Overcoming Social Paranoia

Social paranoia is simply the fear of being among other people. For extreme cases that sometime include psychotic episodes, the medical term is Paranoid Personality Disorder and details can be found online at the National Institutes of Health here. The extreme version of social paranoia often is a side effect of other psychotic conditions. The following easy-to-follow steps are only for people who have the more mild and common social paranoia.

When at work:

1. It is important to focus on your project when trying to overcome social paranoia at work. The more you focus, the less you will think about the people around you, and as a bonus, the day goes faster.

2. On the job, in the break room during lunch, overcoming social paranoia is also important, and all you have to do is focus on your meal. If someone speaks to you and the social paranoia begins to take hold, just focus on the discussion at hand and also the food. Bring a book or comic to help combat social paranoia, it will help you focus your attention when the food is gone. If someone asks about what you are reading, give them lots of details about the writer and the story.

3. Social paranoia might not prevent you from rising up in company status, and that means you will endure meetings. If your paranoia begins to take shape at a company meeting, just focus on the notes on the board or make your own notes, and lots of them.

4. While driving to or from work on a long commute, you can target your thoughts on the other drivers. Just turn up the radio or slip in a disk that you know well and sing the songs, diverting your focus this way will help alleviate paranoia on the highway.

5. If your social paranoia gets the better of you at work, try to convince yourself that your co-workers simply don't matter. On the job, promotions can bring out the competitive nature in anyone, so just try to convince yourself that maybe they really are out to get you, because you are in the way to their raise. This train of thought will focus your social paranoia from the people to the larger issue of competition.

When at public social events:

6. When entering the room, and your social paranoia tries to overtake you, smile and simply nod to anyone who notices you.

7. Act shy.

8. Do not outright ignore anyone or leave questions unanswered, just because you suffer from personal problem, you do not have to be rude.

9. Remember that this is a social event and you came for a purpose. Do not let your problem prevent you from obtaining your goal here. Focus on your goal.

10. If worse comes to worse and your social paranoia begins to overtake you, make a bee line for the restroom, take a few deep breaths, and remind yourself again why you are here.

For a very good look into a personal experience with social paranoia, go to Ubersite.com or just click here.