WHAT IS SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER?

Social Anxiety Disorder (also known as Social Phobia) is the largest anxiety disorder and yet often the most misunderstood. Simply put, it is an irrational fear of being evaluated, judged, criticised, humiliated and being embarrassed in social situations. Although most sufferers recognise this fear as being irrational, the belief of acting and doing something that will cause people to look at them negatively is ever so persistent. Interaction with people can be very distressing and anxiety provoking to the point that situations that involve interacting with people is often avoided even if they are enjoyable things that a person wishes to do. Depending on how severe the social anxiety is, it can unfortunately cripple a person's life, where every day tasks that people without SAD often take for granted, like going to the shops, making telephone calls, meeting people, going to work, using public transport etc is extremely hard and trying.

[link] has some good examples of what it's like to suffer with social anxiety.

CHARACTERISTICS, SYMPTOMS

The areas and symptoms that SAD causes difficulties in include:

* Participating in meetings, attending parties etc
* Fear of the physical symptoms of anxiety being noticeable to others
* Meeting people (often worse when it's a person of authority)
* Being watched while doing something (this can include writing, eating and working)
* Not being able to keep eye contact
* Convinced that you'll say or do something embarrassing
* Asking questions, answering questions. Just talking in general
* Days or weeks of anxiety anticipating social situations
* Making/answering phone calls

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

Physical symptoms can include:

* Palpitations
* Muscle tension and spasms
* Sweating
* Blushing
* Upset stomach
* Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
* Nausea (sometimes leading to vomiting)
* Diarrhea
* Need to urinate often
* Trouble talking (too quietly, tongue tied, stuttering)
* Trembling
* Confusion
* Dry throat and mouth
* Difficulty swallowing

THE STAMP & THE REASON

Looking around dA I noticed a few anxiety related stamps, but I couldn't find one based on social anxiety, so I thought I'd create one, for my own use and also for others that might want to use it. Quite a few people know that I'm a very private person and I don't really talk about what happens/has happened in my life. I wasn't going to submit this stamp (even though I wanted to create it and use it) for the simple fact that I would be revealing a big part of me to others that I try hard to hide whenever possible. Why? If you read what Social Anxiety Disorder is about, then you'll understand why I didn't want to show that part of me to others. Then I just thought to myself "Screw it, if people want to judge me on that alone then they're not worth knowing". It's also a good exercise for me because if I have it in my gallery, it's there for all to see which means no more hiding it from others (which may I add is hard work sometimes).

EXTRA READING

Social Anxiety - A Self help Guide
Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Association
Social Anxiety Disorder - Symptoms, self help, treatmet

Recommended book: Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness by Gillian Butler [link] & [link]

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_{Thanks to ¢nyssi for the help with animation which I paid her back by doing some watermarks that she wanted}