Social Anxiety

For people with social anxiety, something as simple as going out with friends can be terrifying.

If you struggle with social anxiety you may long for connection while at the same time feeling overwhelmed by social interactions. This causes you to feel isolated and alone.

At Journey to Meaning, we specialize in helping you break free from the loneliness and insecurity that emerges as a result of social anxiety. We will help you heal the underlying causes of your fear of social interactions and help you learn to connect with people and enjoy your social life once again.

A Little about Social Anxiety

Social anxiety, also called social phobia, is the second most common type of anxiety disorder and the third most common mental health disorder. It is an anxiety disorder in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations.

The anxiety involved (intense nervousness) and self-consciousness can often build into a panic attack leading to avoidance of situations. In many cases, people with social anxiety feel that there is “something wrong” but don’t recognize their feeling as a sign of illness; they are aware that the fear is unreasonable, yet are unable to overcome it.

Common Symptoms

• Marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations in which you are exposed to possible scrutiny by others.

  • Examples include social interactions (e.g., having a conversation, meeting unfamiliar people), being observed (e.g., eating or drinking), and performing in front of others (e.g., giving a speech). In children, interaction must occur in peer settings and not just with adults.

  
  

• You fear that you’ll act in a way or show anxiety symptoms that will be negatively evaluated (i.e., will be humiliating or embarrassing; will lead to rejection or offend others).

• The social interactions:

  • Almost always provoke fear or anxiety [Physical symptoms of anxiety include: including confusion/”out of body” experience, pounding heart/fast heartbeat, sweating, shaking, blushing, trouble catching breath, muscle tension, upset stomach/nausea, and diarrhea.

How we Help

At Journey to Meaning we start by taking time to get to know you and your experiences. Our focus is to help you feel heard, understood and validated in your experiences with social anxiety.

You will be in a judgement-free environment, that is both inclusive and trauma-informed. This means that your history, identity and unique lived experience will be taken seriously when exploring the root causes of your challenges.

We want you to feel empowered, validated and comfortable in expressing yourself, your goals and hopes for the future.

During therapy, you will come across an integrative approach - meaning that your therapist will use a variety of perspectives to inform how you work together to meet your needs.

The common modalities you'll encounter for helping you with social anxiety is emotion-focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy.

If you have more questions and wish to learn how we can help you with your unique challenges, please reach out to us!