Social anxiety is treatable, mainly because the source of the fear (other people) is always around. Instead of finding a situation that can serve as a venue for exposure treatment, you can simply attend a gathering with a friend and apply what you have learned from therapy.
A therapist may recommend psychotherapy and medication for your treatment. Counseling may take a long time and could be expensive in the long run, but the effort and expense may be worth it. A professional is highly qualified to prescribe treatments and medication to cure your anxiety disorder. There are also self help books that encourage people to take care of their problems themselves. There are so many social anxiety support forums filled with people that are doing the same thing. They share tips on how to recover and some crucial information on how to start self-treatment.
Before joining social anxiety support communities, however, I suggest you find out all that you can do to help yourself. After all, it’s always helpful when you have something to share about recovery and you’re not just there to ask about what to do. These communities are thriving because of people who are positive about changes in their lives and are willing to share their recovery experiences with others.
Let’s start with psychotherapy and how it can help you get over social anxiety. Psychological therapy involves finding out the triggers for negative thoughts about your personality and relationship with others. Once you recognize these negative thoughts, you can change them. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one option for someone struggling with social anxiety. In this treatment option, you are forced to confront your fears just to see that the results are less disastrous than you imagined. Exposure to the perceived threat on a regular basis will make it less of a threat inside your mind. Soon, it will become a usual thing, like breathing or feeling hungry.
When exposed to a particularly debilitating fear, like approaching a person to ask a question or approaching an attractive person in a singles party, physical symptoms of social anxiety come up. Your throat goes dry, your hands become sweaty and you stutter. If you can practice approaching a person regularly, you’ll soon find out that the results of the interaction are not as they appeared in your head. Soon, you can repeat the training exercise and soon do away with all the physical symptoms of anxiety altogether. Treatments for social anxiety are usually based on the enduring notion that only you can determine how you respond to threatening social situations. Regardless if the worse things were to happen, you still remain in charge of your reactions.
Medication may be prescribed only when the physical symptoms of social anxiety are hampering your progress towards recovery. If you faint or vomit whenever you’re in a social situation, your doctor may prescribe serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors like venlafaxine. Medication is withheld until it is deemed impossible for the person to function because of the physical manifestations of anxiety.
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