Causes of development, symptoms and treatment of social phobia. Social phobes are people who are terrified of public situations. Fears and phobias. What haunts sociophobia

Social phobia - mental disorder expressed in anxious fear, paralyzing the will and thoughts of a person during his contacts with other people. People with this disorder often avoid society, never speak in public, and are terribly embarrassed when they meet new people. Until recently, the term social phobia in medical practice did not exist - doctors believed that a certain detachment and shyness is just a trait of a person's character. However, today it has become clear to doctors that social phobia is the same disorder of personal behavior as any other phobias, therefore this disorder is successfully treated, and it can be treated both with the help of a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and on your own.

The reasons

The causes of this psychological disorder usually lie in childhood, when the child did not receive proper approval of his actions and recognition of his personality. If parents have always compared a child to other children, overestimating the importance of their achievements, and underestimating the importance of what he does, such a child will not have self-confidence and self-confidence. This causes deep insecurity and low self-esteem.

Hyper-custody can also lead to the development of such a violation, since excessive care for the child “tells” him that he is not able to do anything on his own. Hence, again, self-doubt and self-doubt.

There are also hereditary causes disorders such as social phobia. That is, if one of the relatives in the family suffers from this disorder, it is likely that the child will also have a tendency to such a violation as social phobia. Moreover, the tendency is not always transmitted through genes - sometimes children, adopted, suffer from a violation, that is, a family factor takes place in the development of the disease.

The reasons for the development of a violation may also lie in the impact on a person of adverse life factors. For example, if a person has experienced a painful separation, divorce, dismissal from work - severe stress can lead to the development of social phobia. Also, 60% of people develop social phobia after traumatic events during which they experienced humiliation. For example, if they were ridiculed in public or subjected to violence in front of important people(this is especially common today among teenagers who, offending their own kind, increase their status in the team).

Suffer from this violation in adulthood and those people who were rejected by their peers in childhood. For example, a girl who was unpopular at school does not seek to prove herself in society, but hides from her social phobia in the role of an exemplary housewife. Unpopular and rejected boys often struggle to cope with their psychological problem by using drugs or alcohol, which temporarily give them the opportunity to feel their importance in this world and stop being afraid of society.

In a word, the causes of this disorder always lie deep in the characteristics of a person’s personality, and therefore, in order to cure the disorder, it is necessary to realize them, no matter how they are disguised.

Symptoms

In order to understand how to get rid of social phobia, you need to know how the disease manifests itself, because without knowing the symptoms, you can live your whole life, believing that you are just unlucky and you have such a shy character.

All symptoms this disorder can be divided into several categories, including:

• physical;
• cognitive;
• psychological;
• behavioral.

Physical symptoms are clear manifestations of an anxiety state that are characterized by:

• increased sweating of the palms;
• redness of the skin;
• the appearance of a tremor;
• increased heart rate;
• the development of stupor;
• slurred speech;
• development and even temporary.

All these symptoms occur in a person in those situations when he needs to contact with strangers or perform in front of the public, etc.

Cognitive features that characterize this disorder include:

• the desire to always look good;
• increased demands, first of all, to oneself, and then to others;
• a feeling of horror at the thought that someone might be watching his behavior;
• thinking about yourself in a negative way.

The psychological symptoms of this disorder are constant feeling fear and experiencing extreme stress, if necessary, get out of your comfort zone.

Behavioral symptoms characteristic of this disorder are avoidance by a person of noisy companies and mass gatherings of people, shyness and stiffness in communication. That is, the individual avoids any situations that cause him fear or anxiety. When communicating, he never looks into the eyes, as he is afraid to see condemnation or disapproval in the eyes of the interlocutor. Such a person perceives everyone around him as enemies.

Of course, the symptoms of a disorder such as social phobia can manifest themselves to one degree or another. For some, they are clearly expressed, to the point that a person becomes a hermit or becomes an inveterate drunkard, trying to drown out his fears with alcohol. For others, the symptoms are subtle - they only experience a feeling of discomfort when communicating with people. And it is best to treat the violation with slightly pronounced symptoms, since in this case you can get rid of the pathology forever. You can even cope with the disease at this stage on your own, using relaxation techniques, auto-training and psychologist's recommendations regarding behavior change. In advanced cases, it is necessary to constantly control your emotions and periodically drink antidepressants that will allow a person to feel normal.

