What is Social Phobia?
Social Phobia is when you fear acting in an embarrassing or humiliating way when exposed to social or performance situations involving unfamiliar people or possible scrutiny by others. You must recognize that the fear you experience is excessive and unreasonable and either avoid these situations or endure them with intense anxiety. The Social Phobia must also interfere significantly with your normal routine, occupational functioning or social activities.
Sometimes the fear is a more generalized fear of acting in a way that is perceived to be humiliating. For example, you might fear going to parties because you would not know what to say or you might have trouble speaking to your boss at work for fear you would sound incompetent. Other times the fear is of looking odd or being perceived as being anxious. In this case you might fear blushing and turning so red that everyone notices or you might fear sweating so profusely that again everyone notices. A very common fear in this country is the fear of public speaking. This is the most common form of Social Phobia.