First of all tu really must understand these 3: 1)YOU ARE NEITHER STUPID NOR COWARD 2)It's NOT YOR FAULT and NEVER blame yourself for suffering from social anxiety 3)It can be scientifically explained and treated if tu get help.
According to my experience of social anxiety knowing these 3 things was about the 50% of the problem's solution The siguiente thing tu should do is find a good counselor who understands exactly the problem My counselor has showed me that a particular thought creates an emotion which creates a behaviour. So the solution is to change the way tu think and think positively so your emotions are positive and your behaviour is positive and the way tu want it. This needs time of course and the right guidance.You have to learn to control negative thoughts and dare to do things that stress tu not very much of course in order to get used to them. In my case my regular sessions lasted about 3 months and my last one was 2 days ago.My counselor dicho that she's really happy with me and I've done great progress and I feel much happier with myself too.Now I'll visit her whenever I want o something comes up She has dado me a lot of information and she will correo electrónico me más so if tu o anyone wants to ask me anything o talk about your problem with me do it. And remember:YOU ARE NOT WEAK.You have the strenght to change things.Don't ignore it believing it will just go away.If tu just leave it it will destroy tu like it was destroyng me for 16 years. tu CAN FIGHT IT AND WIN!!!
Somethings I've learned over the years with working on my social anxiety disorder...
Another way of attacking SAD is por recognizing, accepting and then changing our beliefs about ourselves, which are deeply ingrained into our sub-conscious:
As a child tu may have been bullied. Your parents o care giver/s may have been overly critical of tu and/or failed to encourage you. The people tu looked up to as a child may have been poor role models. tu may not have received the amor that tu deserve. etc, etc.
All these types of experiences growing up have shaped our view of ourselves.
Sub-consciously your mind is telling tu all these negative beliefs about yourself, such as: "I'm not good enough" "I'm weird" "I don't deserve to be here" "I'm not important" "I should stay quiet because my viewpoint is silly" "I don't deserve to be loved and accepted"
Of course we all have different experiences, but they all have one thing in common - they have dado us negative beliefs about ourselves.
We need to change those negative beliefs into positive ones. Of course, that's easier dicho then done. One way tu can do it is por meditating (or deeply relaxing) and to repeat positive affirmations. Such as: "I have social anxiety, but it's not who I am" "I amor and accept myself even though I have social anxiety" "I deserve to be loved and respected" "I amor and respect myself"
I think accepting, loving and being kind to yourself even though tu have social anxiety is the first big step in the right direction.
tu can google to find lots of meditation/positive affirmation CD's on social anxiety, self confidence. o even record your own.
I've recently discovered EFT - which may seem weird, and tu feel pretty silly while doing all this tapping - but I have found to be a very powerful technique for helping with my social anxiety.
Hope that helps! Best of luck in overcoming S.A.D.!
