Please Visit The Negative Cycle of Social Phobia for more information on social phobia and how you get stuck in it.
Social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder, can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy, also called CBT for short. CBT is a form of psychotherapy which involves dealing with your irrational thoughts when confronted with a social situation, and dealing with your maladaptive behaviors which only serve to maintain your social anxiety symptoms.
So let’s say you have social phobia (social anxiety disorder), and are preparing to give a presentation to co-workers. You then have thoughts about this anxiety-provoking event, such that you think people will make fun of you, or think people will think you are stupid, or think you will embarrass yourself, or think nobody will like you. These irrational thoughts then make you anxious, fearful, and you get the physical symptoms of anxiety from the adrenaline released in response to your anxiety. You also become very self-conscious.
The anxiety makes you avoid the presentation altogether, as just the thought of it gives you anxiety attacks. However, if you do go and give your presentation, then you resort to safety behaviors, where you might avoid eye contact with your audience, or you might not be able to speak when you are at the podium, or you might try to hide behind the podium, or you might just drink more to get you through the presentation.
But resorting to avoidance or safety behaviors only serve to maintain your belief that people are making fun of you. It also serves to maintain your self-focus on your irrational thoughts. But if you would just expose yourself to social situations, or not resort to safety behaviors, then you would eventually find out that the social anxiety will go away on its own, naturally. And then you begin to not believe your irrational thoughts, and you come to realize that those thoughts are indeed irrational.
So treatment for social phobia involves CBT, and gradually exposing you to your fears, and also addressing to see how valid (or invalid) your irrational thoughts really are. With further exposures and instilling relaxation techniques, you will find that your anxiety levels will go down, to the point where you will be able to present to your co-workers, and may eventually come to enjoy it with further practice!
However, if your anxiety becomes too overwhelming during CBT, then you may have to talk with your doctor about starting a prescription medication to help reduce the anxiety while you continue with CBT. You can also resort to alternative treatments for social phobia, such as CBT-guided self-help treatment with Anxiety Protocol and natural supplement treatment with KalmPro:
