That day you have to make a presentation in an area you know very well, you enter the room where you will make the presentation and you see that your friends and colleagues are there, you close your eyes and think that your face is red, your hands start to shake and you feel like a person who cannot speak. You feel like you are like a child, you feel that you have no clothes on, that you are naked, and you start wishing that the ground would open and you could get into it.
Another day, you enter the dining room and see that your beloved family members and close relatives have come to visit you. You sit at the table and join the conversation, but you are asked a question about your wedding plans. At that moment, your body freezes and you drop the fork in your hand. You drop it and feel that you are red, your hands are numb, your jaw is locked, you find yourself praying for the subject to change as soon as possible.
One day, your cousin abroad says that he will come to your country with a guest and that he wants to introduce you. Your foreign language skills are at a very good level, but suddenly a dream appears in your mind that you cannot speak to that person in a perfect foreign language, that if he asks you a question you can never answer it, your face turns red and you are made fun of. When that day comes, you suddenly realize that you have a fever, your stomach hurts, and you feel very weak, although you were perfectly healthy the night before, and you inform your cousin that you cannot come to the meeting.
Here you have read just a few snippets from the lives of individuals experiencing social phobia. Social phobia is a disorder in which the individual has a distinct and persistent fear of being judged by others and of being embarrassed or embarrassed in social environments.
The term social phobia was first defined as the fear of eating, drinking, shaking, blushing, speaking, writing or vomiting in front of other people, and it was emphasized that its main feature is the fear of being ridiculous in the eyes of others.
In recent years, social anxiety is more common than social phobia. The term disorder is used. SF is defined today as a distinct and persistent fear of situations in which the person is exposed to the watchful gaze of others, social or where a certain action is carried out, on the grounds that he/she will be humiliated or behave in a way that will make him/her feel embarrassed.
The negative beliefs of patients with SF arise not from observing other people's responses, but from the impressions they give to others about how they look.
SF patients do not look at what is actually going on, but focus on their own emotions caused by the feared situation. This has been hypothesized to be the fundamental difference between SAD and shyness.
According to the cognitive model, social phobics' tendency to interpret social situations as threatening stems from a set of dysfunctional beliefs about themselves and the way they behave in social situations.
The dysfunctional beliefs seen in social phobics fall into three categories. can be addressed:
1. Extremely high standards for social performance (I must gain everyone's approval, I must not let anyone know I am anxious, etc.)
2. Contingent beliefs about social evaluation (if I make a mistake I will be rejected, if I put forward a different opinion they will think I am stupid, etc.)
3. Non-contingent beliefs about oneself (I'm unattractive, I'm inadequate, I'm different, I'm boring, I'm unlikeable, etc.)
How Common Is Social Phobia?
The lifetime prevalence of SF has been found to vary between 2.4-13%.
In the National Comorbidity Survey conducted in the USA, social phobia was reported to be the third most common psychiatric disorder after major depressive episode and alcohol addiction, with a prevalence rate of 13%.
Epidemiological studies have shown that people with SF are more often women, single, and have low income and education levels than those without SF. In the clinical sample, SF was found equally between men and women. There appears to be a distribution.
At What Age Does Social Phobia Start?
Although social phobia varies depending on its subtype, it begins between early and late adolescence (10-17 years of age). There is information that the common type begins at an earlier age.
Key Features of Social Phobia
1. Fear of being scrutinized and judged by others in social contexts 2. Marked persistent fear of performing in situations where there is a possibility of humiliation or embarrassment 3. Avoiding feared situations.
The most common of these feared conditions are:
Introduction to others
Introduction to authorized persons
Using the telephone
Guest accepting
Watching while doing something
No joking
Eating with acquaintances
Eating at a restaurant
Writing in front of others
Using public toilets
Public speaking
Shopping
Social Phobia Treatment
Social phobia is a treatable psychological disorder. Among the treatment methods, there are two proven methods.
1.Medication Treatment
2.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Unlike specific phobias and agoraphobia, in SAD patients, some real-life practice treatments are carried out by focusing on the feared situation. difficulties are encountered. Among the difficulties encountered are the variability of social environments, the fact that it is not always possible to pre-arrange these environments for treatment, and the method of treatment may lead to negative consequences in which the patient may feel incompetent and incompetent.
Due to such difficulties in practice, cognitive behavioral approaches should be preferred to purely behavioral approaches in patients with social phobia.
In treatment, first of all, SAD patients are treated with cognitive problems such as being criticized, negatively evaluated, excluded, humiliated and rejected. Deeper concerns are brought to light.
In the next stage, it is aimed to correct such negative thoughts, which are the basis of their fears, by discussing them with the patient.
While the cognitive changes created are reinforced with behavioral practices such as pushing on, a change is ensured at the level of behavior as well as thought.
NOTE: Social phobia causes impairment of functionality in many areas of life. It is possible to eliminate phobias with psychotherapy methods. First of all, you should accept that you have social phobia, consult a therapist, and be motivated about the work you will do together. Afterwards, you will continue on your way as a healthy you who can act with high self-confidence in social environments without experiencing anxiety, fear or need to avoid.
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