Though it may be premature to say the world is opening back up again, it does seem – with vaccines and behavioral changes – that there are positive signs on the horizon, and that more and more people can start to congregate and socialize in ways that have not been possible for many months.
While it’s great that more people can enjoy social experiences, one thing that many people are finding is that these same social experiences aren’t as comfortable as they once were. It’s not uncommon to find that you may be struggling with a little bit of anxiousness and social anxiety as a result of avoiding contact with strangers for so long. In many ways, that experience may be normal.
Why Some Are Finding Themselves Afraid of Social Experiences
Social anxiety is already one of the most common mental health conditions in the world today, affecting anywhere from 17% to 30% of people at some point in their lives.
For those that were already struggling with social anxiety, all of this time on pandemic-related lockdown means that being around people is likely to feel strange again. It’s something that we haven’t done for so long that it is arguably natural to feel like something is amiss.
But even those that have never really had social anxiety before may find that they experience it when out and about again. After all, for over a year, we’ve been “learning” that being around people is bad and scary – and that social contact with other people could get us sick, or worse.
So if you’re like many of those on Long Island that are starting to go back into the world only to find that it’s scarier to be social than you remember, you may benefit from therapy or counseling for social anxiety.
Why Consider Social Anxiety Therapy?
Anxiety therapy can be beneficial for anyone that is struggling to integrate socially back into the world. It teaches skills that are directly relevant to being able to adjust to social experiences:
- How to control negative thinking.
- How to cope with stress in social situations.
- How to be more social and communicate without overthinking, and more.
There’s an argument to be made that many of us could benefit from this after a year of lockdowns, even if they do not have a diagnosable condition. If you feel that you’ve been struggling with anxiety in social situations either before or as a result of COVID-19, please contact us today to learn more about our treatment services.