Features of treatment

Treatment of social phobia is drug and non-drug. With medication, a person is prescribed antidepressants, beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and others. medicines necessary for the patient's recovery. Most often on initial stages When a person cannot cope with the disorder on their own, doctors prescribe antidepressants, which allow them to see the world without emotions, and therefore without negative connotations.

Also, the treatment of social phobia can be non-drug, that is, with the help of behavioral psychotherapy. Sessions should be qualified specialist- he is obliged to identify the causes of the development of the violation and help the person to realize them. In addition, his task is to reprogram the negative attitudes that exist in the patient's brain into positive ones.

In the initial stages of such a disorder as social phobia, each person can reprogram his thoughts and emotions himself, but for this he will have to carefully monitor them, selecting those that improve the quality of his life, and ignoring those that worsen it. If a person makes certain efforts in the fight against his pathology, he will not need antidepressants and more difficult medications, and joy will return to life.

Thus, knowing how to get rid of social phobia, each person can begin treatment at the onset of initial symptoms, and cope with the disease on their own, regaining their joy of life and a sense of control.

Is everything correct in the article with medical point vision?

Answer only if you have proven medical knowledge

Diseases with similar symptoms:

Agoraphobia is an ailment from the neurotic spectrum, which belongs to the group of anxiety-phobic disorders. characteristic manifestation pathologists - fear of being in public places and open spaces. It is worth noting that agoraphobia includes not only the fear of open space, but also the fear of open doors, fear due to the presence of a large number of people. Usually, a person’s feeling of panic arises from the fact that he does not have the opportunity to hide in a place that is safe for him.

Truly happy man can be considered someone who has no desire to prove something to others. Such a phenomenon as social phobia forces a person to refine himself in search of justifications for his behavior, constantly doubting himself, analyzing and evaluating. This is one of the serious obstacles on the way to happiness and harmony with oneself and the world.

What is social phobia?

According to scientists investigating the problem, social phobia is the most common psychological disorder found in humans. Anxiety against the background of social actions is most observed among residents of developed countries in Europe and the United States.

Social phobia is a condition characterized by the following symptoms:

• physical;
• emotional;
• behavioral;
• cognitive.

Symptoms of social phobia

Physical symptoms include palpitations, nausea, fatigue, strong pain in the head or stomach, tension, increased sweating. The person becomes pale, his pupils dilate, trembling appears.

Emotional symptoms are internally expressed by the feeling that something bad is bound to happen. The person is constantly tense, almost unable to concentrate. He has anxiety, irritability. The sociophobe sees bad dreams and often faced with a sense of deja vu.

Behavioral symptoms are based on experience in a situation that previously caused anxiety. They appear as increased fatigue, strong touchiness and the need to visit the toilet frequently.

A cognitive symptom is a feeling of such danger that it can lead to death. Consultation with a doctor in the presence of these fears is required.

How to distinguish between social phobia and normal anxiety?

It should be noted that an alarm condition that occurs only intermittently is normal reaction a person to stress and helps to overcome them. With social phobia, anxiety arises not in its usual sense. A person feels such experiences as if he was in an inevitable, uncontrollable situation.

Thus, sociophobes are people who feel fear, which intensifies and periodically repeats itself in front of situations of social significance. This is accompanied by hostility, hidden hatred for situations that require him to appear and communicate in society. cannot be explained logically, and often it is not understood by the person himself.

People suffering from social phobia are afraid of all kinds of activities that are associated with the appearance in society, and try to avoid them in every possible way. Anxiety in such individuals is directed to the future and, when a possible threat approaches, is expressed in the form of increased caution.

These individuals consider themselves forbidden actions that, in their opinion, will make them feel anxious or embarrassed in public. Scientists note that social phobia is not only the fear of being in society, but also the fear of actions that can be assessed from the outside. How do sociophobes see being among people? it common occurrence they associate with constant judgment, criticism, observation and evaluation.

Objects of fear of sociophobes

Psychologists identify the following main objects of fear in people suffering from social phobia:

• public performance;
• job interviews;
• answers at a school lesson or in front of an audience at a university;
• negotiations with new business partners;
• conversations with people in authority;
• communication with strangers and dates with unfamiliar people;
• any activities in public places;
• shopping in large supermarkets;
• a situation in which the attention of the whole person will be directed to the person.

