Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a type of anxiety disorder that causes people to feel anxious in social settings. People who have social anxiety often find it difficult to talk to people or attend social gatherings.
Social anxiety disorder is a disorder that causes people to feel a sometimes overwhelming sense of anxiety in everyday interactions with other people. It is also sometimes referred to as Social Phobia.
People who experience social anxiety often feel very self-conscious in social situations and may worry that they are being judged, scrutinised or criticised by others. This often leads them to avoid social situations altogether and therefore can cause significant distress and disruption to people’s lives.
When people struggle with social anxiety, they often feel as though they do not have very good social skills. They might worry that they are boring, or will not have anything to say to people. They might also pay lots of attention to their feelings of anxiety, and worry that other people can also notice that they are anxious.
It is very much normal to want to be accepted as part of a group and have the approval of other people. Social anxiety might make people more sensitive to this need for approval and they may be more afraid of being rejected by people.
It can be hard to pinpoint the exact cause of social anxiety disorder, and as with most mental health difficulties, it often results from a combination of different factors.
For most people, environmental influences and certain life experiences will be a big contributor to the reason they develop social anxiety. Social anxiety disorder often starts during teenage years or young adulthood. It can be a result of the way people have been treated or from a past negative social experience.
There is some evidence to suggest that you are more likely to struggle with social anxiety disorder if your parents have the condition themselves. However, it is impossible to know whether this is a result of genetics, learning, or due to parenting style being affected by the presence of social anxiety.
There is also evidence to suggest that how we are parented can have a big impact on how we feel in social situations and whether we develop anxiety. For example, social anxiety can stem from parents who are very controlling or overprotective, rarely show affection or give praise, or place a lot of emphasis on their child’s physical appearance.
Common signs of social anxiety include:
CBT is the most commonly used type of therapy for social anxiety disorder. This type of therapy can help people to identify unhelpful thoughts or beliefs that may be contributing to their anxiety, as well as specific behaviours that might be maintaining anxiety – such as avoidance. CBT can help people learn to challenge their negative thoughts and reframe them into more helpful, adaptive beliefs.
Often people with social anxiety describe themselves as being in a vicious cycle – for example, they feel anxious about seeing people so they avoid people. This then leads them to feel even more anxious about seeing people, and so the cycle of avoidance continues. CBT helps people to break out of this vicious cycle.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyACT is another type of therapy that can be helpful in treating social anxiety disorder. This type of therapy encourages people to get in touch with their values and move towards them, despite difficult thoughts and emotions.
ACT treats thoughts a little bit differently than CBT, so instead of challenging them or reframing them, you learn to accept them and detach from them so they do not hold as much power over you or control your decision-making. It is not so much about changing your thoughts, but about changing your relationship with your thoughts.
Acceptance & Commitment TherapyAt Turning Tides, our team of psychologists are highly trained and have many years of experience working with common mental health conditions such as social anxiety disorder.
Our psychologists can help you understand your anxiety, exploring some of the different factors that have brought you to where you are today. Based on these individual factors, they will teach you strategies to effectively manage social anxiety and allow you to move forward in your life.
We offer regular face-to-face appointments at our modern and comfortable clinic in Hoult’s Yard, Newcastle or we can offer online therapy via Zoom if you live further afield or have a preference for online sessions.
We have tried to keep our pricing as simple as possible. We charge £120 for a 60-minute appointment, regardless of whether this is an assessment or therapy session. Our fees are the same for face-to-face appointments and online appointments as you will receive the same high standard of care from our psychologists, regardless of how it is delivered.
A psychologist will then be in touch to arrange a free 15-minute no-obligation call, where we can discuss your requirements in more detail and you can get a feel for whether Turning Tides is the right psychology practice for you.
If we’re not right for you, we’ll try and signpost you to somewhere that is.
Please note – Turning Tides is not a crisis service, and if you feel you need urgent support or are experiencing a mental health crisis then it is important that you contact your GP if they are available, or attend A&E.