Reflective Essay: My Definition Of Social Anxiety

My critical thinking paper is all about social phobia or what we also called social anxiety. Before I proceed with discussion, let me first define the meaning of social anxiety, its symptoms and cause. According to the definition made by WebMD website, Social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, is an anxiety disorder in which a person has an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations. Anxiety (intense nervousness) and self-consciousness arise from a fear of being closely watched, judged, and criticized by others. A person with this kind of disorder is afraid of making a mistake, look ridiculous, embarrassed or humiliated with other people. This fear can turn into a panic attack. Eventually person with this kind of disorder either experience extreme distress during socialization or they may choose to avoid attending socialization. They are not thinking …show more content…
We usually tend to over think about what the other people will think of us. We are afraid they will make fun of us. For others who has this self-confidence, they will think of this as meaningless. But come to think of it, it is really absurd. Based from my experience, at one point in my life, when I was still in high school, I used to be a very shy person. I don’t mingle with my other classmates. I do have sets of friends but I seldom go out with them to have fun. I would rather stay home where I feel safe and accepted. But as I entered the corporate world, step by step I decided to get rid of my shyness. At first, it was very hard. But day by day, I make it a point that I approach unknown people and start a conversation with them. And before I knew it, I am not scared anymore. My shyness is gone and have a self-confidence. I guess we have two choices here to overcome social phobia. We can either help ourselves to defeat this kind of disorder or we can seek professional help. Either ways, it will help us beat this and have a normal social