All posts by The Center for Connection

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How to Get Rid of Your Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of fear or worry caused by a combination of factors such as genetics, the environment, and brain chemistry. Common symptoms include an increased heart rate, rapid breathing, restlessness, and trouble concentrating.

 Anxiety may not be bad on its own since it can be a typical part of our lives in an ever-busy world. It helps you become aware of danger, stay organized, be prepared, and calculate risks.

 However, anxiety becomes bad if it recurs daily. If that’s the case, then you need to watch out before it gets worse. Hence, you need to know how to get rid of your anxiety before it becomes too late.

Top 5 Tips on How to Get Rid of Your Anxiety

Follow these five tips if you want to get rid of your anxiety:

Get a Good Night’s Rest

Make getting a good night’s rest your top priority. If you’re currently getting less than six hours of sleep every night, then you need to change and ensure that you get about seven to nine hours of sleep every night. A good night’s sleep will do you a lot more favors than you could ever imagine. You’ll get sick less often, stay at a healthy weight, lower your risk for serious health problems like diabetes and heart disease, reduce stress and improve your mood, think more clearly and do better in school and at work, and get along better with people.

Practice Meditation and Mindfulness 

Practicing meditation reduces stress and anxiety because it makes you fully aware of the present moment and helps you notice your thoughts in a nonjudgmental way. This enhances your ability to tolerate all thoughts and feelings mindfully and gives you a sense of calm and contentment. Then, to practice mindfulness, you need to close your eyes, breathe deeply, and observe your thoughts as they pass through your mind without judging or becoming involved with them but simply taking note of any patterns.

Stay Active

Make regular exercise part of your daily routine if you want to take care of your mental health as well as your physical health. Exercise can divert your attention from whatever is making you anxious and change your brain chemistry to create more space for anti-anxiety neurochemicals such as serotonin, endocannabinoids, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Exercise also enhances your concentration and willpower and better protects you from developing symptoms of anxiety.

Eat a Balanced Diet 

Dehydration, low blood sugar levels, chemicals in processed foods and preservatives, as well as artificial flavorings and colors, can cause mood swings in some people, but eating a balanced diet can reduce anxiety. A balanced diet is usually rich in complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and processed foods. 

Practice Deep Breathing

Anxiety is often associated with shallow, fast breathing. This can increase your heart rate, make you feel dizzy and lightheaded, or even cause a panic attack. However, practicing deep breathing exercises by taking slow, deep breaths can restore your normal breathing patterns and reduce your anxiety.

 

In simple terms, here’s how to get rid of your anxiety if you have one: Get a good night’s rest, practice meditation and mindfulness, stay active, eat a balanced diet, and practice deep breathing.

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change is always there for you to help you overcome anxiety so you can enjoy a healthier, longer, and happier life.

 Our therapists are skilled and experienced in anxiety therapy. Schedule a free consultation with us today or call us at (703) 878-3290. You can also visit our offices at 12751 Marblestone Drive, Suite 200, Woodbridge, VA 22192, or at 10640 Page Avenue, Suite 230, Fairfax, VA 22030, if you’re in Virginia and need help starting a healthy anxiety treatment.

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How to Deal with Winter Anxiety

Weather changes can affect a person’s mental well-being, and this is especially true during the winter when people usually experience anxiety due to reduced sunlight and colder temperatures. Anxiety can occur at this time because people normally stay indoors during the season and often feel isolated. This can lead to symptoms like depression, irritability, feeling overwhelmed, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty sleeping. Whatever the case, all hope is not lost, as there are still a few things you can do to salvage the situation.

Tips on How to Deal with Winter Anxiety

Here are the top five tips on how to deal with winter anxiety:

Take Care of Yourself 

The exigencies of life and the rat race for survival in the ever-busy modern world make it easy for us to even forget about taking care of ourselves. But that shouldn’t be the case. Instead, make time to take care of yourself so you’ll be able to pursue your goals in good health. Get enough rest, sleep, and exercise. Eat healthy and practice self-care. Do the things you love, like singing, dancing, reading, swimming, or painting. Taking care of yourself will help you reduce the stress and anxiety associated with winter.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep deserves a special mention here because of its place in the promotion of human health. Sleep boosts your immune system, prevents weight gain, strengthens your heart, improves your mood, increases productivity, enhances exercise performance, and improves memory. However, there are a few things you can do to improve your sleep if you aren’t getting enough. This includes avoiding alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine; investing in a comfortable mattress and pillow; reducing noise; and having a consistent sleep schedule.

