Social Anxiety

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In the last post, we talked about phobias in general, the types of anxiety, and the complex and specific ones. We saw the causes of anxiety and how it starts from childhood.

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This is a topic we have covered before when talking about flashbacks. But I want to discuss every bit of it so we can learn together the causes of the complication and the prevention of this condition.
Anxiety disorder increases levels of anxiety and worry. Women and younger individuals are more likely to experience anxiety than the general population.

This is the Medic Vibes blog, where we share information regarding mental health-related topics. I'm pleased you're here and I hope you're having a good day. The host of the blog, @ebingo, is a physician and an illustrator. We have not yet migrated to our main blog because we currently have only one writer and one illustrator on staff. Currently, we maintain a blog for the STEMsocial community. Last month, we discussed depression, and this month we will focus on anxper cent according to a Nigerian study, we began last month, anxiety was prevalent in a youth camp at a rate of 50per centring the study, and we began analyzing tweets, just as we did a month ago.


An examination of a study revealed that fifty percent of campers at a youth camp in Northwestern Nigeria exhibited anxiety symptoms and that three percent or more of the global population suffers from anxiety. Anxiety affects approximately 1% of the Nigerian population.

Everyone has experienced heart palpitations before important exams, presentations, or performances at some point in their lives. However, what if I told you that some individuals experience this feeling daily? Patients with social anxiety disorder worry about what others will think of them. They may interact frequently with one of these individuals, such as their supervisor or coworker. Individuals will therefore employ avoidance strategies. In one of our previous blog posts, we discussed social anxiety's phone-related manifestations.

In anxious individuals, physical, psychological, and reactive symptoms are all present.

Physical symptoms include chest pain, stomach pain, weakness, rapid respiration, and a rapid heartbeat. The sympathetic discharge of the autonomic nervous system is frequently applied.

Nightmares, flashbacks, and insomnia are psychological manifestations of anxiety.

Avoidance is one of the signs and symptoms of social anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. This applies to both individuals and locations.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the causes of anxiety vary between individuals and last longer than six months. Keeping it under control can be difficult. Frequently, children with anxiety experience persistent pain, exhaustion, agitation, and sleep disturbances.

Risk Factors
A combination of genetics and the environment play a minor role in determining who can develop anxiety disorders.

An individual's risk for anxiety is increased by shyness, avoidance of social situations, and avoidance of specific locations.

Childhood exposure to traumatic or extremely stressful events increases the likelihood of developing anxiety.

An additional risk factor is having relatives with anxiety disorders.

Several medical conditions, including thyroid problems and heart conditions such as arrhythmias, increase the risk of developing anxiety disorders.

In general, women experience anxiety more frequently than men. Others believe higher testosterone levels may have a calming effect. Some individuals believe that women are less likely than men to seek therapy for anxiety.

Because depression and anxiety are related and because depression increases a person's risk of suicide, it is crucial to be on the lookout for any changes as soon as they appear.


Phobias

Woman illustrations by Storyset
Social anxiety is also called social phobia and it is one of the complex phobias that we touched on yesterday in phobias. But it also stands on its own as one of the forms of anxiety.

Yesterday we also talked bout how most phobias rarely start after 30, most of them start in late childhood and early teenage years. In some cases, the anxiety gets worse as time goes by but this is not always the case.

Some people think that social anxiety is being shy, but for many who suffer from this condition, there are very high levels of fear and worry for daily activities. These activities can be as minute as going to get groceries or picking up the phone. It goes into every aspect of life because let's face it, if you are going to do anything in life you are going to need to interact with people.

The worry of fear typically happens before or during the activity, but it can also come after the interaction

The symptoms include worrying about the little things everyone does on a daily bases, like meeting people and talking on the phone.

There is avoidance like in agoraphobia, the places that are avoided here are places that might make you want to interact with people.
Those who suffer from this condition constantly feel like they are being judged.
They will avoid eye contact.
They may have physical symptoms of sweating fast breathing or difficulty breathing chest pain abdominal pain when they are in these situations.

Those with this condition may also have other mental health issues that we have previously discussed like depression and other forms of anxiety.

Tips

Here are some helpful tips that we have discussed before but we will still add more. Yesterday we talked bout knowing your triggers because it helps not only you but your physician and psychologist. Well, take out time to think about these triggers and how you react to them. Meditation and breathing exercises can help with calming those nerves. It also helps to chop down those things that stress you into tinier bits and deal with them piece by piece. Getting out of your head and thinking about what others are thinking can also help. Stay focused on what people say and not what you think they think and try to sieve out the information.

Usually, this condition is managed by a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Talk therapy is usually the mode of treatment offered by the psychologist while the psychiatrist offers medication. The drugs given are usually antidepressants and antianxiety. Beta-blockers can also be used to manage this condition.

Hivemacries

In this post by @apineda, he explains how respiratory alkalosis can take place because of the increased breathing rate in anxiety. This is a very good post and he gives a helpful common solution to the problem. Check out the post here. I want to thank @lemouth and the @stemscoial from bringing this post to my attention.

Questions

  • What did you learn about anxiety?
  • What did you learn about social anxiety?
  • What is the relationship between them?

Conclusion

Social anxiety is one of the complex phobias, but the trigger in this condition is people. The symptoms include worrying fear and avoidance in reaction to people. These people may be people at work, school or even new people you might meet anywhere.

I hope that you learned a lot from this post.

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References



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