Sunday, January 7, 2007

Social phobia in a nutshell

A person with social phobia is nervous in the company or presence of other people. He is afraid of what he may be thought of. He tries to make a good impression, but he always doubts that he really makes it. For this reason such person prefers to be unnoticeable and avoids other people.

People suffering from social phobia often have trembling hands, reddening face, increased sweating, nausea, constraint, etc. Social phobia can be revealed in such situations as communication with strangers, public performance, telephone conversation, visiting of a public toilet. Most frequent kind of social phobia is fear to be rejected by others. In this case a person is afraid of any sort of criticism about his or her appearance, behavior or character.

If fear of certain social situations is expressed enough, people with social phobia will try to avoid such situations by all means. He or she will be compelled to stay at home instead of going out. Social phobia may cause impossibility of communication with shop assistants and social workers. At work people with social phobia keep aloof of the collective. They never put up questions at assemblies or conferences. They try to put on plain, unremarkable clothes. They never start conversations. They avoid sights of other people and answer their questions briefly and laconically. They do an excellent job to prevent any criticism of colleagues and the boss.

Some people with social phobia behave too briskly or ingratiatingly. Thus, they try to hide their anxiety and to prevent possible hostility from the part of associates who frequently can't even suppose how they feel inside.

In the majority of cases social phobia have nothing to do with the real state of affairs. It is not a real negative opinion of other people or expectation but an ASSUMED one. Sociophobics assume that they are thought of as ugly, nervous, clumsy, shy or whatever.

Social phobia is different from social anxiety. Almost each person in his or her life experienced anxiety or tension conversating with other people. Many of those who were criticized had stress. Such negative experiences are often caused by such unpleasant situations as a conflict with a colleague, a refusal to perform before the audience, ets. We can’t speak of social phobia if a person who experiences anxiety or excitement does not desperately try to avoid the situations connected to his or her negative experiences. Though, to tell social phobia from social anxiety in reality is quite different.

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