Life can't be fun if you suffer with social anxiety and you lack social skills. A social anxiety disorder or phobia makes a person dread social functions and the person is preoccupied with being rejected ín a social situation; feeling inadequate or inferior when having to mingle and be introduced to a new set of people. Social phobia often starts in childhood, and if symptoms persist for longer than 6 months, a doctor will know that this is a true anxiety disorder. Treatment is critical, because without treatment, the anxiety can continue into and throughout adult life.
Apart from environmental conditions causing social anxiety disorders, psychological factors also come in to play. Psychological paradigms such as genetics show that individuals with parents or relatives with social phobia may be at a greater risk for social phobia. There is, however, no concrete evidence that social phobia is inherited.
You can Change Negative Behavior Patterns
fortunately because SAD is not entirely determined by your genes, it is possible to change negative thought- and behavior patterns. There are a number of approaches to the treatment of mental health disorders such as social anxiety disorders and therapists use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which works at changing thought patterns which cause disturbed behavior. The main classes of CBT are social skills training, relaxation training, exposure and cognitive restructuring. Exposure therapy is a behavior therapy technique which involves exposing the patient to the much feared situation without any danger, so as to overcome their anxiety. Exposure-based therapy is effective in preventing the progression of the disorder.
Psycho-dynamics is one kind of behavioral approach which aims to delve into the inside of the head of social anxiety sufferers to discover how they think. The psycho-dynamic approach states that each person has an unconscious where the hide painful events. Psycho-dynamic therapy aims to help people with emotional problems which are affecting the way they behave in the present. The therapy provides people with a safe place to talk openly about their difficulties.
Facing Your Fears with Confidence
If your social phobia keeps you from doing life, you may also be offered interpersonal psychotherapy one-to-one or in a group, allowing you to look deeper into your anxiety and deal with troublesome habits. Whatever psychological paradigms you opt for, their aim is to improve your social skills in order to face those feared social situations with confidence.
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