Social Anxiety Support Group… Why?!

It can be hugely beneficial to get a social anxiety support group when you are suffering from the disorder.

In this article I will inform you of why it is so important to belong to any of these groups and I’ll inform you about the most important ones out there.

In the upcoming articles I will dive deeper into the nuts and bolts of all the social phobia support groups that are out there.

What Is A Social Anxiety Support Group?

Social anxiety support groups can be divided up into two parts. The official group therapy for social anxiety and all the others.

This particular article focuses on all the others.

A social anxiety support group can be a group of people that come together to talk about their emotions, feelings, beliefs and experiences. This can be in “real life” or on the internet.

The real life meetings will be a bit more challenging, so this is for maybe more advanced people.

If this sounds too frightening for you, there are several other opportunities for you.

There are support groups that are entirely online. Joining one could be a great first step outside your comfort zone if you are currently very anxious.

You can be anonymous in most of these support groups and you of course also can simply make up a name different from yours.

There are social anxiety forums where you can go and tell your story, ask questions and participate in a community.

There are social anxiety chat rooms where you speak one on one with someone who goes through the same experience as you are going through.

These are mostly personal and not everyone will be able to read your posts.

There are even possibilities to get a social anxiety pen pal. This is basically the same as a chat room, but this would be more intense and probably even more personal.

Aside from this there are many more opportunities for a social anxiety support group.

If all of that is too intense for you at this moment in time, you can always work on yourself following the advice on this website until you feel confident enough to take the first small step towards recovery.

If that is the case, social anxiety self help can be a good page to start for you.

Why To Join A Social Anxiety Support Group

When you participate in one of these groups, you receive an enormous amount of benefits. For easy review I’ve listed the most obvious ones below.

  • You realize you are not alone :You will be understood as you get to meet people that suffer from social phobia also. Since these people are in the same situation, you get to find out that you are not crazy or weird at all.You will also get acceptance from people and will feel understood. This can be very comforting.
  • You can get emotional connections with people : Since your social life is probably very limited if existent at all, and since the connections you do make are possibly not very deep ones, you can create deeper connections with people here.By in some way participating you also keep a bit in touch with other people and therefore don’t lose touch with people in general too much.

    This is very important because due to the supportive environment you come to the realization that people are not that bad, weird and evil after all.

  • You feel better : When you share your experiences, emotions and beliefs with others there’s a lot of weight of your shoulders. Not speaking to anyone and keeping it all to yourself is a bad thing. You need to get rid of it somehow. Doing so improves your mood and decreases your psychological distress.And when you get to hear that other people are experiencing the same struggle as you have, this can be comforting for yourself. You are not alone anymore.
  • Stay updated : If there is a new form of therapy or some other solution that guarantees faster recovery, you will be updated by this instantly by all the people in your social anxiety support group.
  • Meet people that inspire you : In a social anxiety support group you will find people that are closer to complete recovery than you are. You can get advice from them and learn a lot. These people might also inspire you and give you hope for a better future for yourself.And when you are the person that is the most close to recovery, you can teach people that are less far than you are.

    By teaching you help another person, which is always a good thing. But it also has the added benefit of ingraining the concepts you learned deeper inside your subconscious mind.

  • Get motivated : Within a social anxiety support group everyone tries to be positive and supportive. By being in one, you can encourage others to take care of themselves.Others will try their utmost best to motivate you to stick to treatment plans and goals you have set for yourself.

    Now while others are not responsible for you, the fact that others try to motivate you and the fact that they are aware of your goals will actually fuel your motivation.

    Because you want the people that care for you to be proud of you. Don’t you?

Sometimes if you really can’t bring yourself to participate, you might first just want to look around in a social anxiety support group.

Just listening to or reading about other people’s challenges and solutions might give you more hope to get some help for yourself. But make sure to make use of the support that is out there, it can really help you.

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