Self confidence is a psychological and emotional state of mind that responds to an individual’s need for recognition and self-acceptance. It’s one of the oldest and most studied concepts in psychology. It describes a positive but also realistic perception somebody has of himself or herself and of his or her abilities. Thus, people with self confidence usually have a better idea of what they are able to achieve and will be more likely to be successful in what they attempt. They are able to more easily admit and learn from their failures.

On the contrary, a lack of confidence may deter you from believing your actions or decisions will later work out the way you had planned. It can hence prevent the improvement of executive skills, strategic and management capacities all of which are necessary and mandatory things in today’s business world. The pre-occupation with how others will judge your work can also make you become excessively self-critical, which can distract you from tasks you would have otherwise been perfectly able to do.

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I have been diagnosed with severe social phobia and social anxiety. I have been off medication and therapy for about three months now, but it started getting worse right after it started getting better. Now I can’t physically, emotionally, or mentally hold a full-time job, which is the amount of money I need to keep my apartment. Is there anything out there that will help me find a full-time job I can handle or at least get me some kind of disability money so that I could work part-time until I am able to work full-time?

Put another way, social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. If a person usually becomes anxious in social situations, but seems fine when they are alone, then “social anxiety” may be the problem.
Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) is a much more common problem than past estimates have led us to believe. Millions of people all over the world suffer from this devastating and traumatic problem every day of their lives, either from a specific social phobia or from a more generalized social phobia. In the United States, epidemiological studies have recently pegged social anxiety disorder as the third largest psychological disorder in the country.

A specific social phobia would be the fear of speaking in front of groups, whereas generalized social anxiety indicates that the person is anxious, nervous, and uncomfortable in almost all (or the majority of) social situations.

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Social phobia can develop for a variety of reasons. The disorder starts in childhood or young adulthood and may grow by slow degrees as time passes. While this phobia often presents itself at a young age, it can stay with a person for years or decades and can snowball into an even greater problem.

Some of the reasons that the phobia occurs include:

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I have been searching for this for a long time now and haven’t had any luck. Even information on a therapist with special training in social phobia/social anxiety would help a lot.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Exposure therapy as treatment for Social Phobia is exactly what it sounds like, exposing your mind and body to that which you fear. By gradually exposing and training your mind that the feared event is not as horrible as you think it is, you are working to desensitize yourself to the stimulus. 

A). During exposure therapy, you expose yourself to small doses of the feared event and increase the duration of exposure over time. If you are afraid of talking in groups, start by imagining yourself in front of groups, then speak in front of a couple of family members or close friends, then a couple of acquaintances and build up to a room full of strangers. 

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Building your self esteem and confidence will help you achieve greater success when engaging in cognitive behavior techniques. You can begin to tackle the fears that are at the root of your social phobia through imagery desensitization and Positive-Thought-Redirection. 

It´s probably asking too much to just jump head first into confronting the situation you most fear. It makes more sense to approach conquering your fears in a step by step process.

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I’m sure you’ve heard the news already: it’s all over the blogosphere since BCC Health first broke the news. Yeah, this is about that nasal spray you sniff – and your social phobia is gone!

If you haven’t heard about this “latest and greatest” social anxiety cure yet, let me regurgitate the news in brief. It all started when scientists from Zurich University found that people who inhaled the hormone called oxytocin continued to trust strangers even after they were cheated on. That discovery, they say, could lead to future treatments for social phobia.  It didn’t take long for a long-sales-letter type websites to appear selling the new wonder drug:

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Do you find overcoming shyness and social phobia a difficult task? Have you ever been stuck speechless in certain situations? Do you often find yourself acting fidgety and all the while being the complete wallflower? It is normal to be shy sometimes, especially when you’re faced with a situation you’re not familiar with; but it can be discouraging if it interferes with your normal life. The great news is, YES, you have the capacity to overcome shyness and social phobia.

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Looking for most popular book that works that provides step-by-step lessons. Also, if you overcomed social phobia, please provide some insights.