There are a lot of teens who suffer from social anxiety disorder but they are never able to identify or treat it. This may be because of the sole reason that not everyone is aware of what exactly makes it anxiety from common nervousness. Social anxiety acts up in a group of new people. So let’s understand the difference between anxiety and nervousness.
Let’s take the first day at a new school. Everyone feels nervous as it’s a new experience and they don’t know what to expect but once in that situation, people usually talk to new people and make acquaintances but the one with anxiety, tend to retreat in a corner, they don’t talk to anyone, they sweat, try to avoid eye contact and some feel so anxious after this ordeal that their only way out is self-harm. Giddiness and fainting are not uncommon either. The socially anxious people, think more about what the others are thinking and that entails a sense of paranoia and insecurity too. If you feel this way, maybe talking to someone about it should help. So let’s get to know a bit more about it.
Maybe taking a few more situations would help you understand social anxiety better. Everyone is good at something or the other. If a person who is socially anxious is good at maybe at writing. And if their piece is selected to be read out in school assembly, they would need a lot of preparation to successfully read it out. They would need to talk to themselves a lot to calm themselves down, they would be nervous about what others might think or say as they crave for validation.
Another thing that happens is that social anxiety usually develops in people who have been a victim of abuse, or have not been in a happy home. It also happens with people who may have faced something disturbing or traumatic as a child and that just resonates throughout their life. Many children are brought up in situations where what they had to say was never given any importance and that makes them develop a complex of worthlessness. This in turn makes them always feel insecure and inferior.
Everyone has different coping mechanisms for this. Some self harm, some resort to drinking and drugs, writing, drawing, listening to music or making music. They just do things that would help them be at ease with who they are. They try to find an outlet that they can connect with. If not treated or dealt with for long, social anxiety can lead to depression. So it’s always better to work on getting better.
Socially anxious people are treated differently but that’s unfair because they are in pain and they haven’t chosen it. The people who have understood this disorder better, please be kind to others and yourself 🙂 Ask for help when needed as you’re never alone 🙂
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