Treatment for social phobia

Social phobia is one of the more common anxiety disorders.  It involves fear of embarrassment or humiliation in situations where you are exposed to the scrutiny of others or, you must perform.  This fear is much stronger than the normal anxiety most non-phobic people experience in social or performance situations.  Usually it is so strong that it causes you to avoid the situation altogether, although some people with social phobia endure social situations, all be it with considerable anxiety.
Typically your concern is that you will say or do something that will cause others to judge you as being anxious, weak, “crazy” or stupid.  Your concern is generally out of proportion to the situation, and you recognize it's excessive.  (children with social phobia, however do not recognize the excessivness of their fear).

The most common of all social phobias is fear of public speaking, and affects performers, speakers, people whose jobs require them to make presentations, and students who have to speak before their class.  Public-speaking phobia affects a large percentage of the population and is equally prevalent among men and women.

Other common social phobias include ;
 

  1. Fear of blushing in public in public
  2. Fear of being watched
  3. Fear of using public toilets
  4. Fear of writing or signing documents in the present of others   
  5. Fear of crowds
  6. Fear of taking examinations
     

Sometimes social phobia is less specific and involves a generalized fear of any social or group situation where you might feel that you're being watched or evaluated.  When your fear is of a wide range of social situations (for example – initiating conversations, participating in small groups, speaking to authority figures, dating, attending parties, and so on), the condition is referred to as “generalized social phobia”.  

Call us or email us for further information

You are likely to have questions and we welcome you to call us at one of our hypnotherapy locations.  If you prefer to ask a question over email, please do and we will gladly respond with as much help and assistance as we can.  We look forward to hearing from you.