How to Reduce Social Anxiety
I. Introduction
Have you ever been too nervous to say anything at a party or in a place full of strangers? Nowadays, people have social anxiety not only in reality but also in the Internet world. According to a report by Child Welfare League Foundation, in 2021, over 60 percent of children between the age of 7 to 12 have social anxiety when they use social media. Besides, on the basis of a research paper co-written by Koyuncu, İnce, Ertekin, and Tükel (2019), epidemiological studies have established that SAD is a common disorder with a current prevalence between 5 and 10% and a lifetime prevalence between 8.4 and 15%. In other words, social anxiety is a common illness that everyone is likely to suffer from regardless of any circumstance. In order to prevent suffering from social anxiety and overcome this sickness, people ought to realize the features of social anxiety and its therapies.
II. The overall problem
Social anxiety is a fear which makes people less willing to join social activities. Based on the journal article co-written by Bögels, Alden, Beidel, Clark, Pine, Stein, & Voncken (2010), many people with social anxiety are apt to suffer from bodily symptoms, such as blushing, trembling, or sweating, which are observable to others and not readily controlled. Besides, for almost half of these people, this is the primary source of fear. Take the report of SET News (2018) as an example: Vanessa Van Edwards, a famous author, body language trainer, and public speaker, told that during her academic career, as soon as entering the school gate and trying to interact with classmates, she always suffered from the attack of urticaria. Therefore, she only could wear long-sleeved clothes and trousers to conceal her red and itchy skin. As far as this story is concerned, social anxiety may cause a lot of troubles in our daily lives. What’s more, it probably creates hindrances to people’s social situations and dampens people’s confidence. We conducted a survey to better know Taiwanese college students’ thoughts on social anxiety and found that 28% of participants are afraid of social occasions, or feel anxious when they need to attend social occasions (Figure 1). Besides, via their self-assessment of their degree of social anxiety (Figure 2), the ratio has similar values to the data in Figure 1. Both figures show that most people encounter the problem with social anxiety to some extent. Thus, social anxiety is a severe issue that we have to pay more attention to and seek some solutions to get over it. To find the right antidote, we categorized the problems of social anxiety into three types and considered their solutions respectively.
Figure 1 People’s negative attitudes toward social occasions.
Figure 2 People’s self-assessment of their own degree of social anxiety.
III. One part of the problem
First, when people have social anxiety, they are inclined to doubt and deny themselves. Some people who lack confidence may more easily experience self-doubt. They might have poor memories on social occasions, and those bad experiences make them lose their confidence in interacting with others. Our survey results show that about 30% of participants tend to think about themselves in a negative way while they are interacting with others (Figure 3). To solve this problem, we give a possible solution that people should focus on personal strengths and surround themselves with supportive people. In Figure 4, we can find 78.9% of participants consider it effective to reduce self-doubt when they receive positive comments while facing others. Charles Horton Cooley’s (1902) looking-glass self-theory can be used in this solution. He says that when everyone interacts with others, they look like they are facing different mirrors and know themselves through others’ comments. Therefore, if people immerse themselves in a positive and comfortable environment, they will not doubt and deny themselves frequently. To sum up, when they go to an unfamiliar circle, people can build more confidence.
Figure 3 The proportion of people’s self-doubt and self-denial.
Figure 4 Usefulness of supportive comments and compliments to get over self-doubt when people interact with others.
IV. Second part of the problem
Next, social anxiety is easy for people to have attention bias because they would turn their attention to themselves to avoid challenging the negative expectation. According to Azriel and Bar-Haim (2020), attention bias is the tendency to prioritize the processing of certain types of stimuli over others (pp. 203-218). If people pay attention to specific things, it will make them more nervous. One possible solution is that people can participate in social activities that they are interested in rather than going to every kind of activity. In the survey, 60% of participants agree that it is useful to attend social activities which people are really interested in and can reduce attention bias (Figure 5). The other solution is bringing small stuff which can increase a sense of security with them. In Figure 6, we can see that 63 percent of participants consider this method effective to relieve attention bias on social occasions. When we bring a small thing that gave us happiness or security in the past, it will give the person a sense of security and believe that he or she will also be good in this social activity. In conclusion, people with attention bias should draw their attention away from a certain target and put more attention to the environment.
