentation. However, when symptoms arise in a variety of situations, especially when you are close to other people, it may be a sign of social anxiety disorder, and the person should seek psychological treatment. Learn to recognize other anxiety symptoms.
How is the treatment done?
Treatment for social anxiety disorder is mainly done with therapy sessions. The treatment performed by the psychologist or psychiatrist aims to help the person to find out why he or she can not interact or act naturally in front of other people and thus help her to overcome these barriers so that the person does not feel so concerned about the possible opinion of other people.
Therapy is also important so that the negative thoughts that normally arise in social anxiety disappear, causing the person to see things without many worries, improving the quality of life.
In addition, depending on the degree of social anxiety presented by the person, the use of medications may be recommended to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, especially when symptoms disrupt the person's quality of life. See which remedies are best for anxiety.
Possible causes
Social anxiety disorder is more common to appear in early childhood or adolescence, however the treatment is only sought when there is the development of another disorder, such as learning disability, for example, which may make the treatment of this disorder a little more complicated.
This disorder can happen due to low self-esteem, overprotective parents, social rejection, fear of exposure or traumatic experiences earlier. These situations make one lose confidence in oneself and doubt their ability to perform any task, not seeing their potential, and in this way is afraid that others will notice that they are not capable.