Practice Journaling

Journaling is the activity of keeping a diary, or journal, where you write about your daily experiences. Journaling is a good practice because it helps you express your thoughts and feelings and even get to know yourself better. With journaling, you know what is going on inside you that is causing you anxiety. It also helps you control your thoughts and redirect them toward positive energy.

Get Massage Therapy

Get massage therapy if you can. Stress at home or in the workplace and the cold winter weather can cause anxiety, but massage therapy can help you deal with it. It helps you reduce stress, relax, and promotes healing and wellness. It also produces positive energy and helps in spiritual healing and self-improvement.

Seek Professional Help 

It can be difficult to deal with anxiety on your own, especially if it’s severe. So, why not get professional help? A professional will provide you with counseling, therapy, or both, depending on your situation.

 

Without much ado, this is how to deal with winter anxiety: take care of yourself, get enough sleep, practice journaling, get massage therapy, and seek professional help. Do this, and you’ll be fine.

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change is always there for you to help you overcome anxiety so you can enjoy a healthier, longer, and happier life.

 Our therapists are skilled and experienced in anxiety therapy. Schedule a free consultation with us today or call us at (703) 878-3290. You can also visit our offices at 12751 Marblestone Drive, Suite 200, Woodbridge, VA 22192, or at 10640 Page Avenue, Suite 230, Fairfax, VA 22030, if you’re in Virginia and need help starting a healthy anxiety treatment.

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What Are Some Ways to Practice Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present and aware of where we are and what we’re doing without being overly reactive or overwhelmed by what is happening around us.

 Mindfulness has some immense benefits: it reduces fatigue, lowers stress, restores emotional balance, reduces anxiety and depression, increases resilience, slows aging, improves concentration, reduces physical pain, boosts mental health, and improves sleep quality.

 This is what makes mindfulness attractive, and people are now beginning to ask, “What are some ways to practice mindfulness?”

Top 5 Ways to Practice Mindfulness

Here are the top five ways to practice mindfulness:

Breathe

Start breathing, but let your breath be strong, deep, and slow. Ensure your belly moves up and down as you breathe. Observe what happens as you inhale and exhale. Acknowledge your thoughts as they come. Allow those thoughts to be, and then go. Don’t worry if your mind wanders during the process. Just acknowledge where it has moved to and refocus on your breath. 

Do the Dishes

Want an easy way to practice mindfulness? Wash the dishes. Dishwashing will free your mind from negative thoughts if you do it mindfully. It’ll help you focus on the senses at the moment, namely the smell of the soap, the coldness or warmth of the water against your skin, the feel of the dishes in your hands, the sights, and even the sounds. Mindful dishwashing is known to increase calmness, reduce stress, decrease nervousness, and boost mental inspiration.

Take a Shower

Don’t just take a shower; take it mindfully. As you take the shower, feel the taste of the water, the water against your skin, and the smell of the soap. Is the water cold, hot, or just okay? Watch and listen as the water touches your skin and falls off. Then touch the skin to see what it feels like, whether the action is nurturing, uncomfortable, familiar, or strange. Decide if you need more or less. Then take note of your feelings.

Eat Mindfully

Eat mindfully. Focus on eating. Smell the food, touch it, and feel it in your body. Don’t get distracted by the people around you; be fully present. Avoid talking to anyone. Don’t worry about the things you have to do after eating. Notice your thoughts and feelings as you eat to see if you feel nourished, emotionally comfortable, happy, secure, warmth, guilt, or sadness, but don’t judge your thoughts or feelings. It’s just to notice them.

Take a Mindful Walk

Usually, we walk without thinking about what we’re doing, but it makes sense to bring awareness into it, even though it’s automatic. So, take a mindful walk if you want to practice mindfulness. To do this, you need to focus your attention on it. Feel the ground as you walk. Engage your senses as you do it. Take note of what it feels like. Observe the sights, sounds, smells, and feels of the world as you move.

 

So, the top five ways to practice mindfulness include breathing, doing the dishes, taking a shower, eating mindfully, and taking a mindful walk. We hope this answers your question, “What are some ways to practice mindfulness?” 

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change is always there for you to help you practice mindfulness so you can enjoy a healthier, longer, and happier life.

 Our therapists are skilled and experienced in self-care. Schedule a free consultation with us today or call us at (703) 878-3290. You can also visit our offices at 12751 Marblestone Drive, Suite 200, Woodbridge, VA 22192 or at 10640 Page Avenue, Suite 230, Fairfax, VA 22030 if you’re in Virginia and need help with starting a workable mindfulness routine.