When is a mental health test needed?

People with normal psychological condition, mostly reside in good mood and look positively the world. They never sit in one place, and even more so do not worry about their possible failures. Such individuals are active in all spheres of life. However, sometimes there are difficult situations that force them to engage in activities that are unusual for them. It is noteworthy that negativism can be caused not only by negative factors, but also by positive ones.

Problems with often cause a variety of disorders, including phobias, which result in neurosis and psychosis. Test for mental condition should be done by those who observe increased irritability in themselves or periodically fall into depression. Tests for verification are developed by specialists. They consist of questions, the answers to which allow us to give a preliminary assessment of human health.

A phobia is called strong obsessive fear before anything. Objects heightened fear can be a variety of objects, actions and situations. This condition brings discomfort to the life of the individual and greatly complicates it. At the same time, a person knows that there is no need to be afraid, but nothing can be done about his phobia.

In most cases, emotional people suffer from fears. They experience imaginary situations as if they were happening in real life. The sociophobes themselves do not deny this. Experts classify all such fears as follows:

• social phobia;
• agoraphobia;
• isolated phobia.

Social phobia has nothing to do with shyness, as it might seem at first glance. This fear is directed towards action in public place. Agoraphobia is fear large cluster people and open space. The object of isolated fear is a specific object or phenomenon. We have listed the main types of phobias, one way or another associated with being in society. Next, let's talk about how to deal with such a pathology.

Test for determining the degree of social phobia

Today, on the relevant thematic information resources, you can find many tests to determine unfounded fears. So, the test of how sociophobic you are is offered by researcher Michael Leibovitz. A small survey allows you to identify the degree of manifestation of fears in a person's life.

The author of the test offers to answer questions that determine the presence of anxiety in a particular situation and the desire of the individual to avoid it. By counting the points scored, each person will be able to find out his result.

Who are sociopaths?

Some people think that sociopath and sociophobe are opposite terms, but this is not entirely true. A sociopath is a person suffering which is expressed in ignoring the rights of other people and in refusing to behave within the framework of social norms.

Such individuals are recognized by the following qualities:

• lack of conscience, sympathy;
• unwillingness and inability to control their emotions;
• cruelty;
• violence;
• denial of guilt.

Sociopaths at work and in school are fairly easy to spot. They are very irresponsible towards other people. Their character is dominated by impulsiveness and recklessness. It is almost impossible to negotiate with such individuals, and even more so, one should not expect from them a responsible attitude to any business.

At the same time, sociopaths are distinguished by high intelligence. However, over the years, they use the accumulated knowledge and experience in order to use other people for their own purposes. They are cunning and prudent. Also, these people love themselves very much. They never miss an opportunity to ask for praise and do not tolerate criticism at all. Need in thrill the sociopath draws in Thanks to them, he satisfies his irrepressible desire to rule.

Causes and signs of social phobia

To learn how to get rid of social anxiety, you need to understand the root of the problem. You may have noticed that already in childhood, children are very different from each other. So, some - adapt to almost any conditions. They are open and get in touch with everyone. Whereas others in any new environment feel insecure. They cling to their parents and react negatively if adults try to talk to them.

• In some cases, the cause of social phobia is the shyness that a person is endowed with by nature. The disorder occurs in a difficult period of human life - during puberty.
• development mental disorder a specific one-time situation that caused a person severe stress can contribute: a car accident, a terrorist attack, natural disasters.
• Also, often the cause of social phobia is the wrong attitude towards the children of parents. Adults, without thinking about the consequences, compare the child in a negative manner, which in the future leads to low self-esteem.
• The fear of society can also be caused by prolonged stress. Usually, emotional stress in adults, it is associated with problems in the family or with work.

Why and how should social phobia be treated?

Despite such a disappointing assessment of a mental disorder, scientists have come to the conclusion that it is still possible to get rid of this phobia. Let's figure out how to stop being a social phobe? And we will start with the root causes, we will trace the path of development of this violation. So...

