A truly happy person can be considered one who has no desire to prove something to others. Such a phenomenon as sociophobia forces a person to refine himself in search of justifications for his behavior, constantly doubting himself, analyzing and evaluating. This is one of the serious obstacles to happiness and harmony with oneself and the world.
What is social phobia?
As scientists studying the problem, sociophobia is the most common psychological disorder found in people. Anxiety amid social actions is most observed among residents of developed countries in Europe and the United States.
Sociophobia is a condition characterized by the following symptoms:
- physical;
- emotional
- behavioral;
- cognitive.
Symptoms of Sociophobia
Physical symptoms manifest as rapid heartbeat, nausea, fatigue, severe pain in the head or stomach, tension, increased sweating. The person becomes pale, his pupils dilate, trembling appears.
Emotional symptoms are internally expressed by the feeling that something bad is bound to happen. A person is constantly tense, practically cannot concentrate. He has anxiety, irritability. A sociophobe sees bad dreams and often comes across a sense of deja vu.
Behavioral symptoms are based on experience gained in a situation that previously caused anxiety. They manifest as increased fatigue, severe touchiness and the need to frequently visit the toilet room.
A cognitive symptom is a sense of danger that can lead to death. Consulting a doctor with these fears is required.
How to distinguish between social phobia and normal anxiety?
It should be noted that the anxiety state, which occurs only periodically, is a normal human response to stress and helps to overcome them. With sociophobia, anxiety does not arise in its usual sense. A person feels such experiences, as if he was in an inevitable, uncontrolled situation.
Thus, sociophobia is people who feel fear, which intensifies and periodically repeats itself in situations of social importance. This mental disorder is accompanied by hostility, hidden hatred of situations that require him to appear and communicate in society. This condition cannot be explained logically, and often it is not understood by the person himself.
People suffering from sociophobia are afraid of all kinds of activities that are associated with the appearance in society, and try to avoid them in every possible way. Anxiety in such individuals is directed towards the future and when approaching a possible threat is expressed in the form of increased caution.
These individuals consider actions that they believe will make them feel restless or embarrassed in public. Scientists note that sociophobia is not only a fear of being in society, but also a fear of actions that can be evaluated from the outside. How do sociophobes see a stay among people? They associate this common occurrence with constant condemnation, criticism, observation, and evaluation.
Objects of fear of sociophobia
Psychologists distinguish the following main objects of fear in people suffering from social phobia:
- public performance;
- job search interviews;
- answers in a school lesson or in front of an audience at a university;
- negotiations with new business partners;
- conversations with reputable people;
- communication with strangers and dates with unfamiliar people;
- any actions in public places;
- shopping in large supermarkets;
- a situation in which universal attention will be directed to a person.
When is a mental health test needed?
People who have a normal psychological state are mostly in a good mood and look positively at the world around them. They never sit in one place, much less worry about their possible failures. Such individuals are active in all areas of life. However, sometimes difficult situations arise that force them to engage in activities unusual for them. It is noteworthy that negativism can be caused not only by negative factors, but also by positive ones.
Problems with the psychological state often cause a variety of disorders, including low self-esteem and phobias, which result in neurosis and psychosis. A mental state test should be done for those who observe increased irritability or periodically become depressed. Tests for verification are developed by specialists. They consist of questions, the answers to which allow you to give a preliminary assessment of human health.
Types of Phobias
A phobia is a strong obsessive fear of something. The objects of increased fear can be a variety of objects, actions and situations. This condition brings discomfort to the personality and greatly complicates it. At the same time, a person knows that there is no need to be afraid, but there is nothing he can do about his phobia.
In most cases, emotional people suffer from fears. They experience imaginary situations as if they were happening in real life. Sociophobes themselves do not deny this. Specialists classify all such fears as follows:
- social phobia;
- agoraphobia;
- isolated phobia.
Social phobia has nothing to do with shyness, as it might seem at first glance. This fear is directed at actions in a public place. Agoraphobia is the fear of a large crowd of people and open space. The object of isolated fear is a specific object or phenomenon. We have listed the main types of phobias, one way or another connected with being in society. Next, let's talk about how to deal with such a pathology.
