Social Phobia Treatment in NYC

Some people are deathly afraid of snakes, while others avoid high places at all costs. When your phobia involves a fear of people or common social activities, it disrupts your life to such a degree that you miss important life opportunities. Learn to enjoy life fully by tackling social phobias with the exceptional talk therapy techniques at Online Psychiatrists. Serving New Jersey, New York and Florida, your expert therapist designs a unique social phobia treatment plan to serve your needs. And now you can take advantage of modern telepsychiatry to achieve your social goals remotely. Call today for an appointment.

What Is Social Phobia?

A phobia is an intense fear of a specific object or situation. The condition may lead you to avoid those situations or objects altogether. Phobias are very common — about 50 percent of people in the United States experience a phobia in their lives. Whereas social anxiety disorder is a general fear of being judged by others, social phobias usually are more specific. If you have a social phobia, you may be afraid of:

• People seeing you eat
• Public speaking
• Just being in crowds

There are a variety of ways to approach social phobia treatment. The experienced best psychotherapist at Online Psychiatrists designs a treatment that works for you, either through in-person appointments or video conferencing. Results that lead to a more productive and fulfilling life are the only things that matter to Dr. Zlatin Ivanov, serves those who wish to overcome social phobia in New Jersey, Florida and New York.

For social phobia, one of the biggest issues is how much distress it causes you. Fear of public speaking, for example, is acceptable if you never have to speak in public. But if you end up changing your whole career or life to avoid the object of your phobia, then it becomes a serious problem, even if it doesn’t get an official diagnosis.

Read more: Top 10 List of Most Common Phobias

What Is Exposure Therapy and How Can It Help?

Exposure therapy may be one of the best social phobia therapies. It certainly gets right to the point. When your mental health practitioner uses exposure therapy, you:

• Create what’s called a “fearierarchy:” a list of the scenarios or experiences that feel the scariest to you
• Expose yourself to each scenario, one at a time, from least to most scary, either by imagining it in session or by going out and doing it

Relying on a knowledgeable psychiatric professional to guide you gently through the experiences allows you to navigate your experience and recognize when you’re safe. As you realize that you can handle these phobias, they become less scary, and you gain self-confidence.

How Else Does Social Phobia Treatment Work?

The goal of social phobia treatment is to put your fear in a bigger context. The phobia can become a huge deal in your mind, but to bring it back down to a manageable size, your doctor uses:

• Psychotherapy
• Exposure therapy
• Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which teaches you how to reframe your thinking and fears
• Psychoeducation, in which you learn about the causes and features of social phobias

For most phobias, medication isn’t normally recommended. With a condition like a social phobia, you experience a fair amount of anxiety. So in this case, you may be prescribed medications that are ordinarily used to treat depression or anxiety. Your psychotherapist decides if it’s appropriate, and if so, manages your medication appropriately.

Do I Need Medication?

For most phobias, medication isn’t normally recommended. With a condition like a social phobia, you experience a fair amount of anxiety. So in this case, you may be prescribed medications that are ordinarily used to treat depression or anxiety.

Your psychotherapist decides if it’s appropriate, and if so, manages your medication appropriately.For social phobias, medication is usually provided when it’s combined with an integrative therapy approach.

For example, benzodiazepines may be useful to give you the ability to face your phobia in exposure therapy. Over time, the dosage is decreased until you don’t need it anymore. Contact Online Psychiatrists, where your results are the main motivation behind your treatment options.