Recognising the symptoms of social phobia

If you suffer from social phobia, your therapist will start by identifying, with you, the places, situations and people that trigger your phobia.  He will then help you to better understand the origin of this phobia and to find the right behaviour to adopt. 

Identify the situations you fear

There are as many individuals as there are social situations that can cause fear or anxiety. We all have different experiences. It is therefore important to identify the type of situation you fear so that the therapist can understand how you live your life and the issues that are bothering you.

Clinical experience shows that when you feel yourself being evaluated by other people, you may feel tremors in your limbs, a strong acceleration of your heart rate, breathing difficulties, nausea, blushing, stammering, etc.

Five main types of social situations are feared:

• Performance situations with the fear of failure: reading a text in front of an audience, taking an exam, formal interview, etc.
• Observation situations with the fear of being observed during an activity: sitting in front of a crowded café, eating, writing, working under the gaze of others, etc.
• Assertiveness situations: being afraid to give your point of view and express your needs, to make a complaint, to ask for something, to look in the eyes, etc.
• Self-revealing situations: getting to know someone, making a friendly or romantic connection, flirting, etc.
• Situations of superficial interactions with the fear of revealing oneself: exchanging with others informally, talking about oneself, creating discussions, etc.

You can also take our test to see if you suffer from social anxiety.

Fear and the fear of being constantly judged

Above all, it is the fear and dread of being constantly judged in everyday activities that obsesses you. Some people can handle all of these major types of situations, but most people only fear some of them. It is important for the therapist to assess these situations, the intensity of your perceived distress and the extent of your avoidance behaviours:

For example, when speaking at a meeting, does the anxiety tend to disappear without causing embarrassment afterwards (in this case, it is simple stage fright) or does the fear and panic persist throughout your speech (purely phobic reaction)?
Generally speaking, you feel fear before and during the feared situations and the feeling of shame occurs during and after the situation.

People with social phobia also tend to develop a lot of negative thoughts. They are convinced that they will be watched, judged unfavourably and rejected. This has an impact on self-esteem, leads to self-deprecation and a fear of having to reveal their emotions.

Anxiety and its symptoms :

When you are going to be in a situation that is distressing for you or when you anticipate and think about these situations, different physical and cognitive symptoms will appear. These symptoms are common to most phobias and are experienced in different ways by different people.

– you may feel hot, dizzy, sweat excessively

– an increase in heart rate and intensity
– trembling that almost feels as if you are going to fall

– difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest
– blushing, confusion, difficulty in expressing yourself

Social anxiety yes, but not only…

Social phobia does not stand alone and can be accompanied by other conditions and related symptoms. Often among these other pathologies we can observe
– depression
– other anxiety disorders and phobias such as blemmophobia (fear of how others look at one’s body), agoraphobia (fear of public places)…
– excessive consumption of different substances such as alcohol or drugs

Avoidance behaviour

In order to cope with these feared moments, most people with social phobia develop avoidance behaviour. In doing so, they maintain a pattern of thinking based on their belief that they have avoided the danger.

You will not go out in the evening, give your opinion on a subject, ask questions, etc. Other more subtle avoidances occur when you have not been able to avoid a feared situation, for example, when you participate in the organisation of a meal but decide not to speak, or by not giving too many details about yourself in an exchange with a stranger.

All of these symptoms usually lead to complications in the quality of your life. It is possible that your suffering will gradually lead to isolation from others, failure at school, loss of employment or family ties. If this is the case, don’t wait any longer before contacting a health professional, who will know how to help you!