Social phobes are children who do not find support from their parents. They are afraid to attend classes and answer to classmates. Further, such a person cannot speak at seminars, and attending exams turns into real torture for him. The situation gets worse at work. The sociophobe experiences particular difficulties at meetings and during communication with management. A person does not participate in public life at all. Over time, the nervous system is depleted, which leads to the most various diseases. This condition makes a person's life impossible, so it is necessary to get rid of it. How?

Treatment Methods

At the first symptoms of the disease, you need to consult a doctor. In some cases, treatment may take a long time. There are several methods of treatment:

• cognitive- behavioral psychotherapy;
• trainings;
• hypnosis;
• medical preparations.

The most popular way is therapy. It allows the individual to recognize the thoughts that cause anxiety, and also teaches how to deal with them. The number of classes is determined by the degree of phobia. Usually their number ranges from eight to sixteen. At the final stage, group therapy is carried out.

Experts are convinced that sociophobic people can cope with small fears on their own, for example, by attending trainings. Thematic lectures, books and videos can also help with this. Work on oneself will give a person the opportunity to restore faith in himself without the intervention of psychologists.

During hypnosis, a targeted effect on the human psyche occurs. It is done verbally. At the subconscious level, the individual is instilled with new beliefs that relieve her of discomfort during social situations.

Drug treatment involves the use of a doctor's prescription the following drugs: antidepressants, partial agonists of receptors, benzodiazepines.

The effectiveness of treatment for social phobia depends on the characteristics of the individual and the correctness of the chosen method of treatment. Having got rid of the disease, a person will be able to become a full-fledged personality and increase his self-esteem. Social phobia is not a hopeless diagnosis. Everyone can get rid of fears and make their life happier.

The fear of society and everything connected with it is called social phobia. This is one of the most common phobic mental disorders that prevents a person from living a normal life, communicating with others and working. Fear of the team, performances, attention from other people significantly reduces the quality of life and requires urgent medical intervention. Most a large number of people suffering from social phobia, recorded in European countries. What are the symptoms and treatment similar pathology and is it possible to overcome such fear on your own?

Social phobia - fear of society

Symptomatic picture

Social fears manifest themselves as anxiety, which includes several varieties.

• Cognitive.
• Behavioral.
• Emotional.
• Physical.

It should be noted that anxiety states It is common to experience any person in a state of stress, but not everyone experiences panic horror caused by the need to speak to the public or go to school. O anxiety disorder or phobias can be said when anxiety overwhelms a person so much that he cannot control himself and his actions. Symptoms are characterized by the occurrence of uncontrolled anxiety with prolonged emotional disorders, fickle "center", specific "threats" and motivation.

The main symptoms of social phobic disorder are:

• regular anxiety before getting into a socially important situation,
• accompanied by aggression, hatred, denial;
• long-term anxiety directed to the future;
• the person is totally focused on imaginary threat and trying to form
• careful behavior, avoiding potentially dangerous events for him;
• redness skin faces when getting into an uncomfortable situation;
• dizziness;
• bouts of aggression;
• tremor of the limbs;
• stupor;
• nausea, stomach cramp, diarrhea;
• tension headaches.

Social phobia among people is afraid

Social fears haunt social phobes everywhere. The thought of appearing in society leads to despair. Each appearance in the world for a sociophobe is perceived as a constant assessment by others, observation of their behavior and harsh criticism.

The reasons

Social phobia develops in adolescence, at 10-13 years old. Fear of society very rarely occurs on its own after 25 years; this manifestation is preceded by prolonged clinical depression.

Attacks of social phobia are observed much more often in women. Married and married people with high level intellect.

Reasons for this disorder:

• genetics;
• personal behavioral characteristics;
• congenital pathologies of the central nervous system;
• mental illness.

Social phobia in adolescents begins with adverse conditions education. Reasons for the appearance: too strict upbringing in childhood, which gave rise to a certain aggression towards others. excessive criticism or unsuccessful experience communication with the opposite sex very often become an impetus for the development nervous disease. The formation of personality, perception of oneself and the surrounding world is strongly influenced by the lack of social approval, constant interpersonal and social conflicts.

The inability to perceive oneself, the suppression of one's sexuality and attempts to identify oneself as a person of the other sex is also a nervous breakdown and leads to a reluctance to be seen by others.

Definition of social phobia

Diagnosis

Social phobia leads to the appearance of an aggressive mood towards other people. Diagnosis of social phobia begins with tests. Social phobia should not be confused with sociopathy, a personality disorder that manifests itself as a complete disregard for social norms of behavior, impulsiveness and open aggression.

Social phobia can be confused with introversion. People are born introverts.

They are not afraid to be in society, but they draw inspiration and energy only when they are alone or with close friends, they cannot relax in a large crowd. Such people are good bosses and speakers. Social phobes are afraid to get into crowded places and avoid any situations in which they need to prove themselves. Life experience makes them think that people bring only harm, are envious and aggressive towards them.

Social phobes are usually notorious and distrustful. To date, many methods have been developed to determine the presence of nervous breakdown. The main purpose of the social phobia test is to determine the level of anxiety that occurs in a stressful situation. This level is measured on a 4-point scale.

In total, a person is invited to answer questions about their feelings in the process of 24 situations that are expected or occurred during the week. Based on the results of the test, 2 indicators are obtained:

• The degree of avoidance of stalemate situations.
• Anxiety level.

Symptoms of social phobia

How to define a social phobia

Based on the result obtained by adding these 2 indicators, the presence of a phobia is determined. The test was developed by psychologist M. Leibovich. Many sociophobes are virgins. During the period of growing up, they did not learn to express themselves.

Social phobia makes you choose a job that is not related to human communication. To help the patient get rid of social phobia, it is necessary to determine its type and intensity of manifestation. Among the varieties of social phobia are:

• erythrophobia - fear of blushing in public;
• ergophobia - fear of working;
• fear of breaking off relations with a loved one;
• autophobia - fear of being alone;
• demophobia - fear of a crowd of people.

Social phobia is sometimes associated with misanthropy. As a result of certain actions and acquisition life experience a person begins not only to avoid people, he hates them, does not accept the foundations and behavior in a certain society.

The brain of a sociophobe is different

Solution

It is customary to fight social phobia in 4 stages: behavioral psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, medications and work in groups. The main method that can help get rid of social phobia is behavioral therapy. You can get rid of social phobia without refusing to communicate with people and not closing, but by teaching yourself how to present in society. Patients adapt gradually to stressful situations. Generalized social phobia is treated with medication only if the patient refuses to be treated voluntarily.

Very often, in a severe form, it is difficult to cope with the treatment and make a person work on himself.

Such patients may harm themselves, especially while in depressed state, therefore, for the treatment of severe social phobia and panic attacks hypnosis is used. Throughout life, a person develops a certain line of behavior. Corrective therapy involves changing this line of behavior and the formation of new skills, concepts, acceptance of society and its foundations.

Group therapy at least effective method getting rid of a phobic disorder, she will be able to overcome such fear. this method is used in the treatment of adolescents. Classes begin with exercises on interaction with each other. Patients are then given tasks to complete at home and review successes and failures with other group members.

The success of treatment is the transfer of acquired skills into real life. Are used various methods relaxation and teaching meditation to patients in order to restore the nervous system, relax muscles.

Final part

Prognosis with adequate timely treatment quite favorable. The main thing is to identify the disease in time: the sooner it is diagnosed, the better. Social phobia can cause depression and panic attacks. In such cases, hypnosis helps with social phobia and panic attacks. It is real to cure social phobia, you need to find the right approach and show the maximum desire.

Social phobes are people who suffer mental disorder, which manifests itself in the fear of being surrounded by other members of society. They are afraid to speak, act, are constantly embarrassed at the sight of others. These conditions often lead to emotional stress and even panic attacks.

Causes of social phobia

According to researchers, sociophobes are people who make up no less than 12% of the world's population. At the same time, the ratio of men and women is approximately equal. Scientists have long been studying the causes of this deviation. To begin with, it is worth noting that almost all children under the age of 11 have generalized social phobia. This is caused by the fear of being in the adult world without the help and support of loved ones.

Specific social phobia manifests itself around the age of 17. It is believed that it is mainly acquired by those who have experience of unsuccessful public speaking. But there is no scientific evidence for this.

There are some suggestions that social phobia is some kind of innate personality trait. A person associates his fears with an ugly formidable face that looks straight into the eyes. As a result, the individual regards all the people around him as those who are hostile towards him.

