It is normal to feel nervous or anxious in certain complex social situations, especially when we have to deal with people we do not know or know little, such as a first date, a university oral exam or a dinner where we meet our in-laws. The combination of factors to take into account, such as not knowing what first impression we will make or having to deal with a series of expectations, can play tricks on us from time to time; In this sense, not even the most extroverted and self-confident people are free from feeling nervous in front of others from time to time.
On the other hand, There are those who show a tendency to shyness so they are more or less predisposed to worry about the image they give to others, something that sometimes causes problems, but can even be seen favorably in certain cultures.
Now, there are cases in which the generation of stress and anxiety towards others reaches such an extreme that it is considered pathological, and in situations like this neither the context nor personality predispositions are the main cause of what happens. When this happens, we are faced with social phobia, a very disabling anxiety disorder that, however, sometimes goes unnoticed because it is seen as a form of shyness. Therefore, in this article I will summarize What are the main signs that allow you to detect social phobia? something necessary to go to mental health professionals and receive a diagnosis and treatment.
Social phobia is characterized by a pattern of intense and apparently uncontrollable anxiety that accompanies the person in any social relationship with unknown or semi-unknown people that they establish in their daily life. Consciously, the person experiences it as an extreme fear of “what will they say”, a disproportionate fear of looking bad, making a fool of yourself, or receiving criticism or ridicule something that leads you to try to avoid these interactions or withdraw as soon as possible from them once they have occurred.
Now, social phobia presents not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences with respect to shyness. Therefore, although neither the person suffering from said disorder nor the people around them are mental health professionals, they can identify certain warning signs to identify it (in an approximate way, estimating that there is a high probability of being faced with a case of phobia). social) and seek psychotherapeutic help as soon as possible.
1. Intense anxiety triggered immediately in social situations
One of the main signs that always accompany people with social phobia is the appearance of psychological and physiological symptoms linked to great anxiety whenever they find themselves in social situations with those they do not have close trust: cold sweats, tremors and muscle rigidity, acceleration of the pulse, alteration of breathing, etc. Having developed this disorder, these symptoms appear systematically and practically without exceptions when dealing with people whom we know little, so that we anticipate them, we know that this will happen to us if we meet certain people or they speak to us. This consistency in anxiety symptoms is very unusual in those who are simply shy.
Furthermore, those who experience shyness in their daily lives tend to be quite skilled at hiding their nervousness or at least part of it, while people with social phobia experience a real lack of control over their body when they suffer these “flares” of anxiety.
2. Anticipatory anxiety and need for control to compensate
Whenever social situations or events in which there will be more people in the future are anticipated, people with social phobia usually develop anticipatory anxiety; They suffer from fear of their own anxiety reaction, so they sabotage themselves by trying by all means to control each and every one of their movements and actions in general in front of others. This, of course, overwhelms your ability to divide attention across multiple tasks which increases the feeling of lack of control and behaves in a way perceived as strange by others, which further fuels the anxious reaction.
Frequently avoiding crowded places or spaces where group or massive social events of any kind are held is another of the classic signs that can alert us to a possible case of social phobia. In this way, we try to minimize the probability of meeting someone interested in starting a conversation or introducing ourselves to someone.
4. Obsessive thoughts
The obsessive thoughts of people with social phobia usually appear both in social contexts and in moments when they are alone. The person blames himself for situations in the past in which he gave a bad image or feels that he made a fool of himself, and he reviews those memories again and again trying to “repair” them so that they do not make him feel bad, achieving the opposite effect.
These thoughts are about the idea of not fitting in with other people about the fear of being judged and about the worry that other people may notice one’s own comfort or anxiety that one experiences.
5. Systematic avoidance of unwanted encounters
The fear of what others think usually takes the form of the fear of being judged negatively by other people with whom we interact. This concern is essentially related to the fear that others will speak badly of us, that they will perceive us in a negative way, or that they will end up hating us.
In people with social phobia, This phenomenon goes so far as to shape the structure of a person’s daily routines ; For example, it influences your choice of route to and from work or school, your availability (or rather, lack thereof) for group events where friends of friends may attend, etc. Avoidance of complex social encounters is planned.
In the long run, the relationships of people with social phobia deteriorate, due to the inability of people with this disorder to maintain and care for them. People in this situation try to have almost total control over who they can meet and who they cannot meet which makes spontaneous social interactions or open to invitations to third parties difficult.
7. Self-fulfilling prophecies
People with social phobia often prophesy in advance, before they happen, the apparently catastrophic outcome of the social relationships they must establish in the future.
This psychological phenomenon is known as a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” and it is common in many people with phobias of all kinds. In the case of social phobias, the person thinks about everything that will go wrong during an event or social situation, something that ends up happening in the future because from the first moment they approach these encounters with a hyper-vigilant mentality and being On the defensive.
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My name is Pigeon King Cardona and I am a General Health Psychologist dedicated to caring for adults and the child and adolescent population.
