Social Phobia consists of the association of one or more social situations with fear and anxiety, these reactions being disproportionate to the real threat posed by the context. It is also known by the name of Social Anxiety Disorder.
The main difference of Social Phobia with respect to shyness consists in the intensity of the emotional response (anxiety, discomfort) and secondly in that it usually gives rise to avoidance behaviors leading to a significant deterioration of the social life and functioning of that person (highly conditioned by the phobia).
The beginning of the problem is usually related to one or more incidents that happen in the social sphere and that are painful. In this way, certain social interactions (meeting someone, having a date, speaking in a group, giving your opinion ...) are associated with negative feelings such as anxiety. Anxiety is a response to situations perceived as threatening and this is how social relationships are interpreted when suffering from social phobia.
Once this association has been established, it tends to become stronger as more and more social situations involving suffering. This is due to a phenomenon called self-fulfilling prophecy..
Before facing a social situation that worries me, I may anticipate it: everything that can go wrong, what will I do if that happens ... It is a way of trying to reduce the uncertainty I feel. Actually, the result of these anticipations is that my mind associates that context with anxiety and when the time comes that is what I feel.
By interacting with that state of mind, my behavior will be affected and the result is very likely not be favorable to me. This will validate my "prophecies" (see? I already knew it was going to go wrong) so catastrophic anticipations perpetuate as a way to prepare for social situations because "when it seems to me that I am going to go wrong, I am usually right".
The natural and logical reaction to a threatening situation that causes me anxiety is flee or avoid, all animals do. The problem appears when the threat is not a lion in the savannah but a perceived psychological threat. That is, I interpret the situation as threatening but it does not fit reality. The more I run away or avoid it, the more fear it will give me.
Let's imagine that I approach a group of classmates to ask for some notes. As I get closer I think about what could go wrong and my anxiety rises to 6. I arrive and I don't say anything, it seems strange to me and my anxiety rises to 7. The more time passes, the harder it is for me to think about what to say and I feel like they are looking at me weird, my anxiety goes up to 9. I feel like I want it to end as soon as possible, I don't need the notes so much, I get out of the situation. When I walk away I feel relief and my anxiety drops to 4. The next time I approach such a situation, the anxiety will not start at 6 but at 9 (or at least 8). And the more I avoid it, the more difficult it will be for me to approach.
At the biological level this effect, called generalization, It is very useful as it teaches me to identify the different elements of a threatening situation in order to anticipate it if a similar one appears, even if it is not identical (if a cougar attacks me instead of a lion).
But if what I fear are social situations every time it is generalizing to more contexts that have common elements (a date, my boss, new people, a waiter, people I know little ...) If my resource is to avoid it, my world is getting smaller and my self-esteem goes down because I feel like "I'm not capable".
Facing our fears is easier said than done, it is necessary expose ourselves in an appropriate way to solve the problem. For this, the psychologist will evaluate how it started and is maintained, what situations are feared and why, which ones are avoided and what thoughts are associated with them. Based on all this, the patient will receive:
A solution to social phobia is possible, it is a challenge that requires a lot of courage but whose consequences are worth it: spaces in our life are recovered, it allows us to build the social life we want, helps us meet our needs and increases our self-esteem.
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