How to overcome social phobia without a psychologist

There is nothing wrong with being shy, but this personality trait can lead us to suffer some problems when interacting and acting in society. The irrational fear of being humiliated, the worries about what others think or the strong anxiety every time we go out on the street are not at all pleasant experiences. If these situations are recurrent in our life, we may be suffering an anxiety crisis or social phobia.

These crises must be solved immediately, thus avoiding that they continue to hinder our normal rhythm of life. Sometimes, if we can identify the problem in time, we can control our anxiety without going to a specialist, although it is not highly recommended. In Psychology-Online, we invite you to read this article to know how to overcome social phobia without psychologist.

Index

1. Social phobia: symptoms
2. Causes of anxiety or social phobia
3. How to overcome social phobia
4. Social phobia: drug treatment and natural remedies

Social phobia is a disorder that can cause us great discomfort. Joins shame, fear and sensitivity, thus creating a dangerous cocktail. We can differentiate the symptoms that social phobia produces in two types according to their nature:

Physical symptoms

• Nausea and stomach aches.
• Tremors and even tachycardias.
• Uncontrollable sweating
• Dizziness, feeling light-headed and, in extreme cases, fainting.
• Stuttering or other speech difficulties.

Psychological symptoms

• Fear of saying something and being ridiculed for their opinions or feelings.
• Preoccupation with social events days and weeks before they occur.
• Irrational fear of making a mistake and being judged by others.
• Consumption of alcohol to relax other physical or psychological symptoms.
• Hypersensitivity to any comments from unknown people or even close friends.
• Avoidance and fear of public spaces.
• Refusal to meet new people or do different activities.

If we recognize more than one symptom of the aforementioned and these are a problem for us to lead a normal life, we may be suffering from social phobia. In this case, we need to have the best tools to overcome this mental condition.

The origin of social phobia is something very studied by the community of psychologists. Anxiety or social phobia can have a multitude of causes, it can arise from a traumatic event or it can develop throughout our lives. Some psychologists argue that social anxiety has a strong genetic influence. Other scholars defend the theory of learning: if from a young age we are taught to be afraid, we will be afraid of everything around us.

Over the years, after much debate, it has been concluded that social phobia it is a disorder with a multitude of causes and variables that interact with each other. Next, we will point out the most common variables:

Psychological variables

We understand psychological variables as those that occur in our mind and they are part of our way of thinking. A cause of social phobia can be the ability to relate to other people, if we are not very good at it, we can feel fear in the next social interactions. Our education as children or adolescents also greatly influences the appearance of social anxiety: parents Overprotective may not give us the best tools to handle ourselves in a fluid way in the environment and create fear of a stranger.

Biological or neurological variables

In this case, we are talking about a physical influence on the appearance of social phobia. It has been scientifically proven that a high level of serotonin (the hormone of happiness) can be one of the causes of the appearance of this disorder. Genetic causes have also been studied, they state that if our parents have social phobia, we will be more likely to suffer from it.

Whatever the origin, it must be admitted that anxiety or social phobia is an unpleasant condition and with terrible consequences in our organism. It can create trauma for us, generalized anxiety, breathing or heart problems. Therefore, it is necessary to act in the most effective way possible to eradicate it.

In order to overcome social phobia without psychologist, it is necessary to be very clear about the objectives and focus on them. You have to go step by step, training your body and mind not to feel fear in any situation. In order to cure this discomfort, we suggest a series of tips and self-help strategies:

• Your thoughts are valid: Recognizing the value of what we think can help us improve our self-esteem. In this way, we will increase our confidence in ourselves and we will dare to express what we think to other people.
• Develop your full potential: each person is different and possesses different abilities from the others. We should not feel less about not having the same social skills as other people, accepting ourselves as we are will be the most important step. Later, we can fully exploit our capabilities and thus increase our self-esteem.
• Being thoughtful is a good thing: the most introverted people tend to be reflective, this can lead us to have ideas or reach conclusions that no one else had raised. If we share our reflections with the world, it will thank us, we have much to contribute and little to fear.
• Train your social skills:Once our self-esteem and security have improved, it is time to put our skills into practice. To do this, it is best to do it step by step, going to small social gatherings or talking with a closed circle of friends is a good start. Little by little, we can go further to end up going to events that we could never have imagined going to.

Finally, it is important to comment that if we do not see ourselves able to get ahead with these tips, it is better to consult a specialist so that it accompanies us in our process of personal growth and overcoming social phobia.

To accompany the aforementioned coping strategies, we can resort to other treatments, both natural and pharmacological remedies. These work as a helpful tool to relax the symptoms of anxiety, but they do not cure the disorder. If you need drug treatment, it is essential to consult an expert beforehand. Self-medication is something that should be avoided, since we do not control the effects that drugs have on our body.

Anxiolytics

These are the main drugs to reduce the symptoms of anxiety. They relax our muscles, slow our heartbeat, and help us get into deep sleep. Among the best known anxiolytics, we highlight Lorazepam, Bromazepam and Diazepam.

It should be noted that we should not take antidepressants if we suffer from anxiety or social phobia. It turns out that if we have this disorder, we produce too much serotonin, so taking antidepressants would only make the problem worse.

Valerian

Valerian root is a well-known natural remedy to cure all types of anxiety or nervousness. This can be taken as a tea or from an extract. Valerian has relaxing and sedative effects that reduce the symptoms of social phobia, this helps us to better manage our emotions and, thus, try to improve skills social.

Meditation

Meditation combined with breathing exercises are a good treatment to relieve our nervousness. Learning to relax the body only by controlling it from within, prevents us from creating dependence on other drugs or substances. If you want to know more about effective relaxation exercises, we recommend you read the following article about meditation techniques for beginners.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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