10 Hints for Dealing with Social Anxiety

10 Hints for Dealing With Social Anxiety - Social anxiety is a disorder that affects 15 million people a year in America. Although it is not as widely known as other disorders, it is indeed a real illness. The one thing that makes this disorder so different is that many professionals such as psychiatrist, therapists, and even your family doctor do not know very much about social anxiety. The patient does not know if it is a real disease or if they are going crazy. This is the hard part when it comes to talking to someone about the problem. The person who is suffering from social anxiety avoids talking to others because this is part of the disorder. They think people will think there is something wrong with them. They are afraid they will not be able to talk to someone who tries to start a conversation with them. Here are 10 hints that may make dealing with this problem just a little easier.

1) The social anxiety sufferer may be convinced there is something wrong that will make people stare at them. By having a close friend they can confide in, the friend may be able to accompany them on their outings so they do not feel so isolated.

2) They feel that people are watching them and staring at them when they are not. The fear of doing something to humiliate themselves is so strong they would rather stay home behind closed doors than to go out in public. By taking small trips everyday and letting this feeling have the chance to be addressed they may find out that everyone is so interested in their own lives they have little time to think about other people's problems.

3) Try to speak to at least one person a day. You will see they are not judging you or laughing at you. They will attempt to become your friend.

4) Try going to places where you can be around only a couple of people at a time instead of a big crowd. If you can work out the feelings by only having to concentrate on a couple of people the urge to go home and hide may end up being less severe.

5) Often they isolate themselves. If at all possible they get things delivered so they do not have to go out. Do not resort to this tactic. Make yourself go to the market or dry cleaners and at least pick up a few things. When you first start to work on this you may still get some things delivered, but not everything.

6) One of the problems that social anxiety sufferers experience is the feeling that something about themselves is so out of proportion that they are sure someone will notice it. Usually it involves something about their face. By having someone they trust to talk them out of this notion they may be able to get over this feeling.

7) One of the solutions to the inability to talk to people could be handled by having a supporter. Someone who could spend most of their time with the person who suffers from anxiety disorder could be there when these feelings try to take over and talk them down. This would take a great friend or someone who is interested in this disorder and would be willing to be 'on duty' a great deal of the time.

8) Because the anxiety disorder sufferer will not even make telephone calls for fear of bothering someone, a practice session could be set up for them to make telephone calls using the same supporter that was mentioned above. The more practice they have doing this, the less they may feel that they are a nuisance.

9) There are several ways a supporter may help the person who suffers from anxiety disorder. By helping them to reason out their fears and use the knowledge they can gain from their illness, it is possible for them to have a normal life.

10) The sufferer of this disorder will not ever totally get over anxiety disorder however, they can benefit from therapy. Working through their feelings may be the answer to being able to hold a job, go to the store, the bank, or the millions of places we go each and every day.

Resource:
http://www.socialphobia.org/whatis.html