Sociophobia test
Today on the relevant thematic information resources you can find many tests to determine unreasonable fears. So, the test, as far as you are a sociophobe, is suggested by researcher Michael Leibovitz. A small survey allows you to identify the degree of manifestation of fears in human life.
The author of the test suggests answering questions that determine the presence of anxiety in a particular situation and the individual's desire to avoid it. Counting the scores, each person will be able to find out their result.
Who are sociopaths?
Some people think that a sociopath and a sociophobe are opposite terms, but this is not entirely true. A sociopath is a person suffering from a behavior disorder that is expressed in ignoring the rights of other people and in refusing to behave within the framework of accepted norms in society.
Such personalities are recognized by the following qualities:
- lack of conscience, sympathy;
- unwillingness and inability to control their emotions;
- cruelty;
- violence;
- non-admission of guilt.
Sociopaths at work and in school are pretty easy to identify. They are very irresponsible in relation to other people. Impulsiveness and recklessness prevail in their character. It is practically impossible to come to an agreement with such personalities, and even more so you should not expect from them a responsible attitude to any business.
At the same time, sociopaths are distinguished by high intelligence. However, over the years, they apply the accumulated knowledge and experience in order to use other people for their own purposes. They are cunning and prudent. Also, such people love themselves very much. They will never miss the opportunity to ask for praise and absolutely do not tolerate criticism. The need for a thrill sociopath draws in dangerous situations. Thanks to them, he satisfies his irrepressible desire to rule.
Causes and signs of social phobia
To learn how to get rid of social anxiety, you need to understand the root of the problem. You may have noticed that already in childhood, children are very different from each other. So, alone - they adapt to almost any conditions. They are open and make contact with everyone. While others in any new environment feel insecure. They cling to their parents and react negatively if adults try to speak with them.
- In some cases, the cause of social phobia is the shyness that a person is endowed with by nature. The disorder occurs during a difficult period of a person’s life - during puberty.
- The development of mental deviation can be facilitated by a specific one-time situation that caused a person severe stress: a car accident, a terrorist attack, natural disasters.
- Also often the cause of sociophobia is the wrong attitude towards the children of the parents. Adults, not thinking about the consequences, compare the child in a negative manner, which in the future leads to low self-esteem.
- Public fear can also be caused by prolonged stress. As a rule, emotional stress in adults is associated with problems in the family or with work.
Why and how is social phobia treated?
Despite such a disappointing assessment of mental disorder, scientists came to the conclusion that you can still get rid of this phobia. Let's figure out how to stop being a sociophobe? And we will start with the root causes, we will follow the path of development of this violation. So...
Sociophobes are children who do not find support from their parents. They are afraid to attend classes and answer to classmates. Further, such a person cannot speak at seminars, and attending exams turns into a real torture for him. At work, the situation is exacerbated. The sociophobe experiences particular difficulties at meetings and during communication with management. A person does not participate in public life at all. Over time, the nervous system is depleted, which leads to a wide variety of diseases. This condition makes a person’s life impossible, so you need to get rid of it. How?
Treatment methods
At the first symptoms of the disease, you need to consult a doctor. In some cases, treatment may take a lot of time. There are several treatments available:
- cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy;
- trainings;
- hypnosis;
- medications.
The most popular way is therapy. It allows the individual to recognize thoughts that cause anxiety, and also teaches how to deal with them. The number of classes is determined by the degree of phobia. Usually their number ranges from eight to sixteen. At the final stage, group therapy is performed.
Specialists are convinced that sociophobic people can cope with small fears themselves, for example, by attending trainings. Themed lectures, books and videos can also help. Work on oneself will give a person the opportunity to restore faith in themselves without the intervention of psychologists.
During hypnosis, a targeted effect on the human psyche occurs. It is carried out in verbal form. At the subconscious level of the personality, new beliefs are instilled that relieve her of discomfort during social situations.
Drug treatment involves the use of the following drugs as prescribed by a doctor: antidepressants, partial receptor agonists, benzodiazepines.
The effectiveness of treatment for social phobia depends on the personality traits and the correctness of the chosen treatment method. Having got rid of the disease, a person can become a full-fledged personality and increase his self-esteem. Sociophobia is not a hopeless diagnosis. Everyone can get rid of fears and make their life happier.