Many people secretly suffer with some form of social anxiety and it can make life miserable. It's a well established fact that "no man is an island" and that we really do need the company of other human beings to enjoy a good quality of life. Social Anxiety is an anxiety about being with other people in certain situations. Many sufferers will be okay with close family or friends but will experience difficult feelings when placed in social situations such as going out to a public event such as a pub, club, or party. Groups are often significantly worrying to people with social anxiety. This invariably leads to an "avoidance" of such situations. There's nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to go to such places. Some people just prefer not to, but it IS a problem if you want to be more social and find that anxiety gets in the way.  

As with so many of these problems, social anxiety will be exacerbated by generally high stress levels, but we also see here the phobic mechanism at work. Sometimes a person has always been shy. If this is so then we recognise that some help may be needed with the development of social skills such as "small talk", assertiveness, confidence etc. Social anxiety can be greatly improved with hypnotherapy and CBT. Alongside various interventions, positive mental rehearsal of events, the re-writing of beliefs about Self World and Others, and the removal of phobic templates can all make a significant difference to the way that you feel. 

Treatment will be very much dependent on your own circumstances. If your difficulty has gone on for a long time, expect that treatment may take a bit of time. We will need to work on your core beliefs and perceptions. If it's something that has just recently surfaced then we can probably tackle it quite quickly because it will be related to an event or a general overload of anxiety.   

If you'd like some help with social anxiety, please contact me to arrange an appointment.