Sunday, January 7, 2007

Social anxiety sufferers, help yourself!

According to Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Association social anxiety is the third largest mental health care problem in the world today. About 7% of the world's population suffers from social anxiety disorder.

A woman hates to stand in line in the grocery store because she's afraid that everyone is watching her... A woman sitting in front of the telephone and agonizing because she's afraid to pick up the receiver and make a call... A man finds it difficult to walk down the street because he's self-conscious and feels that people are watching him from their windows... A girl won't attend her university classes on the first day because she knows that in some classes the professor will instruct them to go around the room and introduce themselves... Another young man wants to go to parties and other social events but he never goes anywhere because he's very nervous about meeting new people...

All these are examples of social anxiety.

Social anxiety is the fear of the interaction with other people and social situations that can bring on feelings of self-evaluation, judgment, consciousness and criticism. In other words, social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people that leads to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression.

People who suffer from social anxiety should attend a specialist and receive proper treatment. But in many cases certain actions may be undertaken to solve the problem on one's own. Here social anxiety self help tips will be posted.

No comments: