Hypnotherapy for social phobia / social anxiety
A social phobia – also known as social anxiety or social anxiety disorder - is an uncontrollable fear of any kind of social situation which involves other people.
Social phobia / social anxiety can cause a fear of many different everyday situations; walking down the street, meeting people, standing in a queue, visiting a restaurant, attending meetings, paying at a checkout, writing a cheque, etc. Therefore, social phobia / social anxiety can often be debilitating and disabling for many of it’s sufferers, affecting both their personal and professional life.
A phobia should not be confused with fear. Fear itself is good, important and necessary. It is a very normal, human emotion that we experience when confronted with real danger. It is a natural “fight or flight” instinct, which makes us prepare to run away from that danger, or stick it out and fight it out. It’s our brain’s way of protecting us. A social phobia, on the other hand, is an irrational fear to a social situation or stimulus that poses no danger.
Social phobia / social anxiety can vary in severity among individuals. Some sufferers can simply avoid the subject of their fear and suffer only relatively mild anxiety over that fear. Others suffer fully-fledged panic attacks with all the associated disabling symptoms. Most individuals understand that they are suffering from an irrational fear, but are powerless to override their initial panic reaction.
Sufferers of social phobia and social anxiety often hold a fear of behaving in an embarrassing or humiliating way, and worry about how they will be judged or perceived by others. This can lead to a complete withdrawal from social contact, as well as avoidance of specific social situations such as public toilets, eating out etc.
The physical symptoms of social phobia / social anxiety can include, stuttering, loss of concentration or thought, shaking, palpitations, dry mouth, blushing and sweating.
Social phobia / social anxiety can often develop into other problems. An inability to go out and be around people can develop into agoraphobia; feeling forced to stay inside and hide from the outside world. An inability to socialise or progress in their profession can lead someone to experience low self worth and depression.
It is easy to see how disabling social phobia / social anxiety can be.
Do you suffer from social phobia / social anxiety?
- Do you worry a lot about embarrassing yourself in front of others?
- Do you worry about what people might think of you?
- Do you feel anxious in social situations?
- Do you worry about behaving anxiously in any of the following situations:-
- Public speaking
- Eating/drinking in front of other people
- Writing in front of other people
- Parties and other social gatherings
- Do you avoid any of the above situations because they make you feel anxious?
How can you manage your social phobia / social anxiety?
The simple answer is, not very well. Trying to stop feeling fear / panic is like trying to stop blinking. You can try, but eventually the unthinking, subconscious part of the mind will override your attempts and that emotional and physiological response will take over automatically once again. Some people will try distraction techniques. Some attempt to avoid certain “triggers” to prevent the social phobia occurring. Others may use direct hypnosis suggestion to suppress it. But unfortunately, none of these methods resolve what caused it in the first place, and so eventually the social phobia will just keep on coming back, and the anticipation of fear and anxiety will never go away.
Why, Why, Why?
The most effective way to cure your social phobia / social anxiety completely and permanently, is to resolve what’s causing it; if there is no longer any cause, there can be no effect.
So why do you have social phobia / social anxiety? You have probably puzzled over this many times before. Looked for reasons, triggers behind it. Perhaps you know why; your mum, sister, or other family member has it too. Or maybe you once experienced fear / anxiety in a social situation as a child, which triggered off a fear it would happen again. But knowing this doesn’t make the problem go away. Or maybe you can’t think of any reasons to explain it. But that doesn’t mean there is no cause, because for something to exist it has to have been created. It has to have come from somewhere.
Beneath all the triggers and confirmation there is a single, root cause stored away in the subconscious mind. It’s something you can’t think of. Something small, easily forgotten, easily overlooked. It’s like that bit of grit in your eye. Once you find it, it can be hard to believe that something so small could have caused so much trouble.
It can take years for our problems, conditions and symptoms to get a good hold over us. Something that starts out as a minor irritation gets worse and worse until it causes us so much suffering that we eventually seek help to put it right.
How can I cure my social phobia / social anxiety?
The only way to cure a phobia is to find - and then correct - the cause
Curative hypnotherapy is distinguished from all other forms of hypnotherapy primarily by its use of logic. The therapist approaches each person without theories or preconceptions – except for one – that the answer to your phobia lies only within your own subconscious mind. With Curative Hypnotherapy there is no need to suppress or manage your phobia. By resolving and correcting the cause, your fear, anticipation of fear and all related symptoms will automatically fade away, until eventually your phobia is nothing but a vague and distant memory.
With curative hypnotherapy you will not be required to relive any traumatic or upsetting event from your life. All you will feel is beautifully relaxed.
What other phobias can curative hypnotherapy treat?
Curative hypnotherapy can treat a phobia of absolutely anything, whether it has been assigned a label or not. Below is a list of some commonly known phobias, but this is by no means exhaustive. To see a complete list, click here. If your phobia is not listed below or on the comprehensive list, this does not matter. Please contact The City Hypnotherapy Centre to discuss your specific phobia.