Social Anxiety is the Third Largest Psychological Problem Today


Social anxiety is so common that it is believed to rank number three in the list of psychological problems throughout the world at present and in spite of such high prevalence it has not been fully understood as yet.

There are many different manifestations of social anxiety such as a person standing in line feels there are people constantly watching him or her and even though that person is aware of the fact that such perceptions are not true, they cannot shake off such feelings. Or, it could be a person who is seated by the telephone and is constantly agonized because that person is in constant fear of picking up the phone and making a call. Such cases are common and are known as social anxieties.

The bottom line is that social anxiety is experiencing of fear, apprehension or being excessively worried about different social situations and how the person is being evaluated by others. There are different instances of social anxiety that occur under different circumstances and situations.

Where Can Social Anxiety Occur?

Typical instances of social anxiety are speaking in public as well as performing in public or even giving interviews. When a person has social anxiety disorders he or she is thought to be clinically afflicted by a social phobia and this is really a psychiatric anxiety disorder that involves extraordinary anxiety as well as too much self consciousness in normal day-to-day social situations.

There is also a persistent, intense and even chronic feat of being watched as well as being judged by others and feeling embarrassed as well as humiliated by their own actions. Very often, the trigger may be some social stimulus which may be perceived or actual. There is quite some difficulty for people suffering from social anxiety in overcoming such feelings.

Mostly, social anxiety may be caused by certain situations such as feeling afraid of speaking in public or at formal and informal gatherings or eating or writing in front of other people and in its severest form, may be so wide and all encompassing as to cause the patient to experience such symptoms constantly.

There is plenty of hope for people suffering from social anxiety and there are plenty of therapies, medications or combinations of both that may be used for treating patients. Cognitive behavior therapy has been found by researchers to be effective in treating social phobics.

Anxiety attack symptoms vary and are not isolated to just one group of people.