Social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder, is the biggest of all the phobias and the third largest mental health care issue. We’re talking globally here. That is how large a problem social phobia is. On average, 7 percent of the population suffers social phobia. Some are harder hit than others. Social phobia hypnosis is a prime treatment for the disorder. The chance of social phobia affecting you is about 13 percent over your lifetime.
Individuals who suffer from social phobia have a different problem. A phobia is an absurd fear that cannot be logically justified. It will suddenly affect a normal individual’s life, while he or she had a healthy social life before. It is not a psychological problem that was formed with time and various traumatic experiences. It is the result of an intervention of the unconscious mind that protects their mental stability.
A social phobia indicates that individuals who become terrified in social occasions can easily lose their minds because they are making a serious mistake, or many mistakes. All phobias have a protective function. They try to preserve an individual’s mental health.
The fears of people with social phobia include the presence of or interaction with other people. For example, a person with social phobia would feel safe walking alone in the forest on a secluded beach.
Social Phobia: Most popular therapies
One of the most popular therapies for social phobia is the cognitive behavioral therapy which is also known as CBT. The goal of this therapy is to identify the limiting beliefs that are responsible for the anxious behavior.
Once you know what beliefs are responsible for the unwanted behavior, you need to work on them and replace them with more realistic ones. In theory your behavior patterns should change once you change your limiting beliefs. However, this is usually not enough to overcome social phobia. Once you have replaced the limiting beliefs with more empowering ones, you need to practice the new behavior. You need to expose yourself to anxiety provoking situations and practice your new responses.
The cognitive behavioral therapy is a very effective social phobia disorder treatment, however not everyone can afford it. It requires an experienced therapist to guide you through the process and this can be quite expensive. If you take into account that one hour of therapy can cost around $100, you can easily end up paying more than a thousand dollars for the whole treatment.
Social Phobia: Alternative therapies
Another very effective social phobia treatment is done with Neuro-linguistic Programming. It involves finding your personal power and getting to the roots of the problem. This is basically the process of reprogramming your brain. This means that you reprogram your brain to respond differently in social phobia provoking situations.
Our brains are capable of learning new, and healthy patterns of behavior that bring positive results. Neuro-linguistic programming provides just the right techniques that can be used to reprogram your responses to anxiety provoking events.
This treatment can be extremely effective, but can be very expensive as well. Again, you need to work on your problems together with an experienced NLP practitioner.
Social Phobia: Lifestyle changes
Certain regularity in your lifestyle can also work wonders on your way to Cure Social Phobia / Anxiety. Balanced diet, regular exercise, yoga; and relaxation techniques like meditation and aromatherapy also help in treating this type of anxiety. Studies have also indicated towards music as an important component for Social Phobia Treatments as it helps to sooth your nerves and also distract you from the constant worrying and concerns you inflict on yourself.