Sociophobes are people who often inherit their problem from their closest relatives. If parents or grandparents had this problem, the child is also likely to be shy and withdrawn.

The main symptoms of social phobia

Social phobes are people who are terrified of negative assessments, and therefore prefer to avoid communicating with others. Nevertheless, this is still not enough to talk about the presence of the disease, because a number of accompanying symptoms should be observed:

• anxiety and embarrassment in the most ordinary situations (buying a ticket in transport, paying for goods at the checkout);
• fear of being judged by strangers;
• fear that any behavior will be perceived as compromising;
• abnormally strong excitement before some situations or events (celebrations, business negotiations);
• fear that others may notice manifestations of fear and panic;
• rapid breathing, which can develop into shortness of breath;
• slurred speech and trembling voice;
• tremor of the limbs and the whole body;
• dizziness and darkening in the eyes;
• profuse sweating, accompanied by flushes of heat;
• loose stools and nausea in anticipation of a crucial event;
• hyperemia.

What exactly are sociophobes afraid of?

A former sociophobe who was able to cope with the problem to one degree or another denotes specific fears, the main of which is a negative assessment. Such people are afraid that they may be considered ridiculous, clumsy, unprofessional or inept. In this regard, they in every possible way avoid potentially dangerous situations or trying to as soon as possible get out of them.

Social phobes are often harassed intrusive thoughts about their actions and how they will be judged by others. Even those things that give pleasure to others (shopping, going to a cafe, swimming in the sea) are real torture for them. They count the seconds until they can hide from the view of others. At the same time, they can spend many minutes and even hours thinking about the negative that others could see in them.

It is worth noting that sociophobes tend to exaggerate the significance of ordinary events. So, if the interlocutor for a minute went to the toilet or talk on the phone, the patient begins to take everything personally. He believes that he is uninteresting or unpleasant to the interlocutor.

scary situations

Dating for sociophobes is extremely undesirable, because they are hard to converge with people and painfully perceive everything new. But it is worth considering in more detail the situations that can lead such individuals into a painful state:

• interview with a potential employer;
• public performance;
• telephone communication;
• any communication with strangers (both at work and at the household level);
• business meetings;
• the need to read or write something in the presence of other people (especially if they can read the content);
• eat in public places (cafes, restaurants, canteens) where others can see it);
• going on a date;
• conversation with respected powerful people (or those who are simply higher in position or social status);
• visits to crowded places (concerts, exhibitions, cinema halls, public transport stops);
• attending festive events (for example, birthdays);
• being in public bathrooms;
• shopping in a supermarket, market or any other outlet;
• any other situations involving observation of a person by others ( sport competitions, dancing in a nightclub, etc.).

Is it possible to treat social phobia?

It doesn't matter how socially phobic you are. If such a problem occurs, then it must be dealt with. Most often, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy is used for this purpose. The essence of the technique is aimed at teaching the patient to challenge thoughts about backlash surrounding. Further, a person is introduced into specially simulated situations so that he learns how to behave and respond to them correctly.

Another effective method called imaginary representations. A person should write down all his feelings when he gets into an unpleasant situation. This allows the patient to become aware of his phobia, and it becomes much easier for the specialist to adjust the treatment. As a result, a person develops the skills of a non-subjective assessment of what is happening. The discomfort that arises in a given situation is no longer a problem.

It is worth understanding that sophiophobes are taught not to avoid unpleasant situations, but to treat them correctly. Over time, a person begins to react more calmly to what is happening, which means that he feels more comfortable in society. Most often this can be achieved through hypnosis.

Medical treatment

Sometimes the problem is so pronounced that you have to resort to drug treatment. In the United States, the practice of appointing selective inhibitors serotonin reuptake. This is the only group of drugs whose effectiveness has been confirmed in the treatment of this problem. Talking about others medical preparations(beta-blockers and benzodiazepines), it should be noted that they are prescribed extremely rarely, because the effectiveness of these drugs has not been proven, but they can be addictive.

How to deal with social phobia on your own?

