Social anxiety is a condition characterized by emotional discomfort, fear, apprehension, and worry about social situations that could potentially expose a person to public scrutiny and evaluation. It is directly linked to the fear or discomfort with social interactions.

Put another way, this condition is anxiety and fear over being evaluated negatively by others, leading to feelings of inadequacy, humiliation, embarrassment, and depression. The fear that people with social phobia or social anxiety experience are often too overwhelming that they go through lengths to avoid being in a situation that will cause their fear to develop. Its nickname, ‘crippling shyness’, appropriately describes how debilitating this condition to those who experience it.

{Specific Social Anxiety Versus Generalized Social Anxiety}

As its name suggests, specific social anxiety is the fear of one or two specific social situations. This could be the fear of speaking in public, fear of doing something that everyone can see, or fear of speaking to a figure of importance or authority. Meanwhile, generalized social anxiety is the fear of most, if not all social situations.

What do people with social anxiety disorder fear and avoid.

People suffering from with either condition usually experience significant emotional distress when faced with two types of situations: performance situations (or situations that force them to perform in front of others or allow other people to observe them) and social interaction situations (or situations that force them to engage or interact with other people. Most people dealing with this condition try to avoid both types of situations.

Examples of performance situations that people with social anxiety disorder try to avoid are public speaking, being the center of attention, being introduced to other people (fear is at its highest level when the person is being introduced to someone perceived as better than him), interpersonal relationships, performing in public, making mistakes in front of other people, being in public areas such as public transportation vehicles or shopping malls, and doing something in public such as writing, drinking or eating.

Examples of social interaction situations that people dealing with this condition fear being intimate with someone, talking to strangers, initiating and marinating conversation, going on a date or a party, being assertive, and expressing personal opinions.

{Symptoms}

When exposed to such situations, someone with social anxiety or phobia would often suffer from psychological and physiological symptoms like intense and uncontrollable fear, racing heart, drying mouth, excessive sweating, muscle freezing (especially of the face), extreme self-consciousness and difficulty swallowing.

{Causes}

There are two causes to Social anxiety– biological factors and psychological factors. Biological factors include abnormal brain activity in response to normal events and situations, abnormal levels of specific neurotransmitters in the brain, and genetic make-up of the person. Psychological factors, meanwhile, include having a history of negative experiences with social situations, having better ability to pay close attention to events and people that are considered socially threatening, having negative beliefs and interpretations of social situations, and having a greater tendency for anxious behaviors.

“Anxiety hot flashes” are produced sequences of heat sensation and blood flow. Anxious hot flashes have a variety of additional small complications like sweaty hands and palms. These hot flashes are very similar in nature to the hot flashes women who are in the middle of menopausal episodes experience.

Hot flashes are characterized by a feeling of heat, often first felt in your bosom and face. Alternatively, your shoulders, top of the back, and your neck may be the initial places that you feel the warmth. From there the sensation of warmth can progress throughout the rest of your body.

A few of the symptoms of anxiety hot flashes that do occur are shortness of breath and a feeling of fainting. Dizziness and a tunneling of your vision can also occur in the midst of a hot flash. In a few circumstances this can lead to passing out, which presents a very serious danger. Noticeable sweating in the areas where the hot flash is located is a frequently reported occurrence. Hot flashes can initiate and cease very quickly in a select few individuals, but everyone feels discomfort during the experience.

Worrying about what it is others may think about your hot flash can promote further anxiety. Additional anxious feelings can intensify the hot flash, promoting a self-reinforcing pattern of anxiety leading to a more intense hot flash which leads to further anxiety.  Another great resource for getting a grip on how exactly the physical anxiety symptoms ensue.

Quick light respiration and a sense that the air has been compressed out of your chest often accompanies a hot flash. Although anxiety drives the hot flash, but being in an overheated room can dramatically worsen the situation.

