Feelings such as fear, worry, anxiety are natural emotions that are innate. Feeling these emotions to a certain degree is necessary for our survival. However, feeling these emotions intensely and not being able to control the reactions of the person can cause the person to experience anxiety. This intensity of anxiety can also cause it to turn into a phobia.
Social anxiety, also known as social phobia; It is one of the most common problems encountered in adolescence. It can occur in one or more environments that require social interaction or performance in the adolescent. It is experienced especially when he is in front of people he does not know, when he has thoughts that he will be examined by others. It creates beliefs that the person will be considered incompetent by other people when taken into consideration. Social phobia occurs when he thinks that these beliefs will show signs of anxiety by reflecting on his behaviors, and he feels excessive and constant fear.
Anxiety is the reaction of the individual against people, situations and events that do not pose a direct threat, due to the fact that the individual sees them as threatening. When faced with some events that the child or adolescent thinks they cannot control, they may feel deeply affected and upset emotionally. If he thinks that he cannot produce a solution in the face of the problem, he will develop the behavior of avoiding this situation with feelings of helplessness.
Studies in research show that there is no single cause of social phobia. Familial predisposition, temperament, biological variables, friend relations as an environmental effect, school, parental attitudes and other social areas gain great importance in the development of social phobia. In addition, the corona epidemic that we live in the world leads to the closure of homes, causing this feeling to be triggered.
Feelings of unrealistic thoughts – behaviors of feelings – reactions to behaviors cause social phobia to occur. The studies carried out to realize that this cycle affects behaviors is the biggest step taken to reach a solution to the problem of social phobia. Studies such as breathing exercises and assertiveness studies aimed at coping with these situations are among the effective methods to reduce the social anxiety level of adolescents.
