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by Gary Gui
People who don’t know what social anxiety really is, put it in the same category as extreme shyness, but we are talking about a quite different issue. It’s hard to understand for people without this disorder that the patients’ lives can be completely destroyed because of the pain the anxiety can cause even when doing ordinary things like going on a bus, sitting in a classroom or attending a party, things most people take for granted.
Social anxiety is a diagnoses used when a person’s anxiety in social situations is so is so severe that inability of functioning in everyday life is dominating. Although many of these people are aware of the dysfunctions of their feelings and actions, they are incapable of doing anything to stop it. The symptoms of this anxiety disorder can be divided into two groups; specialized anxiety and generalized anxiety.
The specialized anxiety is triggered in particular social situations where others are involved; for example a party, holding a speech or sitting in a room full of strangers. The symptoms of generalized anxiety are a persistent and intense fear of any situation where social interactions are involved.
The generalized disorder is dominated by fear of being judged by others as well as fear of what the patient’s own actions might cause in terms of embarrassment and humiliation. These unhappy individuals simply don’t trust themselves to interact with others; they fear that they will do something that will end up with them being embarrassed or that other people will criticize them harshly.
In addition to psychological symptoms such as severe fear and anxiety, numerous physical symptoms are involved. These can include excessive sweating, trembling, blushing, heart palpitations, nausea, and stammering just to mention a few. panic attacks can also occur especially if the patient is upset. Severity and duration of these symptoms may vary from person to person.
To avoid the pain anxiety in social situations cause, some people medicate themselves with drugs or alcohol to an excessive point. This doesn’t solve their problems but rather create substance abuse problems in addition to the anxiety problems. Some patients feel they simply can’t function in social situations without substance abuse serving to boost their confidence.
A disorder that has such a negative impact on the patient’s everyday life causes a high demand of various treatments. The supply is accordingly. Fortunately there are other treatments for anxiety in general and social anxiety as well as panic attacks in particular such as herbs, natural remedies, acupuncture and similar as well as alternative psychological therapeutic approaches.
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