You feel an extreme fear of being around people that you dont know and you get very anxious when you have to talk to anyone or give your opinion, you probably have social anxiety, how to cop with it? many people ask, there are certain strategies and methods to have a better lifestyle when you have social phobia.

You should find ways to overcome your social phobia like taking treatments and medications, for this you will need to see a physician or psychotherapist. However, while you are trying to recover you still need to go out and follow your daily activities, so you will need to deal with people and your anxiety and fears will be there so you need to find ways to cope with it.

First a warning there are many people especially adolescents and teens that use alcoholism to cope with their social anxiety in public places, parties and events, while most people use alcohol to overcome their inhibition, is not a good solution because if you depend on alcohol to control your anxiety it can become an addiction and even cause you more anxiety. Another side effect is that it usually causes depression in people that depend on it.

Coping strategies for social anxiety

So what can you do to control your emotions, feelings, anxiety and fear. Be aware that you are not the only one with this problem more than 20 million Americans have this problem and you should not feel strange or uncomfortable for having this issue.

Here are some strategies to cope with social phobia:

When you start to feel fear of people watching you in a public place, stop for a moment and take a look around, count how many people are actually looking at you and you will notice that almost no one is actually looking at you, they are in their own problems.

If you start to feel anxiety in a social situation, wait for 15 minutes before leaving and see if your symptoms lessen, after a few minutes your anxiety could probably reduce when you start to see that is not as bad as you though.

You should also slow down, breath deeply and try to relax your muscles.

In some cases trying to exaggerate your symptoms of anxiety will actually cause to decrease your symptoms.

Have a positive talk with your self, say that you can wait a little bit longer, that the other people in the room are probably anxious too, that your anxiety will diminish.

Try to use some humor to release your tension and anxiety.

Read positive statements like "I have overcome worse situations and this will not be a problem", "i am confident of my self and can handle any situation"

Ask your self questions: is this fear real? is there really something to worry about? what is the worst that can happen? can i handle it? is this a real or irrational fear?

Another thing that helps a lot is that if you have a close friend that you are comfortable with, go out with him to a social situation or party. If you are with him or talking with him, it should be easier to be in a social situation because you wont feel strange for being alone or not being part of the party.

Practice social communication anxiety coping skills, this can really make a difference in a social situation. If you learn to treat or talk to people in a easier way you will feel more confident. For example one way to have more conversation with someone you just meet is to ask him questions about his interests, hobbies and passions, if you find something in common with him the conversation will be easier, if not just show interest in what he does and ask him to explain you more about it.

Practicing some relaxation techniques and positive affirmations can help deal with anxiety.

Those are some good coping strategies that can help you the next time you are in a social situation or party. However you should follow a proven treatment to get rid of social phobia and not just try to live with it.

There are some natural supplements and herbal remedies that can help you reduce your anxiety, be calm, relax and be more social, but you must talk with your doctor first, you should not mix some natural remedies with a few of the drug medications because a negative effect can happen.