Shyness and social anxiety can be very detrimental to the quality of the lives of those who suffer from them. They are not, however, mutually exclusive of one another, and one may point to the existence of the other. If you suffer from social anxiety, then you will display symptoms of shyness, but you can display symptoms of shyness, even quite severe ones, without actually having a social anxiety disorder.

Being shy is actually not that uncommon at all, and most people suffer from it at some point in their life. Social anxiety on the other hand manifests itself in a variety of ways that does not only include shyness. People often find it hard to differentiate between the two, so lets now look at the underlying characteristics of each of them, with the intention of making it easier.

Lets take a young girl being presented by her parents to a young boy as an example. The young girl will often feel shy and find it difficult to talk freely in front of the young boy. If she suffered from social phobia, she would first refuse to even meet the boy, then on being made to, she would say nothing to him, and then she would make an excuse to leave as soon as possible. So, social anxiety is really just an extreme amplification of the symptoms of shyness.

Still, though social anxiety can be described as an amplified form of shyness, shyness is often not the best indicator than someone has social anxiety. Thus, for shyness to be a milder form of social anxiety, the subject must exhibit other characteristics related to social anxiety. For example, someone suffering from social anxiety often trembles and physically cannot say words properly.

If the young girl in the example was only shy, that it is unlikely that she would be a social anxiety sufferer. Shyness is different from social anxiety in that it can be treated with constant exposure and repetitive contact with groups of people. A similar can, be not always, be effective in treating social anxiety too. A person who fears being in a social situation may exhibit a different attitude with regards to social settings when the social venue is expanded slowly. Thus it may be good to expose the subject to a small group of 1 to 2 people and then when the subject shows willingness, the group may then be placed in a slightly larger group composed of 3 or more people.

The good news is that both shyness and social anxiety are now treatable, as not so long ago medical professionals did not really know how to deal with them. If shyness or social anxiety are a problem for you then you should not hesitate to ask for help. There are proven methods and techniques available that have worked on even severe sufferers, so you can rest assured that however bad you think your problem is, there is hope for you.

It is important that you take action if you are affected by these problems, so do not delay in asking for help.

Author Bio: Read On : Shyness And Social Anxiety Or Overcoming Social Anxiety

Category: Medicines and Remedies
Keywords: social anxiety, shyness, anxiety, self help, mental health, health