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Does Your Child Have Social Anxiety/Phobia?
Social anxiety is the marked fear or anxiety of a social situation in which the individual may be scrutinised / judged bo others. In children this fear or anxiety must occur in a peer setting and not just duirng interaction with adults. When people are exposed to the situation that causes anxiety, they feel that they will be judged negatively as stupid, crazy, anxious etc. Fear of offending others, fear of showing anxiety symptoms.
Children/teens with social anxiety often avoid!
- Avoid social situations or make excuses not to go, such as “I’m just a homebody”, “I don’t feel like going”, “I don’t like parties”
- Feel left out or awkward, and this can make them feel sad
- Can have less well developed social skills than children their own age
- Feel sick (e.g. pains in the stomach, headaches, nausea) or become withdrawn, irritable or have aching or sore arms and legs before social events or before school
- Dread sports days or swimming carnivals
- Tendency to ruminate & often replay past social events over and over in their mind
- Think everyone is judging them negatively
- Miss out on fun and feel sad - can lead to depression if not treated.
CBT for social anxiety can help! For more information contact us at Brilliant Minds Psychology.
CBT is an evidence based treatment.