If you have a social phobia, I know there are times when you feel really bad. Public speaking not only makes you nervous, it really scares you. When you’re in a group of people, you feel like everyone’s looking at you and thinking you’re ridiculous or that you don’t fit into that environment at all, you wanted to be home rather than in this horrible situation.
But it doesn’t just happen when you’re in a social situation, just thinking about having to go to a party or meeting makes you completely nervous. You start thinking about the excuses you can make to avoid going, would you?something to dodge, but what can you do about it?
“The man who is fearlessly invents danger to justify his fear. -Alain Emile Chartier-
Let’s first look at what a phobia is. Phobias are those intense fears of a certain stimulus or situation, what happens is that this fear is irrational, that is, it is present when the danger is not real, besides we do not feel it at the right time and it is a greater fear than we should feel; in this way, it unnecessarily interferes with our normal life.
Social phobia focuses on these situations of social interaction, since we live in constant contact with other people it is easy for this to interfere significantly in our routines, if on the contrary we have another type of phobia, such as spiders or snakes, it would not condition us as much, since we live in the city and we do not have to live with them in our day to day , can you tell the difference?
The truth is that we all get nervous when we meet new people or before a public exhibition, but once we break the ice we start to enjoy the experience, however, this is not the case for people with social phobia, who have some marked behavioral deficiencies, many of whom will reinforce precisely the phobia itself.
It is very important to note that this phobia significantly affects what we think and how we do it, I can explain it. On the one hand, there are cognitive biases, which are the way our brain processes information.
In that case, he? Social forbics? They tend to be more attentive than people look at them or not and to the signals their own body sends about the discomfort they feel (redness, trembling voice, etc. ). In addition, they often interpret these stimuli negatively But that is not all, they remember more social situations of a negative nature and take them as a reference to appreciate the situations presented to them today.
“Fear is always willing to see the worst things than they are. -Livio-
Let’s take an example. A person with social phobia will be more attentive to the actions of others when they speak to him and interpret them as not being made a good impression, just as he will remember at that time a specific situation in which he does not meet with the people who have just met, what will strengthen his ideas and the process in general?
From what we have just said about cognitive biases we can deduce the kinds of fears and fears that social physicists will have, right? on the one hand, they are afraid that physical signs appear that they are nervous, besides, they are afraid. to be the center of attention in interpersonal situations.
But not only that. They are also afraid that others will look at them or observe what they are doing or introduce them to new people, and there is the fear of eating, drinking or speaking in public, as well as the fear of making a phone. calls or making efforts.
All these fears are directly related to something very concrete: the fear of seeming ridiculous or being negatively evaluated; in fact, the person anticipates that this can happen and then anxiety appears, this anxiety is so strong that it blocks us in social situations, so we end up realizing what we predicted and act inappropriately.
Anxiety is a small current that runs through the mind. If it feeds, it can become a torrent that will take us to all our thoughts. -Roche-
In this way, we reinforce the initial idea that we are worthless, but we do not realize that we are boycotting. For all these reasons, social phobia requires psychological treatment, even better if it is cognitive behavioral therapy. It is a disorder that significantly affects the lives of those with it, and it is very difficult to change this type of thinking without the help of a qualified professional.
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