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How to Relax During the Holidays

It’s good to work, but it’s even better to relax after the day’s work and especially during the holidays.

 Unfortunately, the exigencies of life don’t usually allow us to leave the stresses of this world behind us and focus on things that will improve our overall health and wellness.

Five Easy Ways to Relax During the Holidays

Here’s how to relax during the holidays:

Eat Healthy

Don’t just eat to relax during the holidays; eat healthy because it’ll benefit you a lot. It may help you live longer than you could have ever imagined. It’ll also help keep your skin, teeth, and eyes healthy; support your muscles; strengthen your bones; boost your immunity; lower your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers; support healthy pregnancies and breastfeeding; and improve the function of the digestive system.

Sleep Well

Get enough sleep during the holidays to help boost your immune system, prevent weight gain, strengthen your heart, improve your mood, increase productivity, increase exercise performance, and improve your memory. Otherwise, you’re at an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke if you don’t get enough sleep.

Spend Time Outside

Spending time outside is known to relieve stress, improve memory, restore mental clarity, boost creativity, and even reduce the risks of diseases. So, you should unwind during holidays by spending time outside to enjoy nature. You can start each day by taking a quiet walk across the beach until it becomes a morning ritual, even after the holidays.

Get Active

The holiday is a period to help you stay active if you’ve been living a sedentary lifestyle, especially due to the nature of your job. There are a lot of things you can do out there if you step out of your comfort zone, from bodyboarding, coasteering, kite surfing, swimming to surfing. The possibilities are endless.

Start Yoga

Have a beautiful personal or rented property? Turn it into a private spa and start your day with a private yoga class to help reduce stress and loosen up a tight body. Then, end your day with a restorative yoga session, a guided meditation, a sound bath, or a combination of the three for a full restoration.

 

Looking forward to your next holiday season but don’t know what to do? Here’s how to relax during the holidays: eat healthy, sleep well, spend time outside, get active, and start yoga.

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change is always there for you to help you practice self-care so you can enjoy a healthier, longer, and happier life.

 Our therapists are skilled and experienced in self-care. Schedule a free consultation with us today or call us at (703) 878-3290. You can also visit our offices at 12751 Marblestone Drive, Suite 200, Woodbridge, VA 22192 or at 10640 Page Avenue, Suite 230, Fairfax, VA 22030 if you’re in Virginia and need help with starting a workable self-care routine.

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What is Self-Care?

Self-care is the “ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health-care provider,” according to the World Health Organization.

 It involves making healthy lifestyle choices, avoiding unhealthy lifestyle habits, using prescription and nonprescription drugs responsibly, identifying symptoms of diseases on your own, checking for signs of deterioration or improvement, and managing these symptoms.

The Benefits of Self-Care

Here are the top five benefits of self-care you should know:

Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Stress can have adverse effects on your body, thoughts, feelings, and behavior. If left unchecked, it can increase your risk of chronic health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. However, self-care can help you reduce some of the effects of stress and anxiety on your body by regularly engaging in activities as simple as taking a few breaths of fresh air and going for a walk to help you calm your neurological system.

Improves Feelings of Well-Being

Self-care improves your feelings of well-being. It makes you feel comfortable, healthy, and happy. It also makes you feel good and see life positively generally. So, as a system, your body, mind, and spirit benefit in one way or another when you do things for the system.

Aids Sleep and Digestion

Self-care improves the quality of your sleep, and aids digestion. You enter into a sympathetic response when your body is on high alert. This slows digestion down, and the system activates in response to stress. However, you activate the parasympathetic response when you practice self-care, thus reducing your stress level and leading to better rest, sleep, and digestion.

Boosts the Immune System

Stress can negatively impact your immune system. Nonetheless, self-care can boost your immune system and make it function better by bringing some calm and ease to your whole system and benefiting the immune system as well.

Increases Productivity

Poor or inadequate maintenance of your health can get in the way of your daily routine and rob you of the needed enthusiasm and energy. Self-care will do just the opposite: it’ll give you more organizational skills and mental focus and make you more productive.

 

So, what are you still waiting for? Start practicing self-care today for its overall benefits: it reduces stress and anxiety, improves feelings of well-being, aids sleep and digestion, boosts the immune system, and increases productivity.

 

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change is always there for you to help you practice self-care so you can enjoy a healthier, longer, and happier life.

