What is Social Anxiety?

Social Anxiety sometimes also called Social Phobia is the term used when someone becomes anxious just by the sheer thought of going to places, or to meet new people, going shopping, meeting figures of authority, or making a telephone call. In short it is an illness where someone has a tremendous fear of making a fool of themselves or they are overly concerned of what other people might think of them. This fear becomes so debilitating that this person will be unable to go out at all or will only be able to go out by being accompanied by somebody.

People with this kind of illness suffer often in silence and their life revolves around the support they get from friends and family. They also feel that everyone is watching, staring, and judging them, even though rationally they know, that this is not true. They simply can´t relax or enjoy themselves in public. They always believe that other people are critical of their appearance and their behavior. They know that most people don´t do this openly, but they nevertheless still feel self-conscious. Eventually the anxiety and fear becomes so painful that it is easier to just stay out of social situations and away from meeting other people completely.

Sometimes a person with social anxiety prefers to be alone and the door shut behind them, including from familiar people, as a person with social anxiety may feel overwhelmed, as they feel being watched and being critiqued by others all the time.

One of the worst circumstances, though, is meeting people who are "authority figures". Especially people such as bosses and supervisors at work, but including almost anyone who is seen as being "better" than they are in some respect. People with social anxiety may get a lump in their throat and their facial muscles may freeze up when they meet this person. The anxiety level is very high and they're so focused on "not failing" and "giving themselves away" that they don't even remember what was said in the conversation. But later on, they're sure they must have said the wrong thing.....because they always do.

Therefore, to go to a job interview can be pure torture for them, as they fear that their excessive anxiety is going to give them away. They are afraid to blush and of not finding the right words to answer questions coherently. They are so convinced that they are getting it wrong which becomes even more frustrating, as they also know they could do the job well, if only they could get past this terrifying and intimidating interview.

Social anxiety is the third largest psychological problem in the World today. This type of anxiety affects 15 million Americans in any given year. Unlike some other psychological problem, social anxiety is not well understood by the general public or by the medical establishment at large and therefore often times people with this condition get often misdiagnosed, labeled manic-depressive, clinically depressed or panic or personality disordered and are being prescribed with strong medication unnecessarily.

Whether you are reading this book to help a friend or whether you are reading this book to help yourself, this method with which I will make you familiar with can make a world of difference.

How you can make the best use of this book?

This book is largely in three parts. The first part is taken up by familiarizing yourself with the method used and also its history, the second part contains some sample tapping routines whereas the third part provides you with extra information of how you can further use this method to free yourself from your condition entirely.

If you can hardly wait to give this method a go and if you have a particular problem that fits the topic offered than you can use the tapping routines right away without further ado. All that is required is that you familiarize yourself with the location of the tapping points and that, before starting the routine, you tune into the problem you would like to work on.

Mary´s intense fear of water

Mary couldn´t take a bath with more than one inch of water. If she did she would get headaches for the rest of the day. She could not go around lakes, near oceans, swimming pools or take a shower without having really intense reactions.

Mary had this problem for as long as she could remember. At the time she had come to Dr. Callahan she was 40 years old and had been from one therapist to another in search of relieve for her problem without making any headway at all.

She had been with Dr. Callahan for approximately 1 ½ years without making headway. The best they could achieve was for Mary to let her feet dangle into the water of his swimming pool. She always resisted doing that because she would always end up having a headache for the rest of the day, but this was the best they had achieved thus far.

One day she says to Dr. Callahan , "I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I do this." Hm, Dr. Callahan thought to himself, considering his knowledge of acupuncture, there is something I need to do with her stomach meridian. He knew that the stomach meridian goes from the head, under the eyes and back through the stomach down to the toes.

However, instead of using needles, he did something else, he used both of his fingertips and started tapping underneath her eyes. He did this for a short while when she suddenly said: "It is gone?" What is gone? he says: "The knot in my stomach and so is my fear of water".
So, he said: "Oh yeah. Let´s go down to the pool to try it out." And before he could say another word she was out of the room on her way to the swimming pool. He became rather concerned, was she going to delve into the swimming pool? She can´t swim. So he went after her trying to stop her, but she simply replied: "It´s ok. Dr. Callahan, I know I can´t swim."

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Christa Graves
Bildmaterialien: Fotolia
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 28.06.2012
ISBN: 978-3-86479-883-2

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