9 Aug

Social Anxiety Disorder – Signs, Symptoms & Treatment

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is also known as social phobia; in actuality, it is intense anxiety or fear of being judged, negatively evaluated, or rejected in a social situation. People with such conditions may worry about acting or appearing visibly anxious, or being viewed as stupid, annoying, or awkward. They always try to avoid social or performance situations, and when they are unable, they feel significant anxiety and distress. Some intense physical symptoms have also been noticed in people with a social anxiety disorder.

Symptoms can include rapid heart rate, sweating, nausea, and full-blown attacks when confronting a feared situation. Although they can understand that their fear is unreasonable, and they are powerless against their anxiety.

A number of people (about 15 million) in the United States are suffering from this social condition as Social anxiety is the second most diagnosed anxiety disorder following specific phobia. This condition can be initiated by a teenager.

People with this condition commonly report extreme shyness, but the critical point is that it is not merely shyness but something more.

Signs And Symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder

People with social anxiety disorder can experience these (given below) symptoms when performing in front of others.

Feel nauseous or sick to their stomach
Sweat, blush, tremble, feel a rapid heart rate, or feel their mind going blank.
Find it difficult and scary to be with other people, especially in front of an unknown person, and have a hard time talking to them even though they wish they could.
Make little eye contact, show a rigid body posture, or speak with an overly soft voice
Always be afraid that others will judge them
self-conscious in front of other people and feel awkward and embarrassed
Please stay away from other people or places where they are.

What Causes Social Anxiety Disorder?

This mental condition sometimes runs in families, but there is not any evidence for sure why only individual members of the family experience it when others don’t. Human researches have proved that many parts of the brain are involved in fear and anxiety. Some reports said that misreading of an individuals’ behavior might be a cause of social anxiety disorder. Underdeveloped social skills can also cause social anxiety.

For example, people with underdeveloped social skills can feel discouraged after talking with someone unknown and may fear doing it in the future.

Treating Social Anxiety Disorder

Key Points

Medical researchers have found that medications work faster, but cognitive behavioral therapy plays the best role and produces long-lasting benefits.
Benzodiazepines or beta-blockers are recommended first for people with a specific social phobia.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and one serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors are considered the best medication options for the management of generalized social anxiety (GAD).

Psychotherapy

Many medical studies have concluded that CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) is often useful and produces better results than other psychotherapy options.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

It is a medical technique used in people with social anxiety disorder; it works to interfere with how they think about and react in situations that terrify them. Doctors can use this technique separately or as a part of group therapies.

It usually consists of 12 to 16 weekly sessions lasting 1 to 1.5 hours each. In studies, individuals with such conditions often needed at least six to twelve weeks of cognitive-behavioral therapy before showing any improvement.

Other Options

There are some additional therapies for the management of social anxiety disorder. These techniques are modified forms of interpersonal treatment that improve the ability to interact and socialize with other peoples.

Medication Options

Some medication options are also available for the management of social anxiety disorder. Benzodiazepines and beta-blockers are the best medication option after SSRI and venlafaxine.

Benzodiazepine

It is a family of certain similar drugs that are known for their calming effects between the human brain and the central nervous system. It boosts the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid and works to change how our brain responds to social conditions.

Beta-blockers

It is a recommended anti-anxiety medication for people with heart diseases. It can help to counter symptoms of social phobia such as sweating, shortness of breath, and rapid heart rate.

8 Aug

Understand the Facts – Everything You Need to Know About Anxiety

People all around the world are facing a different kind of health issues. These could be about your physical health or psychological health. It is important to come face to face to the fact that mental health issues exist in our society, and people should know about them and their symptoms. There are several psychological issues that are seen occurring in people. Most of them are due to the lifestyle changes that we have adapted towards.

What Do You Understand By The Word – Anxiety?

In standard terms, a person will feel anxiety as an outcome of stress. Many people feel this stress because of some fear or apprehension that they think is around the corner. A person may feel a kind of tension in situations like – going for a job interview, having a financial crisis, and many such fearful things that happen in our everyday life. The person may become nervous, and there starts the act of anxiety.

There can also be a time when a person may feel this stress regularly for more than six months or so. You should know that in such a case, you need to take medical advice from a health professional. No matter what, you must not try to purchase a drug for anxiety treatment by yourself. Always seek help from a medical professional to get a proper recommendation for managing the symptoms of anxiety.

In general, anxiety is a type of disorder that is the most common phenomenon of emotional disorders affecting a person. These types of disorders may occur at any point in time and any age. There have been studies that say women are more likely to develop the symptoms of anxiety as compared to men.

