Social anxiety disorder is evident when you feel very uncomfortable in crowds, even if the crowd is made up of only your own loved ones. From family Christmas gatherings to family gatherings of a hundred or more, crowds can scare some people. It is a fear that they cannot control. It affects many people around the world, and to a greater or lesser degree affects each person who treats it. It is a painful disorder that prevents loved ones from participating in family gatherings, such as birthday parties, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas celebrations, Hanukkah, and all the festivities celebrated by mankind that involve the gathering of crowds of people. There is intense fear in social situations. There is help for you if this applies to you, I’m happy to say. Your doctor will be able to help you with your social anxiety disorder. Thus, you can live a more normal life, instead of being paralyzed by overwhelming fear.
Do you often fear social situations? Some of the symptoms of this Anxiety Disorder are:
* Fear that everyone will look at you
* Fear that everyone will judge you, your appearance, your actions
* Fear of making a mistake and embarrassing himself or those close to him
* Fear that others are better than you
* Fear that everyone around you knows all your faults and shortcomings.
The fear can lead to an anxiety attack or a panic attack, and it is compounded for you in the sense that the fear of either of these happening increases your fear of humiliating yourself in public. Even if the ‘public’ is your child’s home. An anxiety attack or panic attack cannot be hidden unless you have been taught the steps to slow it down or stop it, either through therapy or medication. In both there is shortness of breath, nausea, pounding in the head, sweating, palpitations, and sometimes spasms in the pectoral muscles that feel like a heart attack. This is very scary for you and those around you.
Never confuse shyness with social anxiety disorder, as the two are very different. Feeling shy in some situations can be very painful, but it doesn’t come with overwhelming fear. Although more women than men have this disorder, it crosses all racial, social, and religious lines. Without proper treatment by a professional, this can take over a person’s life. It usually starts in childhood and can be as simple as not being able to do an oral book report. This is how it started with me. I would turn in three written book reports rather than face the humiliation of standing in front of the class doing an oral book report.
While social anxiety disorder is enough on its own, it is usually found in people with other anxiety disorders. Too often, the person can’t cope, doesn’t know what to do, and self-medicates with street drugs or alcohol. Of course, this leads to the abuse of substances and compounds, it does not help the main problem. How many of our drug and alcohol abusers self-medicate due to a mental disorder and don’t know it? The treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder should be decided by your doctor. He or she will help you control your fear. This disorder usually does not go away, but your doctor can, with treatments such as therapy and possibly medication (short-term or long-term), help you live a happy, normal life that you are in control of. I do not promise the end of your fear, but I know that it can be controlled to the point that you can enjoy family gatherings, even Family Reunions! Yes, you can live a socially active and enjoyable life.