Social Phobia London.
Self help support for Social Phobia and Social Anxiety Disorder in Holloway, North London.
What is Social Phobia?
NHS Guide on Social Anxiety Right-Click to save to desktop.
A Big Big thank you to Nick Hanlon for helping me with my SA, you can view his great site on www.socialanxiety.co.uk, Nick also runs a social anxiety self help group in Bristol.
If it wasn't for Nick's help back in early 2005 I wouldn't be the person I am today, thanks Nick.
According to research carried out in the United States, Social Anxiety Disorder (SA) is the third most common psychiatric disorder after depression and alcoholism.
However, perhaps because by it's very nature sufferers of Social Anxiety are reluctant to talk about their problems or seek help, the condition is still not widely known amongst the general public, and was only recognized as a disorder in it's own right as recently as 1980.
In it's simplest terms social anxiety or 'SA' is a fear of people: of being around, having to interact with, being watched, criticized or judged negatively by, other human beings.
For sufferers of SA, everyday tasks which most people take for granted - working, socialising, shopping, speaking on the telephone, can be a wearing ordeal marked by persistent feelings of anxiety and self-consciousness.
Sufferers typically experience feelings of dread and nervousness in the build up to the feared situation, and analyse or 'replay' the situation in their mind when it's over, ruminating on how they could have 'performed' better.
Sufferers may also experience physical symptoms such as trembling, blushing or sweating.
At a deeper level, sufferers often experience chronic insecurity about their relationships with others, hypersensitivity to criticism, and deep-rooted fears of being judged negatively, mocked, or rejected by others.
There are two forms of SA, performance social anxiety where these feelings only occur in a few specific situations such as public speaking, eating in public or dealing with authority figures, and generalized social anxiety which affects most, if not all areas of the sufferers life. The latter is the most common type, affecting around 70% of SA sufferers.
A related condition, Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD), is believed by many to be the severe form of SA, and many people with generalized social anxiety may also suffer from APD.
Many thanks to SA-UK.
Source: http://www.social-anxiety.org.uk/whatis/whatis.htm