- About Anxiety in Adults
- Social Anxiety Program
- Excessive Worry Program
- Fly Without Fear
- How to get help
SOCIAL ANXIETY PROGRAM
What is Social Anxiety?
Many terms or labels are used to describe social anxiety, including shyness, social phobia or dating anxiety, to name a few. People who are socially anxious feel uncomfortable in any situation where they might be the focus of attention. They worry that they will act in an embarrassing or humiliating way. The underlying fear is that other people will think badly of them.
People with social anxiety often avoid situations that make them feel anxious. Over time socially anxious people can develop a restricted and unfulfilling lifestyle, including feeling lonely and isolated. As a result, individuals with social anxiety often suffer from low self-esteem.
Typical situations that people with social anxiety worry about and avoid include:
- interacting in groups
- going to parties
- starting and maintaining conversations
- meeting new people/dating
- public speaking and formal presentations
- being watched while writing, eating, or drinking
- being assertive with others
- interacting with authority figures
The types of common anxiety symptoms people might experience include:
- trembling or shaking
- hot or cold flushes
- blushing
- pounding heart
- "going blank"
- tightness in chest
- nausea or 'butterflies"
People with social anxiety also experience negative thoughts when they are nervous. These thoughts include worry about being judged by others or fear that they are doing badly. Some examples include:
- "They must think I look really silly"
- "I am going to blow this"
- "I look ridiculous"
- "They are going to laugh at me"
- "They won't think very much of me"
- "I won't know what to say"
- "Everyone can see how anxious I am"
HOW COMMON IS SOCIAL ANXIETY?
The recent national mental health survey has revealed that over 400,000 adult Australians suffer from significant social anxiety problems each year. Unfortunately, only a small number of sufferers seek help.
As for many anxiety disorders, often people with social anxiety are too embarrassed to talk to someone, or they may simply not know where to go. As a result, social anxiety can be life-long if not treated effectively and can also lead to depression and alcohol abuse. On the positive side, social anxiety can be treated, with sufferers often experiencing a significant improvement within a relatively short period of time.
About Our Research into Social Anxiety
All treatments that we offer at the Social Phobia Clinic aim to teach people ways of managing their social anxiety through practical and common sense strategies. Most of our programs are delivered in a group format, and encourage participants to take an active role in their improvement and to engage in practice exercises outside of the sessions for full benefits.
Participating in our research programs allows you access to cutting edge treatment for anxiety, at a lower cost than that charged by private psychologists. We can keep costs down because we are funded by the Australian Government to conduct research into social anxiety. Therefore, participants are asked to assist us by filling in questionnaires and coming in for assessments, even after their treatment has finished. This is because our studies often investigate the long-term effectiveness of the treatments we provide.
