Hidden habits that make your social anxiety worse - and how to break them
Social anxiety is more common than many think. Here's what you need to know about the condition.
Mary, a university student, struggled with social anxiety that began in her teenage years and led to depression. Before starting university, she avoided group settings and made no friends during her degree. Social anxiety affects up to 12% of people at some point in their lives, often impacting grades, relationships, and leading to isolation.
Mary attended a society her first year but felt she didn't fit in, causing her to withdraw. She describes feeling "out of body" and experiencing intense shame after social interactions.
Neil Greening, chair of the Social Anxiety Alliance UK, explains that people with social anxiety often believe they have a personality flaw and internalize their condition, failing to see it as a treatable disorder. It's normal to feel shy or anxious in new situations, but social anxiety can halt people from engaging in activities. For those with a clinical diagnosis, it can be debilitating.
One key to managing social anxiety is recognizing that it's common for people to feel shy or anxious in certain situations. However, when social anxiety impedes daily activities, it becomes a clinical issue. Greening advises against hiding social anxiety or using safety behaviors like staying close to others or sticking to safe conversation topics. Increased smartphone use and remote working may be contributing to the worsening of social anxiety, reducing social interactions.
Mary managed her social anxiety by seeking help from the NHS, undergoing CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), which is considered the gold standard treatment. Prof David Clark, a psychologist at the University of Oxford, advises against excessive self-focus during social situations and suggests testing fears through behavioral experiments, such as asking a question in a meeting or speaking in a group.
He also recommends dropping safety behaviors like rehearsing sentences, avoiding eye contact, or sticking close to one person. Lastly, Clark emphasizes avoiding post-event rumination, as people with social anxiety tend to overanalyze and distort what happened.
Written by urgent.news from BBC News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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