Coping when you have social anxiety can be a major challenge. There are more times than I can remember that I didn’t cope when I had it. I can remember plenty of nights where I would cry my lonely self to sleep. Days where I would go out into a public place and not be able to form a connection with anyone and go home in deep despair.
Coping with social anxiety is all about having short term goals. Many therapists and advice givers want to tell you that coping is something you do long term. Personally I think that is something that’s doomed to failure becuase you are trying to battle your own mind rather than figure out what is driving the fear and fix that.
I think it is worth getting a couple of tactics for those times when dealing with social anxiety is just too hard, they will keep you from doing something stupid and allow you to go on living your life, just as long as you remember these are only supposed to be used for a matter of hours until you can get yourself into a better mental position… they are not for the long term.
1. Hypnosis. Hypnosis has many techniques for inducing trance states and feelings of deep relaxation. I used to use some and it helped. Unfortunately I have yet to find a method of hypnosis that can tackle the underlying emotions that create social anxiety though I have seen many people that promise it.
2. Deep Breathing. Deep breathing is a good one for when you are right in the moment and you’re about to have a panic attack. It can bring you back down and focus you if done correctly, you can also do no harm to yourself with breathing. Find some techniques and practice them somewhere comfortable.
3. Self Anchoring. Anchoring is a very powerful method of inducing emotional states. It is worth finding a proper guide, personally I have found no better method than that offered at essential-skills.com. When you use self anchors you set up a trigger for a comfortable state, for example touching your right thumb to index finger, your mind and body then follow into that state and it allows you to escape the fear for a short time.
These are just a few of the methods I have used with success. Just remember that if you want long term success in getting over social anxiety you need more than short term coping methods.
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