Have you ever heard of social anxiety? Although little discussed, this disorder is affecting more and more people.
In summary, this condition is characterized by a great fear of social life and interactions with other people, however small.
Generally, sufferers of social anxiety show the first symptoms from the age of 13 in early adolescence, but the person or their family members do not always notice the disorder, making the problem difficult to diagnose and resolve.
The next seven topics describe and detail seven of the most important signs of social anxiety, signs that most often go unnoticed.
If you feel like you have this problem or are concerned about a family member or friend who is antisocial, read on!
1. Fear of embarrassment
The first and most obvious symptom of social anxiety is an overwhelming fear of embarrassment, even when that risk is not imminent.
Those with this condition always imagine going through an embarrassing or humiliating situation before entering, for example, a public gathering, party, or meeting with friends.
2. Avoiding situations for fear of being judged
Usually, anxious people’s fear of embarrassment also makes them afraid of being judged for something they do.
So it’s common for them to think things like “other people will think I’m stupid” or “I’ll screw it up and everyone will think I’m an idiot”.
Because of this, these people tend to get stuck in their lives and get nowhere.
3. Only feel comfortable with a few specific people
As we’ve mentioned so far, social anxiety makes people feel unsafe around large crowds.
As a result, sufferers tend to become overly attached to certain people, such as parents, siblings, or cousins.
4. Feeling uncomfortable when other people notice your behavior
Another major fear brought on by cruel social anxiety is that the problem will be noticed by other people.
People who suffer from social anxiety often find that people notice trembling hands, flushed cheeks, slurred speech, and other characteristics of their fear of being out in public. This way they avoid even more social interaction.
5. Having “private” fears
Do you know someone who is afraid of doing simple things in public like talking, eating or even walking where there are a lot of people? So this person may have social anxiety.
Here the already characteristic fears of doing something “wrong” and being ridiculed by others are repeated.
6. Excessive selfcriticism
Those with social anxiety spend a lot of time selfanalyzing and getting angry about things they thought were interaction failures.
This excess of selfcriticism is another clear sign of this condition and can even be considered one of the most damaging as it has a great psychological impact on the individual.
7. Create things that don’t exist and believe that to be true
Finally, we have another big sign of social anxiety: a firm belief in something that doesn’t exist, that it invented itself.
Social anxiety often imagines things like, “People think I’m weird” or “everyone thinks I’m ugly or worthless” and actually believe it.
At the end of the day, these thoughts are mostly just fables made up by the anxious person and don’t reflect the reality of the facts.
I identified social anxiety; What can I do?
If you have signs of social anxiety, you should see a specialist for a preliminary consultation. In this case, it must be a psychologist.
Generally, treatment of this condition involves the use of medication and occupational therapy sessions to stop symptoms and reverse the individual’s mental state.
In the vast majority of cases, social anxiety is completely reversed and the person begins to live an easy and happy life after healing.