Symptoms Of Social | Phobia
Once the fear has been triggered the physical reaction can lead to a cycle of distress. The body
responds to
any naturally stressful situation by tensing up. This helps the person
perform better. However if the reaction is misinterpreted and excessive this can lead to unnecessarily high
levels of tension and symptoms of phobia are often evident..
Although a sufferer may realise that the muscular pain and breathing difficulties they are experiencing are
merely a response to stress; if the bodily reaction is extreme enough it may give rise to a fear of the symptoms of
phobia: a fear of the fear. Anticipation of this discomfort, the fear of chest pain or hyperventilation can produce
the stress or anxiety that triggers these symptoms.
Physical symptoms of social phobia include:
- shaking/trembling
- sweating excessively
- nausea
- dizziness
- hyperventilation
- chest pain
- freezing
As fear levels increase, the mental processes intensify and distort and symptoms of phobia also incresase. A phobic person will overestimate the danger
they are in and underestimate their ability to cope. For example someone with a fear of driving will overestimate
the dangers of road travel while underestimating their own driving ability. In this way they may lose all sense of
perspective. They expect disaster to be the only outcome. This is called catastrophising.
Common mental processes associated with phobia include:
- catastrophising
- ignoring the positive
- exaggerating
- over generalizing
- looking for disaster
- thinking in all or nothing terms
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