How to Deal with Social Anxiety

Multiple brain scans of people with social anxiety have revealed its connection with hyperactivity in a certain part of the brain, known as the amygdala. The amygdala normally regulates the physiological changes linked with the fight or flight response, allowing the body to respond to real and imagined threats. Any activity in the amygdala triggers a cascade of symptoms, including sweaty palms, muscle tightening, increased heartbeat, respiratory excitement, and high sugar levels, which render the sufferers incapable of thinking straight. In such anxious situations, another part of the brain, known as the prefrontal cortex, is responsible for calming these reactions and keeping them in check if there is no real threat present.

However, for individuals with social anxiety, the prefrontal cortex starts amplifying these reactions instead of calming them down. As a result, the brain starts fearing other people’s reactions as legitimate threats that cannot be soothed down with any amount of rational reflection.

The following reasons have been found to contribute to the development of social anxiety:

The Role of Parenting Styles

Extensive research confirms the connection between anxiety disorders and negative parenting styles. Parents who are highly critical, overcontrolling, overly concerned, or reluctant to show affection can destroy their child’s self-image and their impression of the world. Such children grow up to become less trustful and more fearful of other people as the negative environment they grew up in takes a toll on their self-confidence and self-esteem. Parents with negative attitudes are often not aware of their harmful actions and the consequences that can set their children up for trouble in later life.

While social anxiety disorder doesn’t get diagnosed until adulthood, the manifestations of its early symptoms in childhood bolster the idea that parenting styles are behind its development.

Stressful Influences and Life Experiences

Experiencing stress or trauma during childhood increases the risk of developing social anxiety in later stages of life. Some exposures known to carry predictive value for a severe form of this disorder include abuse (emotional, sexual, or physical), family conflicts, death or desertion by a loved one, maternal stress during pregnancy, divorce, and domestic violence. Such traumatic experiences reinforce the concept that the world can be unpredictable and scary.

Genetic Causes

Individuals whose parents suffer from social anxiety are up to 40 times more likely to acquire this condition themselves. However, experts have been unable to speculate how much of this association is based on genes and how much of it is determined by parenting style. More research has focused on the genetic markers causing social anxiety, paying particular focus to a gene labelled as SLCGA4. This gene is responsible for transporting a neurotransmitter that stabilises mood and soothes nerves. Shortage of this neurotransmitter due to decreased performance of the SLCGA4 gene has been closely linked with the symptoms of social anxiety and unfortunately, this faulty gene is capable of passing down from parents to offspring.

So if someone close in the family has struggled with social anxiety, learning how to deal with social anxiety is highly recommended for them.