Social Anxiety

Being human it is normal to experience social anxiety from time to time. It is neither anyone’s fault nor a sign of weakness. In some situations, and to some degree social discomfort is normal. Social anxiety becomes a problem when it causes excessive suffering or negatively impacts social life or life activities and goals.

What Triggers Social Anxiety?

Temperamental differences have an impact on our levels of social discomfort. Some people are born with more easily provoked nervous systems than other. The fight or flight response is activated easier and to a higher degree. On the other end of spectrum are individuals whose systems require more intense stimuli to provoke nervous reaction. Genetics play a role in temperament. The inherited genetic code plays an important role in responses of nervous systems to the environmental stimuli. Moreover, epigenetics demonstrate that people not only inherit genetic codes, but also the way in which that genetic code is articulated, based on the experiences of recent ancestors. It means that people are influenced by experiences of ancestors. Therefore it is possible for a person to experience social anxiety based on social experiences she or he have never directly experienced. 

People learn to feel social anxiety in particular situations based on their experiences in life.  This process happens directly and indirectly.  Direct forms may come from occurrences like: experienced rejection, being picked on for being different, being subjected to laughter, being bullied. Indirectly learnt social anxiety may come from: seeing others experiencing rejection, a parental figure who creates anxiety-related avoidance, observing the destructive action of social media trolls.

Social media are brimming with “perfect” depictions that are impossible to successfully imitate in reality. Advertisement marketers create advertisements to  make people feel bad about themselves, so the service or a product once obtained will make them better. We are force-fed by media with information that if we are not perfect in every aspect, we should feel bad about ourselves, and inferior to others. Social anxiety thrives on the belief that these “flaws” will incite humiliation and social rejection. Additionally, people spend less time interacting  person to person and progressively more time attached to internet-connected devices. This results in individuals become uncomfortable in certain social situations that require external interactions.

There are other factors that may intensify feeling of anxiety in social situations such as: stress, caffeine and other stimulants, lack of sleep or lack of physical activity, societal factors like economic and job insecurity, concentration on money and achievement as a value of a person or forms of discrimination.

Shyness and social anxiety are not diseases, they are normal human experiences. They seem to be unavoidable for most of people. Instead of viewing social anxiety as a haunting demon, it probably could be easier to begin seeing it as a lifelong, sometimes annoying companion. This companion has no power to harm although one’s response to anxiety can shift things from normal anxiety to phobic anxiety.

Source: 

Goodman, E. (2018). Social Courage. Coping and thriving with the reality of social anxiety. Exisle Publishing