 Our therapists are skilled and experienced in self-care. Schedule a free consultation with us today or call us at (703) 878-3290. You can also visit our offices at 12751 Marblestone Drive, Suite 200, Woodbridge, VA 22192 or at 10640 Page Avenue, Suite 230, Fairfax, VA 22030 if you’re in Virginia and need help with starting a workable self-care routine.

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What Is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and How Do You Deal With It?

Seasonal affective disorder, or seasonal depression, is a form of depression which is usually caused by the lack of natural light during the months of winter.

The sun is lowest in the sky during this season, the days are relatively short and the temperatures are extremely low.

When you have seasonal affective disorder, you may feel sad and tired, sleep too much, gain a lot of weight, or lose interest in things you do every day, all of which can affect your daily life.

How to Deal With Seasonal Affective Disorder

Here are a few things you should do if you’re dealing with seasonal depression:

Take Care of Yourself

One of the best ways of dealing with SAD is to take good care of yourself. This entails eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly. A balanced diet will help you manage your weight and improve your energy levels, having enough sleep will make you feel a bit more relieved after the day’s work, while a regular exercise program will help keep your body in good shape. However, remember not to get too much sleep as that can make you feel like hibernating.

Plan on Time

Make plans ahead of time should your symptoms get worse. Take action immediately if you begin to see signs of depression. Plan a lot of activities during the winter season to keep yourself busy and avoid sliding into depression.

Manage Stress

Practice some stress management techniques to help you manage your stress better. Something like meditation, tai chi and yoga are a few relaxation techniques you can try. If you’re unable to manage your stress, you may get depressed and begin to have some negative thoughts and behaviors.

Connect with People

Isolating yourself can worsen your symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. So, instead of being alone, try to hang out with family and friends you enjoy being around with. You can chat and laugh with them, or you can get their support when you’re feeling down. This can go a long way in giving you some boost.

Follow a Treatment Plan

It’s not uncommon for people to refuse to take medications for reasons related to potential side effects, doubts about efficacy, worry, and depression. Nevertheless, you may be able to see an improvement in your symptoms sooner than later if you stick to a treatment plan. 

Seasonal affective disorder can make you feel restless, sad, depressed, anxious, irritated, agitated, hopeless or worthless. It can also make you to gain weight, lose energy, interest and concentration, cause sleeping problems, or lead to thoughts of suicide or death. However, you should be able to see an improvement in symptoms if you take good care of yourself, plan on time, manage stress, connect with people, and follow a treatment plan.

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change offers a deeper dive into your relationship with anxiety and depression, and how they play out in your life, utilizing evidence-based therapy models and offering a tried-and-tested approach to treating the two conditions.

Schedule a free consultation with us today, or visit our offices in Woodbridge or Fairfax if you’re in Virginia.

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What Are the Summer Blues and How Do You Deal with Them?

Summer is a period of fun and it’s usually filled with great expectations, but such happiness can become short-lived if you remember that there are still some unmet expectations at the end of the summer, thereby giving rise to the summer blues.

 The summer blues, also known as the summertime blues, are feelings of sadness and depression that usually occur during the last week of summer, especially when you realize you have failed to meet some goals you set for yourself during the summer.

 In the last days of the summer, you may try to cram in everything from your list. Unfortunately, you miss out on them and become sad and depressed.

5 Tips on How to Deal with the Summer Blues

Here are five things you need to do if you need help with how to deal with the summer blues:

Reach out

Don’t isolate yourself, but reach out to family and friends. Don’t hesitate to share your problems with them. A problem shared is a problem halved, they say. Sharing your problems with your close ones will help you unburden your heart and strengthen your bonds with them. Otherwise, you may harm yourself or your relationship with others if you refuse to talk to anyone.

Sleep Well

Don’t worry much about the things you failed to do during the summer. Instead, try to get enough sleep to help calm your nerves. If you can, use diffusers and gentle alarm clocks to help you sleep better. Remember to turn off your gadgets at least one hour before going to bed to avoid distraction. Always strive to get enough sleep because it’ll improve your mental health.

Exercise

Exercising will also help you deal with the summer blues. Apart from making you healthier and stronger, exercise can improve your mental health. It can make you feel happy, especially when you feel depressed. This is because exercising releases endorphins to activate happiness in your brain.

Learn Something New

Learn something new instead of crying over spilt milk and ruminating over missed opportunities. Today, you can take virtually any course online. Take that advantage and join various online classes. You can learn French, guitar, yoga, and a whole lot of other skills online. This will not only engage you and take your mind off your present situation, but it’ll also help you to upskill and improve yourself.

