Social Anxiety Disorder

Self-help

I've been to therapy, and I'm going back, but in therapy you kind of just learn self help ways to deal with social anxiety. I'm here to tell you about what my therapist taught me in hopes  to help ya'll.  These are merely ways to control your anxiety in public and slowly make your way more comfortable with people and your surroundings.

Now, The best treatment for social anxiety varies from person to person. You may find that self-help strategies are enough to ease your social anxiety while others might find that you may need the help of a professional. Try these self help ways to cope with SA and if none of them work or don't help much, there's always therapy, group therapy, and professionals out there that want to help you.

Control your negative thoughts
People with social anxiety tend to have negative thoughts and beliefs that contribute to their anxiety.  Unhelpful thinking styles are the main cause of these negative thoughts.

Unhelpful thinking styles:
Mind reading - Assuming you know what other people are thinking, and that they see you in the same negative way that you see yourself.

Fortune telling - Predicting the future. You assuming the worst will happen. You just "know" that things will go horribly, so you're already anxious before you're even in the situation.

Catastrophizing - Blowing things out of proportion. If people notice that you're nervous, it will be "awful," "terrible," or "disastrous."

Personalizing - Assuming that people are focusing on you in a negative way.

Do you have any of these unhelpful thinking styles? Do something about it. When in a social situation instead of thinking "everyone thinks I'm ugly" "he thinks I'm an idiot" "this is going to be terrible" always remember you are not a mind reader. You do not know what others are thinking about you, for all you know they could be thinking about what they want for dinner. And if you find yourself saying that something is going to be terrible, remember that along with not being a mind reader, you cannot see the future. For all you know it might not end up that terrible.

To reduce this self-focus, pay more attention to what is happening around you, rather than yourself or focusing on symptoms of anxiety in your body. When your anxious(sweating, heavy breathing, shaking) know that others will just think you are nervous or not even pay attention to your symptoms, therefore you shouldn't worry about them so much.

Control your breath & relax
Many changes happen in your body when you become anxious. One of the first changes is that you begin to breathe quickly. Over breathing leads to symptoms as dizziness, increase heartbeat, muscle tension, and the feeling of suffocation. Learning to slow down your breathing can help bring those symptoms under control and keep your from a anxiety attack.

When in a social situation and your feel your heart race and your breathing become fast, breathing exceed uses can help calm you down. This exercise I learned in therapy and it's easy to do. You can even do it in public once you get a hang of it and no one will even know.

Breathing technic:

Sit with your back straight and your shoulders relaxed. Put one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose for four seconds. The hand on your stomach should rise, while the hand on your chest should move very little.
Hold the breath for two seconds, then
exhale slowly through your mouth for six seconds, pushing out as much air as you can. The hand on your stomach should move in as you exhale, but your other hand should move very little. You're basically breathing into your stomach instead of your chest, if that makes any sense.

Continue to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Make sure to focus on keeping a slow and steady breathing pattern of 4-in, 2-hold, and 6-out.

You can also reduce the feeling of anxiety and relax by trying  yoga, meditation exercises and muscle relaxation methods.

Avoidance & facing your fear
One of the most helpful things you can do to overcome social anxiety disorder is to face the social situations you fear rather than avoid them. You do this by a step by step process which I learned is called the anxiety ladder. You start off by doing small things like ordering at a restaurant or saying hi to people at school. Then you work your way up the ladder slowly to going to more social events and talking more to people. It is a slow process that might take a while but it is a useful technic.

Avoidance leads to more problems than being helpful. It may feel better to avoid those nerve wracking social situations, which might help in the short run, but in the long run it just fuels the anxiety more. It prevents you from being comfortable in situations and how to cope with those situations. Avoidance can become a bigger problem by avoiding not only the big social situations like parties or gatherings, but also the smaller things in life like making a new friend or speaking up in class.

Lifestyle
While lifestyle changes aren't enough to overcome social anxiety alone, they can help reduce your anxiety levels and help for a more successful treatment.

•Avoid or limit caffeine; Coffee, tea, caffeinated soda, energy drinks, and chocolate act as stimulants that increase anxiety symptoms.

•Dink only in moderation (for those of you of age);  alcohol increases your risk of having an anxiety attack.

•Smoking is a no no (again for those of you of age); Nicotine is a powerful stimulant which leads to higher levels of anxiety.

•Get enough sleep; You're more vulnerable to anxiety when your sleep deprived. Being well rested will help you stay calm in social situations.

Medication
Medication is sometimes used to reduce the symptoms of social anxiety, but it's not a cure. Medication most likely will have symptoms that might pass over time. When I first started my medication I could not sleep and it affected my period. Read the symptoms to the medication and if they don't go away after a few months, ask a doctor about switching your prescription. Medication will be most useful when combined with therapy or other self help technics.

Three main medication to help with SA are:

Beta blockers - Beta blockers are used for reduce physical anxiety symptoms such as shaking hands or voice, sweating, and rapid heartbeat. They work by blocking the flow of adrenaline that occurs when you're anxious.

Antidepressants - Antidepressants can be helpful when social anxiety disorder is severe. It also helps with depression.

Benzodiazepines - Benzodiazepines are fast-acting anti-anxiety medications that are mainly used when other anxiety medication have not worked. This is because they are sedating and addictive.

Life I said, a chapter on self help, sorry it took a while though. It might not be very specific on things so feel free to comment or PM me if you have any questions(: just remember your not alone and there is help!