Name: Ayumi

Social Anxiety (social phobia)

Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is an intense anxiety or fearing of being judged, or
negatively evaluated. What does social anxiety looks like? Avoiding spaces where you can’t easily hide,
assuming people think bad about you, overthinking, disliking appointments, and much more. Social
anxiety can come from past/ negative experiences, genetic predisposition, bullying, maternal stress,
humiliation and much more. Social anxiety is found to be more common in introverts. Some of you may
think that social anxiety is no different with introversion, well let me show you the differences;

1. You are able to enjoy social activities as an introvert, but when you have social anxiety, you would feel
humiliation or embarrassment and it makes you difficult to enjoy activities.

2. Being an introvert doesn’t affect how you think people think of you, but when you have social anxiety,
you would fear judgment.

Shyness is another trait that often gets mixed up with social anxiety and introversion. If you’re shy, you
might worry about meeting new people and wonder whether they’ll like you, or blushing, getting
sweaty, or feeling sick to your stomach before speaking in a group and much more.

How we get rid of social anxiety and what we have to do if your friends have social anxiety:

You could try psychotherapy, therapy gives you a safe space in which to explore your thoughts, feelings,
beliefs and their origins while simultaneously learning the skills you need to make meaningful changes.

We need to hype people up, believe they can do it, and be patient! we must not force or complain about
how they couldn’t do something "simple” and think you’re better than them. Ask them why they’re
anxious, fix their emotions and focus on their feelings. I want to speak up about this topic because a lot
of people seem to not understand this topic and I want them to realize that this actually exist! Thank
you for reading, I hope you learnt a few things and take care of your relatives and friends because you
don’t know if they might be suffering with it as well!