Take Care of Your Mental Health

It’s surprising how many people neglect their mental health to their own detriment. Always take care of your mental health to avoid any untoward consequences. If you have been feeling unmotivated throughout the day to get out of bed or go to work, do something. Take some time off and try to evaluate yourself, or book an appointment with a therapist if you can.

 

Even if you’re unable to achieve all your genuine heart’s desires during the summer, remember that summers never end. You’ll even enjoy the next summer more than the last one, if only you’re alive to witness it. However, don’t forget to reach out to others, sleep well, exercise, learn something new, and take good care of your mental health if you have been hit lately by the summer blues because you feel sad and depressed over unmet expectations at the end of the summer.

How CCHC Can Help

Have you been hit lately by the summer blues? The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change is always ready to help.

The Center for Connection, Healing, and Change offers a deeper dive into your relationship with anxiety and how it plays out in your life, utilizing evidence-based therapy models and offering a tried-and-tested approach to treating anxiety.

Schedule a free consultation with us today, or visit our offices in Woodbridge or Fairfax if you’re in Virginia.

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Ideas to Practice Self-Care

Self-care simply means taking care of yourself. It involves behaviors that promote a healthy lifestyle and managing illnesses when they occur. 

The different types of self-care are emotional, physical, professional, psychological and spiritual self-care.

Ideas to practice self-care include having a sound sleep, exercising daily, eating healthy, getting outside and staying organized.

Top 5 Ideas to Practice Self-Care

The following five ways will help you get started if you need ideas to practice self-care: 

Sleep Well

Sleep can have both emotional and physical effects on your body while inadequate amounts of sleep, often caused by stress and distractions, can lead to some serious health issues. If you want to practice self-care, then you have to sleep well. Having a healthy sleep entails making sleep part of your self-care routine. It starts with having a nightly routine. If you usually eat or drink before bed, then it makes sense for you to avoid caffeine and sugar before bedtime as they can make you stay awake. Apart from regulating your eating habits, you should also reduce stress and sleep in a distraction-free bedroom if you want to have a good sleep.

Exercise Daily

Daily exercise can make a profoundly positive impact on your body, both physically and mentally. It can boost your mood, reduce stress and anxiety, and help you shed extra weight. Exercises don’t have to be strenuous or involve going to the gym. They can be as simple as walking, playing tennis or doing yoga. But the most important thing is that you should make whatever you want to do a routine.

Eat Well

One of the secrets of a healthy living is eating the right foods. Food can impact both positively and negatively on your body. Good food can make you healthy and keep your mind working and alert while a poor diet can cause weight gain or diseases like diabetes. Blueberries, brassicas, broccoli, fatty fish, green leafy vegetables and nuts are highly recommended self-care foods you should include in your daily diets if you want to practice self-care.

Get Outside

Leave the comfort of your home or office and spend some time outside. This way, you can reduce fatigue and overcome depression and burnout. It can also help you reduce stress, lower your blood pressure, or sleep better at night, especially if you combine it with physical activities like gardening, hiking or walking.

Stay Organized

You’ll live a healthier life if you get organized. Getting organized will help you know the things you need to do so you can have ample time to take good care of yourself. You can keep a calendar or a planner and write down all your appointments and responsibilities so you make time for everything and not mix up or leave out things. You can also have particular spots in your house where you keep different stuff like backpacks, briefcases, coats, keys and purses. This will save you a lot of time and effort in looking for misplaced items. 

You should maintain a regular self-care routine if you want to live a healthy lifestyle. However, many people lack the will to do so.

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing and Change is always there for you to help you practice self-care so you can enjoy a healthier, longer and happier life. 

Our therapists are skilled and experienced in self-care. Schedule a free consultation with us today or call us on (703) 878-3290. You can also visit our offices at 12751 Marblestone Drive, Suite 200, Woodbridge, VA 22192 or at 10640 Page Avenue, Suite 230, Fairfax, VA 22030 if you’re in Virginia and need help with starting a workable self-care routine.

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Ways to Deal with Anxiety from COVID-19

Dealing with anxiety from COVID-19 may not be an easy task, especially when the pandemic has shattered the dreams of many people and changed their lives in a way.

However, a lot of things can still be done to help people who are feeling anxious and worried about COVID-19 to get back on their feet and live a normal life again.

6 Tips on How to Deal with Anxiety from COVID-19

Follow the six tips below to improve your mental health and well-being if you’re worried about COVID-19:

Stay Connected with Family and Friends

Maintain healthy relationships with family and friends and reconnect with old friends. You can do this by visiting them in person, connecting with them on social media or keeping a close contact with them through voice and video calls. Connecting with family and friends during the pandemic will help your mental well-being since everyone needs to feel connected at all times.

