No matter how painfully shy you may be and no matter how bad you get butterflies, you can learn to be comfortable in social situations and reclaim your life. Social anxiety disorder, also referred to as social phobia, produces an intense fear of many social circumstances —especially situations that are new and unfamiliar to you.You may also fear those times in which you feel you’ll be the center of attention or evaluated by others. You will probably find yourself avoiding such situations because they trigger powerfully intense feelings and you may find yourself becoming extremely shy and insecure. Your extreme feelings may then become obvious to others.Many social situations may be so ‘off-the-charts frightening that just thinking about them makes you anxious.
Underlying the disorder of social anxiety or social phobia is the fear of being scrutinized, judged, or embarrassed in public.
You might experience a fear that people will not think well of you or that you won’t measure up when they compare you to other people. And even though you probably realize that your fears of being judged are at least somewhat irrational and overblown, you still can’t control your feelings of being anxious.
While it may seem like there’s nothing you can do about the symptoms of social anxiety disorder or social phobia, in reality, there are many things that can help. It starts with understanding the problem.
Take a moment now to discover what you can do to help yourself. Read more and browse through the Social Anxiety Downloads.