Figure 5 Effectiveness about people joining social activities in which they are really interested in reducing social anxiety.
Figure 6 Effectiveness regarding people bringing small stuff to reduce social anxiety.
V. Third part of the problem
Last, some people suffering from social anxiety may accompany physical symptoms, such as blushes, tremors, or palpitations. It is normal for people to have physical symptoms when they are nervous. To reduce these kinds of physical symptoms, we consider some solutions such as seeing psychiatrists or taking relaxation training like diaphragmatic breathing or meditation that can relieve anxiety. According to the survey results, about half of the participants consider the solutions that we give are useful, while 15.4% of people think they are useless (Figure 7). The reasons seem that some people consider seeing psychiatrists just to find someone to talk to and chat without any actual utility. However, Ally, a writer in Fairy’s Heart Organization, (n.d.) says that if you go to see psychiatrists, they will give you a kind of medicine called SSRI, which can reduce social anxiety with fewer side effects. People with serious social anxiety should seek professional help if they need to prevent social anxiety from worsening. Moreover, according to Mina (2018), one of the benefits of relaxation is reducing the degree of anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Although it may not have obvious effects, it truly has slight advantages to relieve physical symptoms. Hence, people can look for assistance from professionals or do some adjustments such as breathing to make themselves feel better physically.
Figure 7 Usefulness of seeing psychiatrists or taking relaxation training to overcome social anxiety.
VI. Conclusion
Anxiety is a kind of emotion. It is normal for everyone to feel anxious when we encounter diverse situations. Therefore, we do not need to be worried about social anxiety. Nonetheless, it does not represent that we can ignore social anxiety since a minor illness is incurable, but a serious one is difficult to cure. If we find someone suffering from social anxiety, we can attempt to encourage them to join social activities and be friendly to them on social occasions. Additionally, people with social anxiety can carry a tiny object to improve their security or just attend social activities which are very attractive to them. Of course, seeing a doctor is also a useful way to get over the symptoms of social anxiety. In conclusion, people with social anxiety should find solutions to overcome it rather than letting it damage their mental health and even physical health.
References
1. Ally, Fairy’s Heart (n.d.) It turns out that social anxiety is not just "fear of talking to others"? An article teaches you all the knowledge you need
2. Azriel, O., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2020). Attention bias. In J. S. Abramowitz & S. M. Blakey (Eds.), Clinical handbook of fear and anxiety: Maintenance processes and treatment mechanisms (pp. 203–218). American Psychological Association.
Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0000150-012
3. Bögels, S. M., Alden, L., Beidel, D. C., Clark, L. A., Pine, D. S., Stein, M. B., & Voncken, M. (2010). Social anxiety disorder: questions and answers for the DSM‐V. Depression and anxiety, 27(2), 168-189.
Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/da.20670
4. Children Welfare League Organization (2021) 2021 Online Social Anxiety and Cyberbullying Experiences among Children in Taiwan Survey
Retrieved from https://www.children.org.tw/english/news_detail/bully2021
5. Koyuncu A, İnce E, Ertekin E, Tükel R. Comorbidity in social anxiety disorder: diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Drugs Context. 2019;8:212573. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
6. Mina Lee Ryu, NorthShore University Health System (2018) Take It Easy: The Benefits of Relaxation
Retrieved from https://www.northshore.org/healthy-you/benefits-of-relaxation/
7.Yè Guàn Wún (2018) zengyǒuyán jhòngshè jiaokǒng jyùtayán jiòuniánrén lèisīng wéi SET News
https://www.setn.com/news.aspx?newsid=351872
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