The Types Of Anxiety Disorder –

Many kinds of anxiety disorders may occur in different people. Some of the diseases that usually happen are given below –

Phobia – This type of condition occurs when a person is in excessive fear of a situation, an object, or an activity happening around him/her.
Social anxiety disorder – It is an extreme fear of meeting people in public and getting offended by others misjudging them.
Panic disorder – This is meant to be experiencing panic attacks at a recurring point of time without having a proper timing or schedule. A person who suffers from panic disorder is always in fear when a panic attack may occur.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder – It is a condition where a person may run through the same thoughts in his/her mind that are irrational. As a result of this, the same tasks and behavior are repeated on a daily basis.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – This a condition that will only occur when a person has faced a traumatic event in the past.
Illness anxiety disorder – A person who is conscious of his/ her most of the time tend to be suffering from this disorder.

What Are The Common Symptoms That Occur When A Person Suffers From Anxiety?

There will difference in the level of experience when a person suffers from anxiety. Not every individual will have the same feeling of anxiety as the other person. You should understand that the feels may range from – feeling irritated or to the extent of rapid heartbeats.

The person may also feel a disconnect between the heart and the brain due to its uncontrolled behavior. There are some other ways through which a person will experience anxiety, like – nightmares, painful thoughts, panic attacks, or memories that are harsh on your mind. You may feel worried, and fearful thoughts will run inside your mind. Along with this, the person will fear a particular event that has happened in the past or a place due to some uncomfortable connection.

Below are listed some of the general symptoms of anxiety –

Rapid heart rate
Trouble in concentration
Breathing heavily
Feeling restless
Unable to fall asleep

It’s not necessary that every person will face the same symptoms of anxiety. For some, these could be way too different from the one listed above. Hence, you need to know that there can be other symptoms of anxiety that may occur depending upon the person’s condition.

How To Tell If A Person Suffers From Anxiety?

Firstly, you need to know that a single test cannot define if you have the symptoms of anxiety or not. There is a lengthy process required for the diagnosis of anxiety. It will include – physical examination, questions related to psychology, and mental health evaluation.

Sometimes, a doctor may also tell you to undergo tests of a physical examination that includes a blood test and urine test. It is usually done so that the doctor could reach out to the actual cause of anxiety disorder. It is rare, but sometimes there are some underlying medical conditions that are responsible for causing anxiety. There can be several other tests that will determine the level of stress you are currently experiencing.

What is An Anxiety Attack?

When a person goes through an anxiety attack, there can be different feelings that run at the same time. It can be a feeling of overwhelming apprehension, distress, fear, or worry of a situation. Most of the time, an attack of anxiety is build up slowly in your system. It may get worse when a stressful situation happens to occur in the near future.

The anxiety attacks may vary from person to person and also their symptoms. It is so because most of the symptoms of anxiety attacks do not happen to every person dealing with anxiety issues. They may change over a period of time.

The symptoms of an anxiety attack that are common are –

Feeling dizzy
Falling short of breath
Sweating
Chills in the body
Restlessness
Worry
Mouth gets dry
Fear
Numbness
Tingling sensation in the body

Many of people may not know that the symptoms of an anxiety attack are quite similar to that of panic attacks. To be sure if you suffer from anxiety or not, take help from your doctor.

What Are The Treatments For Anxiety Disorder?

Although anxiety is considered to be a severe problem, there are some treatments through which you can overcome this disorder. The treatment of anxiety is basically divided into two parts – medication and psychotherapy. Though they both (medication and psychotherapy) go hand in hand, in a mild case, doctors may only prescribe you for therapy and no drugs or vice versa.

A person will get treated with the help of medicines that acts as antidepressants and sedatives. The work of medicine is to balance the formation of chemicals and prevent a person from episodes of anxiety. Medication will help in managing the most severe symptoms of anxiety disorder.

While on the other hand, therapy programs will be run by a therapist or psychologists. They will help you in learning strategies and different tools through which you will be able to cope with the symptoms of anxiety.

Is There A Correlation Between Anxiety And Depression?

There is a terminology that says – if a person is suffering from an anxiety disorder, he must be dealing with depression as well. Although anxiety and depression may occur at two different times, it is also observed that both of these disorders may occur at the same point in time.

In other terms, anxiety is sometimes also referred to be a symptom of severe depression in a person. Likewise, when the condition of a person starts getting worse due to depression, it will trigger the problem of anxiety. Both these disorders (anxiety and depression) can be managed with the help of medication and psychotherapy.