How Anxiety Can Affect Social Situations And What You Can Do About It

Anxiety can be difficult to live with, whether you know someone that ahs it or have it yourself, you know that it affects every part of your life, from time spent with friends to time spent alone. Just like other mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety can not be cured with a single pill but can only be managed, making it feel impossible. 

For those who do not know much about the disorder, anxiety is a mental disorder where a person feels excessive, persistent, and uncontrollable fear or worry, no matter the situation, even if there is no imminent threat, danger or uncomfortable situation. It can leave the sufferer struggling with everyday situations, such as going to the shop or especially when socialising.

Going into social situations with anxiety can be triggering and something that is uncomfortable for many who have anxiety, leaving many who have the disorder avoiding social situations and separated from the rest of society. 

How anxiety affects social situations

When anxiety takes hold of a social situation, it can impact how you think, feel, and physically respond. Here are a few effects that sufferers can suffer from:

Physical symptoms: the body may go into overdrive, causing trembling, blushing, sweating and an upset stomach

Cognitive distortion: The brain may cause you to think that others are judging you or give you low self-esteem. 

Mind going blank: The pressure of social interactions can create so much stress that the brain goes blank and makes it very difficult to speak. This can then further anxiety and self-consciousness. 

What can you do about it?

Gradual exposure: Exposure through slowly introducing yourself to situations which make you feel uncomfortable or trigger your anxiety is one way to try and cope with anxiety and make you more comfortable in specific social situations. This can include going to the shop on your own to buy a lip gloss, asking for something in a restaurant or making a phone call, slowly building up to larger gatherings. 

Prepare and pre-plan: To help to ease the pressure of social situations by pre-planning answers or practising talking points. This could be rehearsing an introduction to yourself at a party or having a funny story to share with others already in your mind to try to ease the tension.

Focus Outward: When anxiety spikes is easy to hyper focus on your physical reactions and small things that are bothering you. In a social situation, this can start to take over and make your spiral; however, you should actively shift your attention outwards by listening to your environment and observing your surroundings.

Challenge your thoughts: Write down your anxieties in a diary or a notebook to help you to identify your negative thought patterns, which can allow you to challenge them and build better thoughts. This can help you to understand your mind and rationalise thoughts that may be unrealistic and damaging, such as reminding yourself that people rarely notice mistakes.