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Anxiety Clinic - Social Anxiety Disorder
SAD Treatment in Stoke on Trent & Newcastle under Lyme
Do you suffer from an intense fear in social situations? Are you afraid of being judged by others, embarrassed or humiliated through your own perceived shortfalls? If the answer is yes, then you could well suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder (aka SAD & SAnD). We can help you recover from Social Anxiety Disorder, but first take the time to read the rest of this page before contacting us.
What Are The Symptoms Of Social Anxiety Disorder?
As mentioned above the most obvious symptom of Social Anxiety Disorder is an intense fear in social situations, however there's more to it than that. Beyond the fearful emotional state or feelings, many Social Anxiety Sufferers notice as their mind races they talk to themselves incessantly in their head. Many sufferers notice that the voice they use (in their mind) takes a desperate or critical tonality which seems to intensify the fearful feelings. The voice can narrate dialogue such as "I'm going to make a fool of myself, everyone can see I'm terrified, I'm not good enough, everyone hates me" etc.
Social Anxiety Disorder sufferers can also experience physical symptoms such as blushing, feeling hot (or cold), sweating, palpitations and in more extreme cases nausea.
How Social Anxiety Disorder Can Take Over Your Life...
In terms of time, we spend most of our lives away from potentially scary social situations. Yet many sufferers of Social Anxiety Disorder tend to perceive they suffer almost all of the time. The reason for this is concealed within yet another symptom;
Social Anxiety Disorder sufferers almost always pay huge attention to things a non-sufferer wouldn't even consider. For example, paying huge attention to detail and self presentation (how you are dressed and look) is common within sufferers. There's nothing wrong with taking a pride in your appearance and looking good, however when the voice in your head constantly criticises no matter how hard you try - then you have a problem.
The Hidden Cycle Behind Social Anxiety Disorder...
Another trait of the Social Anxiety Disorder sufferer is to have ongoing thoughts of things going wrong in any given social situation. For example, you may have an appointment in a couple of hours time and you can't stop thinking about making a fool of yourself or other people being judgemental about you. You take each thought and try to 'work out' a strategy for avoiding looking foolish or being judged by others etc, however this is exhausting and makes you feel increasingly more fearful as the appointment approaches. By the time you leave for your appointment you're already in a state... and you're not even there yet! Of course this is just one possible example of many we're sure you could apply to your own experience.
The next trait of the Social Anxiety Sufferer is the 'replay trait'. Let's continue with the above example and say you've been for your appointment and returned home. For a non-sufferer that would simply be the end of the matter, the appointment is over and forgotten. However, for the Social Anxiety Disorder sufferer things don't work that way. It's quite probable that thoughts continue to go around and around in your mind as you wonder, "did I ask stupid questions, did they think my hair was a mess, why did the receptionist look at me that way, why can't I ever do things right?". So not only does the Social Anxiety Disorder sufferer have thoughts of things going wrong in advance, they also have ongoing thoughts criticising their performance after the event.
Now, when you combine the amount of time you spend thinking about things going wrong, along with the time you spend replaying events and criticising yourself it's easy to see how a Social Anxiety Disorder sufferer perceives that they suffer almost all the time. If this is you, or you can see yourself reaching this stage in the future - you need our help now.
How You Can Recover From Social Anxiety Disorder...
We receive many 'nervous calls' from people in Stoke on Trent and the surrounding area regarding Social Anxiety Disorder. You are by no means the only person to have ever experienced it.
We understand how easy it is to think that you are somehow the exception and cannot be helped, but of course the reality is that almost everyone with a psychological disorder thinks the same thing. Our success statistics prove that even the most complex, long-standing cases can recover fully.
If you are one of those people that's content going through life feeling sorry for themselves - there's nothing we can do. However, if you've already had enough of suffering, missing out and are now ready to do something about it... we can help you to get your life back.
If you live in or near Stoke on Trent or Newcastle under Lyme, you can find further information on how our face to face consultations work, our fees and our satisfaction money-back guarantee here: Face to Face Consultations
If you live further afield where travelling to our Clinic in person would be unfeasible, but you'd still like to work with us - we offer Telephone and Online (Skype) Appointments with the exact same specialised Consultants: Telephone/Online Consultations
