Social anxiety drawings (& their meanings)
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OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
Social anxiety clutter moreover known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by a noteworthy sum of fear in one or more social circumstances, causing impressive trouble and disabled capacity to operate in at least some parts of everyday life. Tireless fear of one or more social or execution situations in which the individual is uncovered to new individuals or to conceivable examination by others. It’s a fear of social circumstances that include interaction with others. Social uneasiness is an over-the-top passionate distress uneasiness about social circumstances.
5 social anxiety drawing and illustrations are:
This social anxiety drawing speaks about the discomfort people experience in social settings due to the anticipated humiliation, embarrassment, and criticism from others. They try to hide from social gatherings in certain cases.
This illustrations portraits that people with social anxiety make decisions based on what they feel other people might assume about them making them feel like a puppet in someone else hand.
This drawing of social anxiety depicts that people with social anxiety feel they are been judged and watched upon by other people constantly which in turn has an impact on their behaviour.
This illustration of social anxiety points out the fact that social anxiety can be differentiated from shyness. People are comfortable among familiar social groups but experience anxiety in unfamiliar social situations.
This drawing of social anxiety reflects the intensity of fear and anxiousness a person with social anxiety might experience which hampers their normal functioning.
What are the symptoms of social anxiety?
The symptoms of social anxiety can be both physical and psychological.
The most significant physical symptoms of social anxiety are:
- Nausea
- Excessive sweating
- Shaking or trembling
- Lightheadedness or feeling dizzy
- Increased heart rate
The psychological symptoms that individual experiences during a social anxiety attack are:
- Excessive and intensive worry about the social situation
- Worrying days or even weeks ahead of an important social event
- Trying to camouflage themselves in the background all we need to avoid the social situation on a whole
- The need for intoxication to face a social situation
- The constant worry of being observed by other people
- To avoid social contact an individual might also miss out on school or work.
In addition to these individuals with social anxiety may avoid social interactions such as asking another person a question when in doubt, potential job interviews, shopping call mom using public services like transport or washrooms, carrying out activities in public such as speaking or even eating in that matter.
How to kill social anxiety using self-help techniques?
Lifestyle changes
Apart from therapy and medication what works best to manage social anxiety is certain lifestyle changes. These may include:
- Regular exercises
- Having a balanced diet,
- Socializing and talking to people about their anxiety,
- Journal writing to express and understand one’s feelings and
- Avoiding alcohol or drugs.
Take control of your breathing
It is normal for anxiety to bring about changes in your body, for instance, increased breathing. these changes often make an individual feel uncomfortable.
One can take control of this discomfort by carrying out a few simple steps such as holding one’s breath for two seconds and slowly letting it out through their mouth.
Repeating this step several times until one feels relaxed. This is most effective when one sits down in a comfortable position with their back straight.
Carry out progressive muscle relaxation
Research indicates that certain activities such as walking, or jogging can help in killing anxiety. Another effective technique to kill anxiety is progressive muscle relaxation.
Progressive muscle relaxation involves flexing and releasing a group of muscles in one’s body which helps to maintain their attention on the feelings of this contraction and relaxation.
Prepare ahead of situations
It is best advised that people who experience social anxiety must plan ahead of these situations that make them nervous to increase their confidence.
Start small
to kill social anxiety people must start small. In that individuals must avoid big social situations and start with the situation that they are compatible with.
For instance, one can start by going for lunch with friends and family members rather than with a set of individuals that they’re not familiar or confident with.
Push back negative thoughts
One very effective way to kill social anxiety is to focus and work on one’s negative thoughts actively.
Think about the negative thoughts that one has about a particular situation and write them down. Following which the person is required to write down positive thoughts that challenge the negative ones.
Sensory awareness
One’s senses can help them calm down while they feel anxious in any situation. For some people trying to look at photographs that give them a sense of happiness or using a particular scent that can help to distract them from the negative thoughts and reconnect with more positive ones can help to kill the anxiety at the moment.
How to kill social anxiety using other methods?
Like other physical conditions, even social anxiety has different approaches for its management and treatment. Some people might only need a single type of treatment while others might require a combination of approaches.
Some of the ways to manage or treat social anxiety disorders are:
Cognitive-behavioural therapy
Cognitive-behavioural therapy helps an individual to control their anxiety by using strategies like relaxation and breathing. It works on the principles of replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy is a kind of therapy in which an individual is exposed to a particular situation that they usually fear in a graded manner.
It usually starts with exposing the individual to a situation that is least triggering when the individual gets comfortable with this situation introduced or exposed to them with each session individuals become comfortable with a real-life situation that is otherwise anxiety-provoking.
Group therapy
As the name suggests group therapy usually involves two or more individuals who are experiencing similar symptoms and problems.
It is based on the principle that when an individual interacts with other people who are suffering from the same condition or fears they might not feel left alone or isolated.
This kind of therapy also helps in developing and maintaining social skills or techniques to interact with people in other social settings.
Prescribed medication
Social anxiety can also be treated with the help of medication prescribed by a health professional. There are different types of anxiety medications each with its benefits and side effects.
Online therapy
Individuals with social anxiety can also seek therapy online. This would involve interacting with the therapist one-on-one over an audio or video call.
Some individuals with social anxiety might be more comfortable seeking help through this mode than others while in a different case some might prefer face-to-face therapy sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Why do I have social anxiety?
Anxiety and other related conditions like social anxiety can be due to negative past experiences like abuse or bullying or even overcontrolling parents can be a part of an individual’s personality where they are predisposed to a shy nature and later become anxious adults.
How do I not let social anxiety ruin my life?
Some strategies that individuals can try to maintain their lives while suffering from social anxiety are:
- · Do not hesitate in writing for us to help
- · One must become their own advocates
- · set achievable goals
- · focus on one’s health and prioritize it
- · keeping a journal could help regulate one’s feelings and reflect on them overtime
What happens if social anxiety is left untreated
Be it physical or mental conditions when left untreated might lead to irreversible and extreme damage to an individual. Similarly in the case of social anxiety negligence of which might lead to depression, isolation, or other anxiety disorders.
Can social anxiety be fatal?
Although social anxiety does not have any direct relationship with an individual’s life span or mortality and increased level of stress many studies indicate that high levels of stress may contribute to a higher risk of natural and unnatural causes of death.
Does social anxiety get worse with age?
It is a common notion that anxiety or shyness decreases with age. It is noticed that the occurrence of anxiety may be slightly lower in older adults, many still get a diagnosis of anxiety in later stages of life.
Citations
https://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/tips-for-living-with-social-anxiety
https://www.verywellmind.com/work-anxiety-4692762
https://www.deviantart.com/artistickat11/art/Puppet-Of-Social-Anxiety-832330899
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/having-social-anxiety
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-know-if-your-student-has-social-anxiety
https://saqibbajwa.onlinemindcare.com/social-phobia-social-issue/
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