Are you feeling SAD? Social Anxiety Disorder and why it’s more than just shyness. Part One.
Many people feel uncomfortable in particular social settings, such as going to a job interview or giving a speech. It is natural to feel frightened or concerned in situations like these.
However, these nervous sensations can occur in most or all social situations for those suffering from social anxiety disorder. They can be so powerful that they negatively impact their lives.
Social anxiety disorder is characterised by a severe, long-standing, and incapacitating fear of social situations. Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder may fear embarrassing themselves or being evaluated and ridiculed by others in social cases.
Anxiety in response to social circumstances can arise before, during, or after the event and is frequently experienced at all three times.
Individuals may find the social setting so distressing that they attempt to avoid or escape it to avoid confronting their worries.
In 1980, the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-3) defined social anxiety disorder as an anxiety disorder. It is estimated to have a lifetime prevalence rate of 2-5 per cent, with females being more prevalent than males.
The spectrum and severity of social anxiety disorder vary, with some fearing most social situations and others just experiencing worry in one or two.
The following are some of the social situations that someone with a social anxiety disorder may find difficult:
• Public speaking
• One-on-one conversations
• Group interactions
• Social events such as parties
• Meeting new people
• Making phone calls
• Job interviews
• Initiating and maintaining conversations
• Giving presentations
• Work meetings
• Walking in front of others
• Using public restrooms
• Eating or drinking in front of others
What Causes Social Anxiety?
What causes social anxiety? A large part of social anxiety is that people worry about the likelihood and cost of the feared social event.
The likelihood represents how probable they believe their concerns will come true. In contrast, the cost is how horrible they think the scenario will be if their fears are realised.
For example, suppose someone were to give a presentation to their class. In that case, they may assume they may make a mistake or stutter when speaking - this is the likelihood.
If they make a mistake or stutter, they may fear being judged or laughed at by others; this is the cost. Because of these ideas, the person giving the speech may feel highly uncomfortable, trembling, blushing, sweating, or nauseous.
Other causes of social anxiety include:
• Being provoked by social threats
• Negative ideas about oneself
• How strongly we fear a social disaster' will occur.
• Attention to self and environment
• Safety behaviours
• Avoidance techniques
• How you believe others view you
• Fundamental beliefs
Overcoming Avoidance Through Self-Help
Those suffering from social anxiety may engage in avoidance behaviours, in which they avoid the feared circumstance to lessen their anxiety levels.
This usually leads to immediate relaxation and a reduction in anxiety because the feared circumstance is no longer necessary. Individuals who use avoidance to cope may avoid meeting new people, large groups, making phone calls, going to appointments, school, or working.
Avoiding social settings can help a socially anxious person feel safe in the short term, but this is a problem in the long run because avoidance can keep them uneasy.
Individuals do not have the opportunity to question their negative views if they avoid social events. Avoidance may reinforce their negative beliefs because they will be unable to see what will happen and how expensive it will be.
They may miss out on possibilities since fewer opportunities for pleasant social experiences will drive them to participate in additional social activities.
They may also pass up opportunities to succeed in school or a job. For example, they might avoid a job interview for a position they truly want because they are afraid of embarrassment or don't know what to say when put on the spot.
Those who avoid may have lower self-esteem because they are not doing what they want (for example, establishing great friendships). They may feel more alone and depressed.
The avoidance may spread to other aspects of their lives where they may lose confidence, such as relationships or jobs.
Furthermore, suppose they face a social circumstance they cannot avoid in the future. In that case, their anxiety may be much worse since they have not given themselves opportunities to confront their anxieties.
As a result, avoidance reinforces negative expectations, creating a vicious cycle of worry and avoidance.
It is exceedingly difficult to overcome anxiety if the individual avoids everything. Thus the cycle must be ended. This can be accomplished by approaching circumstances that make persons uneasy, which may increase anxiety in the short term but will provide more opportunities to test their anxieties and gain confidence in their coping skills in the long term.
As a result, more realistic expectations should be created to minimise worry. Individuals could gradually begin starting small talk, for example, to break the cycle of fear and avoidance.
They could also assign themselves little social challenges, such as staying at a social function for one hour before departing.
They might reflect on what transpired once the social event was ended - were their negative perceptions about the circumstance correct? Is there a problem? What worked well? They could also rate their anxiety before and after the incident and their feelings about repeating the social situation.
Safety Habits
Those suffering from social anxiety may resort to safety practices in situations that cannot be avoided. These are still avoidance actions, but they are more subtle, employed to keep feared predictions from coming true and to make people feel more at ease in social circumstances.
Some safety behaviours are challenging to detect, and many people are unaware they are engaging in them. Different behaviours could be applied in various contexts.
Some examples of safe behaviour include:
• remaining silent in social circumstances
• wearing headphones
• pre-planning what to say
• avoiding eye contact
• abusing alcohol or drugs
• Speaking quietly
• Focusing the conversation on others
• Dressing inconspicuously
• Carrying anxiety medication
The difficulty with safety behaviours, like avoidance behaviours, is that they only provide temporary respite. They can make people more worried in the long run.
Although individuals are not entirely avoiding the circumstance, their safety actions prevent them from fully exploring their anxieties.
Individuals who repeatedly test negative beliefs may discover that their forecasts never come true, diminishing these negative thoughts.
Safety behaviours may provide worse results than openly confronting the situation. They may become self-fulfilling prophecies in the sense that they may create consequences that are being avoided.
For example, suppose someone utilises alcohol to make them feel more at ease in social situations. In that case, they may get overly intoxicated and act in ways that would humiliate them if they did not rely on alcohol.
Suppose individuals use safety behaviours in a social environment and the feared consequence does not occur. In that case, they may wrongly attribute their success to safety behaviours.
They may believe that the behaviours prevented a negative outcome. As a result, they are more inclined to rely on them in more social situations. They may become more worried if they cannot employ their safety behaviours.
Individuals may also become more focused on themselves when performing safety actions. This self-focused attention can divert attention away from the social context (for example, a discussion), making it harder to pay attention to what is happening and causing additional problems.
Individuals with social anxiety may feel more nervous in the near term as they learn to abandon safety practices. The most effective strategy would be to discontinue the actions as soon as they are observed in a social setting. If this becomes too challenging, the behaviours could be reduced gradually.
Individuals could also 'collect evidence' that contradicts their negative beliefs, such as seeing that nothing unpleasant happens when they speak louder or when all eyes are on them.
Individuals can also set goals for themselves before entering a social situation. Instead of utilising the safety habit of no eye contact when giving a presentation, they might challenge themselves to make eye contact with 3 people.
Dealing with Obstacles
Realising that some setbacks are common when dealing with a social anxiety disorder is vital. Individuals may, for example, find themselves in a challenging social circumstance in which someone passes judgement or criticises them.
Similarly, living circumstances can change abruptly, and individuals may not be as exposed to social situations as they formerly were.
The COVID-19 outbreak, for example, has led to many persons being secluded from social situations for extended periods.
Individuals suffering from social anxiety disorder may find it incredibly difficult to get back on track following such setbacks. Those individuals must focus on what they can do to get back on track rather than on the setbacks.
Individuals can learn from unfavourable experiences to build resilience and know what to do if they are in a similar circumstance again.
Individuals suffering from social anxiety may find it beneficial to develop their own individualised action plan for dealing with setbacks to avoid tiny setbacks becoming larger ones.
This action plan should involve noting the triggers that could lead to a setback and the warning signals (emotional, cognitive, behavioural, or physical) that could suggest a reversal is imminent.
They might include information in their action plan about what to do or remind themselves when a setback occurs and who they could call for additional assistance.
