The 7 signs that help detect social phobia

It is normal to feel nervous or anxious in certain complex social situations, especially when we have to deal with people who are not we know or know little about, such as a first date, a university oral exam or a dinner where we meet our friends inlaws. The combination of factors to take into account, such as not knowing what first impression we will give or having to deal with a series of expectations, can play a trick on us from time to time when; In this sense, not even the most extroverted and self-confident people are free from feeling nervous in front of others on time.

On the other hand, there are those who show a tendency to shyness, so that they are more or less predisposed to worry about the image they give to others, something that sometimes it causes problems, but it can even be viewed favorably in certain cultures.

However, 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 the personality predispositions are the main cause of what occurs. When this happens, we are facing 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 detecting social phobia?, something necessary to go to mental health professionals and receive a diagnosis and treatment.

• Related article: "Types of Phobias: Exploring Fear Disorders"

Typical signs of social phobia

Social phobia is characterized by a pattern of intense and seemingly uncontrollable anxiety that accompanies the person in any social relationship with unknown or semi-unknown people that he enters into in his life daily. Consciously, the person lives it as an extreme fear of "what will they say", a disproportionate fear of looking bad, ridiculing, or being criticized or ridiculed, something that leads him to try to avoid these interactions or withdraw from them as soon as possible once they have occurred.

However, social phobia presents not only quantitative differences, but also qualitative ones with respect to shyness. For this reason, even if neither the person suffering from said disorder nor the people around them are mental health professionals, they can identify certain signs of alarm to identify it (in an approximate way, estimating that there are high possibilities of being before a case of social phobia) and seek psychotherapeutic help as soon as possible. before.

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 are in social situations with whom they do not have close confidence: cold sweats, tremors and muscular rigidity, rapid pulse, breathing disturbances, etc Having developed this disorder, these symptoms appear systematically and with virtually no exceptions when dealing with people whom that we know little about, so that we anticipate them, we know that this will happen to us if we come across certain people or they direct us the word. This consistency in anxiety symptoms is very unusual in those who are simply shy..

In addition, those who experience shyness in their day-to-day lives tend to be quite skilled at hiding their nervousness or at least part of it. this, while people with social phobia experience a real lack of control over their body when they suffer these "outbreaks" of anxiety.

• You may be interested in: "What is anxiety: how to recognize it and what to do"

2. Anticipatory anxiety and need for control to compensate

Whenever social situations or events involving more people are anticipated in the future, people with social phobia often develop anticipatory anxiety; they are afraid of their own anxiety reaction, so they self-sabotage 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 they behave in a way perceived as strange by others, which further fuels the anxious reaction.

• Related article: "Extreme shyness: what it is, causes, and how to overcome it"

3. Avoidance of crowded places

Frequently avoid crowded places or spaces where group social events or of any kind is another of the classic signs that can alert us to a possible case of phobia social. In this way, we try to minimize the probability of meeting someone interested in starting a conversation or introducing us to someone.

4. obsessive thoughts

The obsessive thoughts of people with social phobia usually appear both in social contexts and at times 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 reviews over and over again those memories trying to "repair" them to make them not make you 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 concern that other people may notice one's own comfort or the anxiety one experiences.

• You may be interested in: "How to prevent obsessive thoughts from causing us insomnia?"

5. Systematic avoidance of unwanted encounters

The fear of what others think usually materializes in the fear of being judged negatively by other people with whom we interact. This concern is essentially related to the fear that others may speak ill of us, that they may perceive us in a negative way, or that they may end up hating us.

In people with social phobia, this phenomenon goes so far as to shape the structure of the 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 etc Avoidance of complex social encounters is planned.

6. loss of social relationships

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 can't., which hinders spontaneous social interactions or open invitations to third parties.

• Related article: "Unwanted loneliness: what it is and how we can fight it"

7. self fulfilling prophecies

People with social phobia often prophesy in advance, before they happen, the seemingly catastrophic outcome of future social relationships.

This psychological phenomenon is known as “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 fulfilling in the future because from the first moment he approaches those meetings with a hyper-vigilant mentality and being at the ready. defensive.

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My name is Dove King Cardona and I am a General Health Psychologist dedicated to care for adults and the child and adolescent population.