The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

 By: Brian Murray, LMHC, NCC Social Anxiety Disorder is a diagnosable mental health condition where the person suffering from it has a strong fear of other people and social interactions. Those with the disorder during social interactions, such as those at work, home and among friends, can be severe enough to cause job performance loss, avoidance of gatherings and isolation. Even doing simple everyday tasks such as going to the grocery store can create a strong anxiety or panic reaction. The underlying fear of social anxiety is the perception of scrutiny by others. This same behavior is also seen in those with low self-esteem often remaining silent in social situations. Low self-esteem is a major contributor to social anxiety disorder. Internal psychological pressure occurs when they feel like they are being observed by others. They literally fear what others might possibly be thinking about them in a negative manner. This can happen when eating, speaking in front of others, ...

  By: Brian M Murray, MS, IMH Social phobia is a very common anxiety disorder. One of the most common forms of social phobia which many people can identify with is stage fright. Social phobia is not to be confused with antisocial behavior or antisocial personality disorder which is identified as a pervasive pattern of disregard and violation of the rights of others. Social phobia has to do with fear and worry of people and events that involve other people. People with social phobia worry about being viewed in a negative way or scrutinized by others in social situations in where they are unfamiliar with the other people. While fear of public speaking is the most common form of this condition there are other areas that you may not be aware of such as being afraid to go into public bathrooms, eating and drinking alone or even doing everyday tasks such as going to the grocery store. Often this person will walk into a room and keep their back to the wall or stay close to an...

Don’t Let Pressure Squeeze You Out” By Aaron Welch, LMHC, NCC, CSOTS Anxiety comes in many forms…especially in the school system. It lurks around as social phobias, it is ready to pounce in the form of test anxiety, it ambushes us in our fear that we won’t perform like we should. In this day and age, anxiety has become a harbinger of negativity to our kids, from the beginning days of elementary school all the way up to high school and beyond. Students who are charming, intelligent, funny, and totally competent somehow believe that they are ugly, boring, stupid, and incapable. Why? Why would a student who obviously has the ability to do well NOT do well? We can eliminate intellectual ability with most of the students I work with. I find that the students who struggle most with anxiety are kids whose IQ’s are above-average and even up to genius level. If it’s not intellectual functioning, what is it? More often than not, anxiety turns out to be a combination of the ...