How To Treat Social Anxiety Disorder

March 14th, 2010 Posted in Mental Health

For the 1-2% of men and 2-3% of women who suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder treatment comes in several forms and their effectiveness will vary from person to person.

Do You Have A Social Anxiety Disorder?

People who have a general social phobia find themselves worrying about being the center of attention in social situations.  They may feel that everyone is looking at them and scrutinizing what they are doing and experience apprehension, dread or uneasiness as a result.

Mild social anxiety is quite common, however it can affect day to day life. It may make it impossible for you to confront friends, family, colleagues or your boss, even when it is justified.  Going to parties or undressing at the beach are often hurdles that sufferers find insurmountable. 

How Does It Feel?

Due to your lack of comfort at social events, you may suffer from severe anxiety before having to attend these events.  You may get a dry mouth, sweat profusely, suffer palpitations.The fear of communicating to others will make it impossible to communicate as you want to, which draws more attention to you and completes the cycle.

A worst case scenario is that these feelings and symptoms will culminate into a panic attack, which may last just a few minutes, but are overwhelming.

After an event, you may go through what happened in your head, such as things that you said or did, and how you could have acted differently.

Flow On Effects Of Social Phobia

Social anxiety disorder treatment is important to prevent any flow-on affects of the condition. These can lead to depressive illness, and agoraphobia, which is the inability to go out.   Others resort to alcohol or tranquilizers to alleviate the symptoms, creating the possibility of addiction in both cases.

Help Is At Hand

People who suffer a social anxiety disorder are treated in several ways, either in a combined approach or individually.  They include:

Psychological Strategies

(a) Social Skills:  Being re-taught basic things like how to introduce yourself and first steps in starting a conversation. Practise is the key, and this is best done as a group activity.

(b) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): This teaches us how to change the way we think about things, focusing on removing the feelings of ‘fault’ from the sufferers analysis of situations.

(c) Exposure Therapy: Learning how to relax in frightening situations is something that is done gradually – increasing the level of exposure over time and teaching anxiety management techniques along the way.

Self-Help

Yoga and relaxation techniques are great skills for people with social anxiety disorders.  These can be undertaken in live classes or by DVD at home.  Classes in assertiveness, self-confidence or public speaking will also help those who are shy or who suffer specific social phobia.

Drug Therapies

There are several types of drug therapies that are used in social anxiety disorder treatment, and should be prescribed only by a qualified health professional.  They include Beta-Blockers, Antidepressants and Tranquilizers.

Drug therapies are being trialled, improved and released all the time, so up to date information on current successful developments is vital.