Some helpful strategies include practising self-compassion ; not labelling feelings as negative or positive; and clarifying what matters the most to you. “I enter a party and feel all eyes on me. My pulse quickens, my face burns and my stomach churns.
Everybody must be judging me - the way I look, walk, talk and eat. Over time, I start avoiding more and more social situations because I can’t bear the anxiety. This isolation is soul-crushing.
” This is the kind of story I frequently hear from my socially anxious patients. As a psychologist, I have noticed that social anxiety has become one of the most often cited reasons people seek therapy in my practice, especially since the rise of social media and all the virtual ways we interact with each other, as well as the pandemic. Anxiety is gradually increasing, and social anxiety disorder - previously termed social phobia - is the second-most prevalent anxiety disorder (after specific phobias), affecting about one in 10 adults and teens.
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