Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is characterized by intense fear and anxiety in social situations that causes distress and impairment. It is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, affecting 12% of people at some point in their lives. Common triggers of social anxiety include public speaking, meeting new people, dating, and interactions that involve possible scrutiny from others. Physical symptoms of social anxiety include palpitations, sweating, fast breathing, and nausea. While it often begins in childhood due to experiences like abuse, social anxiety can be treated through psychotherapy, medication, lifestyle changes, and exposure to feared social situations.

1. WHAT IS SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER AND SOCIAL PHOBIA
Symptoms, self help and treatment
People tend to get nervous or over conscious of themselves in certain
situations, like when granting an interview, giving public speech or in a
situation where you have to address a group or to stand up to express your
view in a meeting etc. The major problem they have is always having a
negative thought that their actions will embarrass them.
According to WIKIPEDIA, Social anxiety disorder, also known as social
phobia, is an anxiety disorder which is one of the most common psychiatric
disorders, with a lifetime prevalence of 12%. It is characterized by intense
fear in social situations, causing considerable distress and impaired ability to
function in at least some parts of daily life.
Though social anxiety, or social phobia is of higher degree to shyness. Social
anxiety is a state of mind that you have, which puts you under intense
pressure that whenever you find yourself in social situations you start to
panic and become unstable, thinking people will judge and scrutinize your
appearance, the way you talk and your appearance in totality.
The problem in this situation is what they call “Inferiority Complex”. This is
a situation that you think you do not match up to the status of people that
surrounds you. The number one thing you do is to avoid them, which leads to
you secluding yourself.
However bad it may be, you still have every tendency to overcome social
phobia and become comfortable in the face of social situations, if you are
willing to work on yourself.
SITUATIONS THAT TRIGGERS ANXIETY
There are various situations that can send coldness down your spine if you
allow them. People have different situations that make them feel nervous.
What makes you nervous may be different from what I fear to face. Here
are few situations that trigger social phobia.
• Meeting new people
• Going on a date
• Public speaking
• Making small talk

2. • Addressing congregation
• Being called upon to talk in a gathering
• Making phone calls
• Speaking in a meeting
• Attending parties or other social gatherings
• Eating or drinking in public
• Stage performance
• Granting Interviews.
• Being watched while doing something
• Taking exams
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
These are your reaction to situations that you fear. It could be emotional,
behavioural and physical.
Emotional Signs
• Self-consciousness and anxiety in everyday social situation
• Disturbed about events coming up
• Being watched by people
• Always thinking you will make mistakes
Physical Symptoms
• Palpitating
• Sweating
• Body vibration
• Fast breathing rate
• Nausea
• Feeling enervated
• Avoiding eye contacts
• Blushing
Behavioural Signs
• Staying under alcohol influence
• Staying quiet in social events to avoid attention
• Avoid going to events
CAUSES
Generally, social anxiety begins at a specific point in an individual's life. This
will develop over time as the person struggles to recover. Most times it
starts from young age. Perhaps the most common cause is when that person

3. is emotional and physically abused by peer or parents at a tender age
through to the age of adulthood. Before long, situations like that register in
ones subconscious archive. So, in situations like that he becomes nervous.
More possible causes are;
• Heredity and family factor
• External social experiences
• Psychological effect
• Unnatural occurrences
All these could be temporal, because they can all be managed and cured.
Treatment
Life has to be enjoyed for better experiences of it. Everybody should be
able to partake in the joyful activities of life. That is why social anxiety
should not debar anyone from having the full fun of it. Let us check out the
possible cure we can have and how best we can manage social phobia.
• Psychotherapy
• Cognitive behaviour therapy – thought pattern change
• Prescribed medication – antidepressant e.g. Zoloft, Prozac e.t.c.
• Get Adequate sleep
• Change your lifestyle
• Always learn to control your breath
• Face your fear and you get use to that situation after sometime.
• Challenge negative thought
• Pattern interrupt – trying to break the anxiety fear with actions that
you enjoy.
• Ask yourself empowering questions – what about me is interesting?
You can also visit a professional like Doctors, Psychologist in that area, who
can help you fast.
For more visit http://www.tipstoovercomeshyness.com