Adolescents meet increasing social demands as they age. They have to navigate relationships in the classroom, during community and extracurricular activities, within social media, and when gaming, Unfortunately, they frequently fear and sometimes experience criticism, judgment, and rejection. Sadly, some adolescents have negative social experiences in which they feel embarrassed and ashamed. These experiences or the fear of such experiences can lead to considerable social anxiety.
While many adolescents sometimes experience social anxiety, approximately 4% of adolescents experience such severe social anxiety that they meet criteria for social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety can have extreme consequences for an adolescent, as it often leads to avoidance of social situations and engaging in problematic ways of coping within social situations. Adolescents with social anxiety often suffer in silence when pushing themselves to be in social situations or when withdrawing and avoiding social interactions. Social anxiety, untreated, often gets worse over time and can lead to other mental health issues, including depression.
It is for this reason, that we strongly recommend that adolescents with social anxiety get help from professionals and that we offer social anxiety groups in our clinic. One of the best ways to help individuals with social anxiety is within a group format. It may seem odd that we would recommend a group for adolescents who have social anxiety, as they typically avoid being in groups. And yet, it is in being with other adolescents, that they get to receive support from other youth, develop greater social skills, test out their expectations and interpretations, learn to accept and manage their anxiety, and develop greater confidence in their ability to be in social environments.
If you are an adolescent with social anxiety, we encourage you to be brave and sign up for our CBT / ACT group that starts on February 4th. Your life can definitely get better by working on managing your social anxiety. Please view our announcements page for more information about this group.
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Pham, D. (2018). People Sitting on Bridge. UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/Cecb0_8Hx-o.