Help for Social Anxiety in Hillingdon and Uxbridge with the amazing Thrive Programme@

Social anxiety treatment in Rickmansworth and Aylesbury clinic, serving the areas of Amersham, Chesham Harefield and Berkhamsted. Sessions also available online

What is Social Anxiety?

Social anxiety is a fear of any situation where the sufferer is likely to feel 'on the spot', embarassed, humiliated or judged - for example; dinner parties, public speaking, interviews or going on dates.

It is a fear of uncomfortable, embarrassing or humiliating situations in the presence of other people and the fear of being judged that arises from that. This is also known as social anxiety, social anxiety disorder, or even just shyness. It is probably the most common phobia there is - and certainly one of the most common symptoms my clients consult me for. You might feel relieved to hear that almost everybody has it to some extent in certain situations.

The Link with Self Esteem

Social anxiety is the result of a set of negative beliefs that you have about yourself in social situations. You worry that you will act in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing and will be harshly judged by others. If you are expecting or worrying about feeling shy/tongue-tied/boring etc in front of others, it's easy to build up anxieties about these situations or people, so your fears become a self-fulfilling prophesy. We create what we fear.

Social Anxiety is simply a reflection of your own self esteem and self beliefs - if you felt 'good enough' in work or social situations, you wouldn't worry about how others perceive you. Instead, you feel out of your depth in certain situations, with the belief that you haven't got the ability to handle them they way you would like to (despite perhaps lots of previous evidence to the contrary!)

Associated Topics

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Social anxiety usually starts in our younger years (although it often just called being 'shy') or can be triggered off by a particularly embarrassing event.Associated symptoms include sensitivity to criticism, negative self image, fear of rejection, difficulty in being assertive and feelings of inferiority.

The social phobic worries continuously about how others 'see' them, and what others may think about them - it is not surprising then that the sufferer usually spends a lot of time creating the image they want others to see - or avoiding situations completely. Usually the social phobic is quite adept at concealing their anxiety from others, although there may be a difficulty in maintaining eye contact. It can be described as like having a guard dog, sitting on your shoulder, carefully editing and analysing everything that you say and do in the presence of other people. Having social anxiety can be really quite knackering!!

Symptoms of social anxiety include:

• A fear of public speaking
• A fear of talking on the telephone
• A fear of writing in front of someone
• Blushing, or a fear of blushing
• Stuttering or stammering
• Working too hard (to please others)
• Setting unachievable high standards (and feeling bad when they are not met)
• A preoccupation with how you look: perfecting an image you want others to see (NOT vanity - this is about trying to 'blend in')
• Certain twitches or 'tics'
• Shy bladder (men) not being able to pee, when on the spot
• Certain sexual inhibitions - due to 'performance anxiety'
• Repeated failure of driving test - due to 'performance anxiety'
• A persistent fear of failure, or 'not making the grade'

Basically any situation in life where you might feel embarrassed, on the spot, judged, silly out of control etc. The good news is that Social Anxiety CAN be easily overcome.