Your mind races. Your palms sweat. The words don’t come out of your mouth right, if they come at all. We’ve all been there at one time or another. And some of us get it worse than others, and more frequently. Social anxiety. Nobody wants to look stupid or be embarrassed.

You might know someone with social anxiety if you have a friend or loved one who does their best to avoid social situations—or appears overwhelmed whenever they are introduced to new people. Social anxiety disorder is the second most common type of anxiety disorder in the U.S. and is said to affect 15 million adults.

What is social anxiety?

Social anxiety is anxiety that occurs when anticipating or engaging in some type of social situation, such as public speaking, meeting new people or going to a party. “Most people experience some worry in different social situations, however, when it becomes such an intense fear over a long period of time and leads to avoidance or suffering through of most social interactions, this is what in practice is termed social anxiety disorder or social phobia.

To an outsider, a person with social anxiety disorder is often mistaken for being shy or timid, but experts note that the situation is much more serious than that. Social anxiety is not just nervousness that anyone might experience before interacting with others. It is highly crippling, even painful to deal with.

In this course you will learn the diagnosis of social anxiety, GAD, and shyness so that you can be more aware of specific symptoms. You will also learn how to identify the triggers that cause you anxiety. And at last you will learn how to manage these triggers and physical sensations of anxiety. You will be able to create a anxiety coping plan so that you come out of it and become confident enough to join social gatherings and spend quality time.