While the following will not resolve the issue, there are several simple steps that anyone can take to reduce the severity and frequency of hot flashes from anxiety:

• Avoid spicy meals

Heavily spiced and spicy meals stimulate responses similar to hot flashes. This can actually set off an anxiety hot flash. The familiar hot flash sensations can also make you anxious, of course leading to a genuine hot flash from anxiety.

• Avoid alcohol

The alcohol-avoidance tip is about making a reduction in your total level of anxiety, not about hot flashes themselves. Drinking alcohol as a way to reduce anxious feelings is actually working against you and only generates more of the underlying anxiety. Of course more anxiety leads to more anxiety hot flashes.

• Take a cool shower

Anxiety hot flashes include a surge of the hormone adrenaline and increased blood flow to the extremities. Reducing your body’s temp also constricts the veins and arteries up by your skin, returning the blood into fuller coverage down through the remainder of the body.

Ultimately the key to utterly abolishing these hot flashes that you experience is the removal of the underlying anxious feelings. You can discover a bit more about full-fledged techniques for removing anxiety from your life completely by reading the in-depth panic away review here.

The hot flashes could be your most problematic symptom plaguing you, but it is actually just a component and a result, rather than consequence of the greater anxiety issue; anxiety.

Review by Mike Sanderson

As a former agoraphobia sufferer one product stands out over all others because it’s the one that helped me the most. It’s Joe Barry’s Panic Away system. Whether you suffer from general anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, agoraphobia or phobias the Panic Away program has been designed to work with them all. You will find chapters on the topic of specific phobias such as public speaking and driving. Joe Barry is very good at explaining his techniques in a very simple and clear common sense style. He is so confident in his Panic Away program that he claims that every single person without exception can use it to eliminate their anxiety.

Click Here to visit the Panic Away website

Joe Barry suffered from panic attacks for many years which enables him to share his information with his readers with an understanding of what they are going through. The Panic Away book is based upon the same methods that he used to eliminate his own panic attacks. When you read Panic Away you will be taught a completely natural method that you can use to eliminate your anxiety and panic attacks. At the core of the Panic Away program is a simple technique called the One Move technique. When you learn and apply this technique you will be able to quickly eliminate panic attacks before they have chance to overwhelm you. You will find that your anxiety levels will become controllable. When you are able to control your anxiety levels there can be no more panic attacks.

The book contain case studies illustrating how people have used the One Move technique. These demonstrate how people with different types of anxiety disorders and phobias have used the Panic Away techniques to overcome their phobias, panic attacks and anxiety. It’s great to read about similar people with similar problems turning their lives around using this system. Other people like you do exist and they do get better using these methods. As a sufferer of panic or anxiety you already know that it can be a confusing and lonely experience. It’s a great help and comfort to read about how other people have succeeded in overcoming anxiety.

The book also teaches you how to eliminate unwanted and anxious thoughts. This is something that all anxiety sufferers will benefit from but it will be of even more importance to those who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder. The book also contains chapters on exercising, diet and nutrition and how these all have an effect on your anxiety levels. You will learn how changing your diet to eat healthier foods can reduce your anxiety.

As a bonus you will also be taught a powerful self help technique called Thought Field Therapy. This is also known as Emotional Freedom Technique or EFT. This works in a similar way to acupuncture but you tap on certain points of the body to release emotional stress. But the One Move technique is so effective that by the time you get as far as reading this chapter you are probably well on your way already to eliminating your panic attacks and anxiety.

Joe Barry also provides unlimited one-to-one coaching to all Panic Away readers if they need it. So if there is anything you don’t understand or you are struggling to apply the techniques to your particular anxiety problem, then help is at hand. The Panic Away program has helped thousands of people and there are many video testimonials on the website. If at any time during the 8 weeks from when you purchase the program you don’t believe it is working for you then there is a 100% money back guarantee.

I personally recommend the Panic Away program because it really does work and with Joe Barry you have a great coach helping you every step of the way.

If you have enjoyed my Panic Away review then why not visit www.saybyetopanic.com for more advice on how to beat panic, phobias and anxiety.