Unburden Your Heart

Tell people you trust about how you feel if you’re worried about COVID-19. Sharing your problems with others will also help to improve your mental well-being. Apart from that, it makes it easier for you to get help when it’s needed most.

Take Care of Yourself

To take good care of yourself, it’s important for you to eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water, do regular exercise, avoid drugs or tobacco and don’t overindulge in alcohol. Exercises don’t need to be strenuous. You can just take a walk, run or do simple workouts at home.

Do Things You Enjoy

Doing things you love will help you relax if you’re worried or anxious about COVID-19. You can try out new things if you don’t have any hobbies at the moment.

Get the Facts

Find credible sources of information about COVID-19 and stick to the facts. This is because there’s a lot of misinformation about coronavirus and these pieces of information can be overwhelming and conflicting sometimes.

Seek Help

If you feel anxious due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after a diagnosis or due to concerns about family members catching the virus, then it makes sense for you to look for help from mental health professionals.

 

COVID-19 has brought untold hardships to the world, killing people, destroying businesses and means of livelihoods, impacting global economies, affecting education and overwhelming the healthcare system.

But all hope is not lost. You can still salvage the situation.

How CCHC Can Help

The Center for Connection, Healing and Change is always there for you to help you get back to a normal life if you’re dealing with anxiety from COVID-19.

The Center for Connection, Healing and Change offers a deeper dive into your relationship with anxiety and how it plays out in your life, utilizing evidence-based therapy models and offering a tried-and-tested approach to treating anxiety.

Schedule a free consultation with us today, or visit our offices in Woodbridge or Fairfax if you’re in Virginia and need to be treated for your COVID-19 anxiety.

 

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How to Deal with Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is a feeling of discomfort or fear in a social situation where one may be judged or evaluated by others.

Social anxiety is sometimes called social phobia or social anxiety disorder.

If you begin to have anxiety in social situations more frequently that cause you distress and stop you from doing things you ought to do, then you might start looking at it as a disorder.

A social anxiety disorder causes anxiety, discomfort or panic in social situations. This makes people with it tend to avoid such situations or go into them with lots of distress.

5 Ways to Deal with Social Anxiety

If you’re currently living with a social anxiety disorder, follow these five simple steps to control it:

Control Your Breathing

When you’re anxious, you may begin to breathe very fast and shallowly. This can make you uncomfortable. 

However, you can slow your breathing and control your anxiety if you sit in a comfortable position, relax your shoulders, put one hand on your belly and place the other one on your chest, breathe in slowly through the nose and hold your breath briefly.

You can repeat the process several times until you feel relaxed.

Exercise

Physical activities like jogging can help control your anxiety. 

The same thing applies to progressive muscle relaxation, which involves flexing and releasing muscles in your body and focusing on the feeling of the release.

Apart from these two, yoga has also been found to be helpful, especially certain types involving deep breathing.

Get Prepared

Always be prepared for such situations that make you nervous when you’re in the midst of people instead of trying to avoid them.

If you want to go to a party or work function that causes you anxiety, engage in some relaxation or breathing exercises before leaving the house. This will help calm you down.

If it’s going for a first date, read newspapers and magazines for topic ideas to discuss when you meet.

Shift Your Focus

Pay attention to what is happening around you rather than what is going on in your head. 

Listen to conversations or constantly remind yourself that others won’t know you’re anxious by simply looking at you. 

Use Your Senses

Make use of your senses, including the senses of sight, sound, smell, touch and taste, as they can help calm you down in moments of anxiety.

To do this, you may listen to your favorite song, chew your most flavorful gum, snuggle with your best pet, look at your favorite photograph or smell your favorite scent.

Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder

While being nervous in social situations might seem a bit normal, a social anxiety disorder makes daily living a challenge. It makes you feel self-conscious and scared when you’re in the midst of people and lowers your self-esteem.

If you’re currently living with a social anxiety disorder, please don’t think that all hope is lost as the Center for Connection, Healing and Change is always there for you. 

The Center for Connection, Healing and Change offers a deeper dive into your relationship with anxiety and how it plays out in your life, utilizing evidence-based therapy models and offering a tried-and-tested approach to treating anxiety.

Schedule a free consultation with us today, or visit our offices in Woodbridge or Fairfax if you’re in Virginia and need to be treated for your social anxiety disorder.