All About Socal Anxiety and How to Overcome it with Psychological Therapy & Counselling

What is Social Anxiety?

Social Anxiety is what you experience when you worry about other people (your social group) making a negative judgement about you, or scrutinising you for some action that you have carried out.

It is also symptomatic of the social pressure you may feel in meeting the expectations of your socio-cultural environment.

It is the MOST COMMON form of anxiety experienced by people, and although most sufferers recognise that it is irrational and disproportionate to the given situation, it tends to be quite difficult to overcome by will power alone!

Social Anxiety generally develops in the earlier stages in a persons life with research showing that 50% of all sufferers have the condition by just 11 years of age, and 80% of sufferers developing it by the age of 20.

It is also known by a number of different names including:

• Social Phobia
• S.A.D. (NOT seasonal affective disorder by the way)
• Fear of Being Judged

Take Our Social Anxiety Test

Why not take our social anxiety test which measures the degree of anxiety you may be experiencing.

Social Anxiety Symptoms & Behaviours

The most frequent symptoms and behaviours include:

• Excessive self-consciousness: Feeling self-conscious, embarrassed, or ashamed in social situations, and fearing that others are judging or scrutinising you.

• Fear of negative evaluation: Worrying excessively about being judged or rejected by others, and avoiding situations where you might be evaluated.

• Avoidance behaviours: Avoiding social situations or only attending them with great difficulty or discomfort.

• Physical symptoms: Experiencing physical symptoms, such as sweating, blushing, trembling, rapid heartbeat, or nausea, in social situations.

• Difficulty speaking: Feeling tongue-tied or having difficulty speaking in social situations, particularly in front of others.

• Difficulty making eye contact: Avoiding eye contact or feeling uncomfortable when making eye contact with others.

• Panic attacks: Experiencing sudden and intense episodes of fear or panic in social situations.

• Impairment in functioning: Social anxiety can interfere with daily functioning and lead to difficulties in work, relationships, and social activities.

You may also have other symptoms not listed here but in general terms, symptoms are almost always related to the idea of negative social judgement.

What Causes Social Anxiety?

Human beings are social animals.

Unless we grow up in total isolation from other human beings, our lives are experienced within a social setting.

In order for us to successfully navigate these social settings and fit in with the other people around us, we must learn to live by the social rules and regulations that allow us to be members of that particular society.

These social rules and regulations are ‘given’ to us by our parents, our schools and the institutions which govern our day-to-day lives.

Consequently, the social rules that many of us live our lives by are those rules made up by other members of society and not of our own making.

We experience social anxiety when we fear that we have broken one of these rules, regardless of whether or not those rules actually make any sense in a real world context.

Therapy & Counselling for Social Anxiety

We offer a number of different types of therapy and counselling for social anxiety and anxiety-related problems.

Choosing the most suitable therapy depends on a number of different considerations including factors such as:

• How long you have had the problem.
• Your personal preferences.
• How your problem is affecting you today.

You can read more about the different types of therapy for social anxiety on the following links:

• CBT for Social Anxiety
• Counselling for Social Anxiety
• Pluralistic Therapy for Social Anxiety

Although all therapies use slightly different approaches, the one thing they all have in common is the relationship that is formed between the client and therapist.

Research suggests that this therapy relationship may be the most important factor in achieving a good therapy outcome.

Behaviour Change Framework – BCF

All of our social anxiey counselling sessions and programmes are enhanced by applying the Behaviour Change Framework (BCF).

This scientifically proven protocol clearly defines the incremental stages of behaviour change that you need to go through in order to achieve long lasting and sustainable change.

Drawn from the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change (TTM), the framework provides a roadmap that not only gauges the current stage of progression through the change process, but also indicates if more change is required before entering the next phase of therapy or coaching.

In this way, we are able to ensure that you get the best possible level of support in overcoming your problems as well as ensuring that we don’t terminate the change process prematurely.

You can read more about the Science of Change here.

Arrange your FREE initial consultation here.

If you’d like to find out more about overcoming social anxiety or recovering from any of your mental health problems then why not arrange a free initial consultation with us.

During this consultation we will discuss your particular issues and the different types of mental health counselling we offer without you having to commit to any counselling going forward.

The consultation lasts around 50 minutes and is a great opportunity to meet with either Paul or Joan and decide if you would like to proceed with any support.