Not everyone has the time and money to visit a psychologist. But if you understand that social phobia is preventing you from living, try to cope with it yourself. The following methods work well:

• If you start feeling anxious, practice deep breathing. This will help calm nervous system and eliminate external manifestations of stress.
• Give up negative thinking. Stop thinking that something will not work out for you, that you will be disgraced, that you can be ridiculed. If you have a responsible event or just communication with people, draw in your mind positive scenarios that will certainly come true.
• Love yourself. Take care of your health and appearance, devote more time to rest. You will start to look much better, and therefore you will have self-confidence.
• Enlist the support of loved ones. Let them constantly remind you of your positive qualities and encourage before important events.
• stop avoiding stressful situations. Intentionally enter into them to practice behavioral skills.

Sociopath and sociophobe: the difference

There are a lot of terms that have a similar pronunciation, but a diametrically opposite meaning. Examples include the words "sociopath" and "sociophobe". The difference between them is fundamental. So, the sociopath is aggressive. He does not recognize social norms and categorically does not want to adapt to society. Sometimes this behavior can be dangerous to others.

A sociophobe is a person who is afraid of society. For him, the problem is not only speaking in front of a large audience, but also talking to someone unfamiliar. Such people are very closed and cautious in communication. For those around them, they are absolutely safe.

Introvert and sociophobe

Introvert, sociophobe... These concepts are quite often confused. But this is not entirely fair. There are several significant differences:

• An introvert is an innate type of temperament. Such people prefer loneliness or a narrow circle of friends to large companies, which they enjoy. And sociophobes often suffer from their position.
• Social phobes avoid any contact with people.
• According to the type of temperament, a sociophobe may well be an extrovert who wants to communicate with people, but is afraid.
• An introvert loves loneliness and strives for it. And for a sociophobe, this is something like a price for peace of mind.
• Social phobes are obsessed with public opinion and introverts don't care what others think of them.

Misanthrope and sociophobe

The concepts of "misanthrope", "sociophobe" have very little in common. The first is not afraid of society. He is extremely aggressive towards people in their total mass. He also disparages feelings and weaknesses (of the same social phobia). Such individuals are usually unsociable and gloomy.

Test "How sociophobic are you?"

Few people will agree that they feel somehow abnormal and wrong. Many resources on the network have a test "How bitard, sociophobe are you", but can you trust the electronic mind in such complex matters? There are several signs that will help you recognize the problem. Answer these questions:

• Do you often experience feelings of anxiety?
• Do you try to avoid situations in which you have to be the center of attention or take on some kind of responsibility?
• Does your nervous state any external manifestations (flushing face, tremor)?
• Do you feel like you don't fit in with your company or are different from your peers?
• Did you experience humiliating situations accompanied by ridicule as a child?
• Are there people in your immediate family who have difficulty communicating with other people?
• Are you shy in situations that other people perceive normally?
• Do you often get depressed?
• How often do you drink alcohol?
• Does it happen that you cannot normally conduct a dialogue, even if the topic of conversation is directly related to your field of activity?
• Do you avoid interacting with people?
• Do you often give up your point of view to please others?

If you answered yes to most of the questions, then there is cause for concern. Try to pull yourself together and seek help from a psychologist.

How to recognize a social phobia in a child?

The sooner a problem is identified, the easier it will be to deal with it. Psychological defects respond well to treatment precisely in childhood. So, you should sound the alarm if:

• The child often talks about his fears. Also, potential sociophobes are characterized by constant doubts and hesitation, inability to make decisions on their own (for example, what to wear, what book to read, and so on).
• Hypertrophied fear of criticism. This causes the child to avoid school activities or answers in class.
• The child is difficult to adapt to the team, he has no friends, he refuses to attend children's holidays.
• Excessive shyness, which restrains the child in manifestations of joy.
• The child is lost in simple everyday situations. For example, he cannot ask a classmate for a spare pen, answer a question about his age, show him the way, and so on.

Do not confuse with anxiety

It should be understood that excitement and anxiety are natural human states that arise in any new or incomprehensible situation. This is an integral part of preparing for a responsible event, conversation or long-awaited meeting. Normal level anxiety does not prevent you from acting and communicating with people. Despite all these feelings, you strive to develop your personality and make new acquaintances.

If we are talking about social phobia negative feelings overwhelm a person. They are accompanied external manifestations(increased sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, urge to urinate, etc.). A person is literally terrified, and therefore he "locks" himself at home, trying to protect himself from such sensations in the future.