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Social Anxiety Disorder or Social Phobia is
the most common anxiety disorder. It is a condition
which involves being afraid of becoming appraised or
judged negatively by others and as a result, feeling
embarrassed or humiliated. Your fears of about what
others will think are out of proportion to the actual
situation and even though you may know this, it will
still concern you and makes you very anxious and will
encourage you to want to avoid social situations.
This will often result in avoidance of situations
where you may feel that you will experience an increased
likelihood of being judged negatively. People with
Social Anxiety Disorder, can become quite afraid of
making presentations or public speaking, eating in
restaurants or in front of anyone, going to parties,
blushing in public, meeting new people, etc.
As someone with Social Anxiety Disorder, you might
be afraid of only certain situations while another
person may feel very anxious in many different social
situations.
Often people may have some of these common symptoms
of Social Anxiety Disorder including:
- Blushing
- Sweating
- Rapid heart rate
- Shaking
- Dry Mouth
- Excessive perspiring
- Feeling very hot
- Being afraid of losing track of
a conversation
Often people with Social Anxiety Disorder experience
a lot of anticipatory anxiety about upcoming events
or over time may begin to avoid social situations altogether
and may experience panic attacks that are specifically
related to the social situations that concern them. In
other cases, people diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder
may endure social situations over and over again, but
with constant high levels of anxiety.
In order to be diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder,
your anxiety and/or avoidance of situations must cause
you a lot of distress and/or interfere with work, family,
social activities or significant relationships.
If you think you may have Social Anxiety Disorder, speak
to your family physician, psychologist or psychiatrist.
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