Do you suffer from social anxiety? Do you constantly feel nervous and tense before a big event or spend hours prepping for the worst possible outcomes? To overcome this, professionals suggest psychotherapy services, especially teletherapy, which can be an excellent tool for self-soothing. Psychologists usually provide this type of therapy through video chats.
The combination of diminished social opportunities and high anxiety levels has been linked to social anxiety, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Telehealth is a new modality in treating social anxiety with excellent success rates, which may be attributed to being able to interact with a therapist without leaving your home. These virtual sessions are usually an affordable alternative to traditional in-person therapy, and they allow people to continue working at their own pace while receiving guidance from professionals.
What Is Social Anxiety?
Social anxiety is when an individual feels afraid, shy, or uncomfortable in certain social situations. This condition varies from person to person based on the specific situation that causes the anxiety. For example, some people may feel uneasy when meeting new people or giving speeches in front of others. In some cases, this fear can be so severe that it affects the ability to function normally.
How Does Social Anxiety Impact People’s Daily Life?
Social fear is quite normal in people that can be found during job interviews, parties, business meetings, dates, or meeting a stranger. But social anxiety is different from this, and it has symptoms that are as follows:
- Tend to worry often
- Have more anxious thoughts such as “no one will like me,” “no one believes me,” or “I don’t belong here,” etc.
- Avoid entering social situations.
- Spend a lot of time preparing for social situations
- Apologize often
- Seek frequent reassurance from others
- Leave situations abruptly
- Also, cause physical symptoms like shortness of breath, shaking, sweating, shivering, faintness, and increased heart rate.
Social fears vary from person to person, but all these fears eventually cause some sort of impairment. When fear is longer than six months and causes distress in your life, you might have a social anxiety disorder.
The exact cause of social anxiety is not clearly known, but many factors may contribute to it. That includes –
- External factors include the presence of other people, feeling anxious about being watched or judged by that person, or feeling that the other person is judging you.
- Internal factors include:
o Anxiety about performance in front of others.
o Fear of embarrassment.
o Humiliation in case of errors and mistakes.
How Can Teletherapy Help Overcome Social Anxiety?
Teletherapy is a very effective method of mental health therapy, especially for social anxiety, because people with social anxiety are not willing to enter into new circumstances or are interested in knowing about new people. At the same time, teletherapy is a type of psychological therapy that allows people to communicate and connect with a therapist through online video. This therapy enables people to work at their own pace, which makes it a highly convenient and cost-effective method for this condition.
These teletherapy sessions help people overcome their circumstances, and it gives them a chance to people to overcome their social anxiety. The main benefit is that people can overcome their conditions in the privacy of their homes so that no one will know about it. And it makes them feel safe and secure because of the online communication system.
Teletherapy can be used for different scenarios like –
- Kids can use it with autism spectrum disorders, and this therapy helps them a lot in interacting with other children.
- If you are not convenient for video chat, you start your session through a phone call.
- There is no running into someone or new circumstances, so you won’t lose any freedom.
- There is no issue related to traffic or transportation; you can choose your favorite or convenient spot at your home or office.
- You can schedule session times at your convenience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the interaction between the therapist and the person is highly essential in teletherapy sessions. Because it’s a type of therapy which used as a tool to overcome social anxiety. Also, it gives a chance to communicate with a therapist through online video, making it more convenient than other therapies and cost-effective therapy for this condition.