Have you ever felt so afraid of introducing yourself in front of other people that you had to skip class altogether? Being embarrassed or nervous about speaking in public is normal and almost everybody feels it.
So how do you know if what you are feeling is normal or if it is already a symptom of social panic disorder? Social anxiety is totally different from being shy or nervous speaking in front of a number of people.
This usually entails feeling intense fear that you would do everything, like skipping class, just to avoid it.
This anxiety disorder is also termed as social phobia.
When a person has social phobia, he or she feels intense fear speaking in public.
They are afraid that their voice would shake and their face would turn beet red or they would freeze.
Thus, they get so humiliated that they would do anything to avoid experiencing it again.
People with social phobia would avoid any occasion to speak in public, may it be in school or at a social gathering.
But what causes this intense fear of facing the public? Well for people with social phobia, they usually have anxiety attacks when in front of a lot of people because they are actually afraid of being scrutinized, judged or embarrassed in public.
Sadly, social anxiety disorder is common and there are a number of people who struggles with social phobia.
And this can be triggered by different things for different people.
Some may get anxiety attack in social and performance situation.
Or some people get panic attacks with just specific social situations like speaking to strangers, eating at restaurants, or going to parties.
But public speaking is the most common factor that triggers anxiety attacks for people with social phobia.
So how would you know if you have social phobia? Getting nervous or embarrassed in front of the public is normal but when your nervousness or embarrassment in front of the public interferes with your normal routine and causes tremendous distress, then you have social anxiety disorder.
People with social phobia worries for weeks ahead of the scheduled public speaking that in the end they would call in sick or they would shake so much when speaking that you won't even understand what they're saying.
Some other symptoms of this panic disorder are intense worry days ahead of an upcoming social situation, extreme fear of being watched by people you don't know, too self-conscious and anxious in everyday social situations, and a fear that of embarrassing or humiliating one self.
And most of all, you avoid social situations so much that you might not even go out much.
Physically, people with social phobia would experience trembling or shaking, rapid breathing, sweating or hot flashes, upset stomach or nausea, dry mouth, muscle tension, blushing, dizziness or faint, clammy hands, or twitching in a social situation.
They may also feel their heart pounding or their chest feels tight.
This can be troublesome for people experiencing social anxiety attacks as this limits their social interactions.
They might even have trouble finding a job as they might experience panic attacks during interview.
Or they might have to make more effort to graduate, as they would try to avoid public speaking or social interaction so much.
People who experiences social anxiety attacks should consult their doctors as soon as they possibly can.