Have you heard about the "look up and around" technique? Well, this approach has helped quite a lot of my patients with social anxiety or agoraphobia break free.
If you are troubled by social phobia or agoraphobia, then the following characteristics will be well known to you.
A feeling of Intense self-focus
Never-ending sensation that folks are staring at you.
Amplified sense of worry.
Fear that people may take advantage of you or abuse you because they can see a clear weakness in you.
A feeling of shame that makes you to look away or look down quite often.
If you feel any of the above is recognizable to you, then you will benefit from using this technique.
So what's the technique?
The strategy is simply to look up and around. Evaluate any person you come across, and observe what is really happening.
Now before you decide to quit on me and think this Idea is ineffective to you, permit me to encourage you to give the strategy a try out for at least 7 days.
Please don't make the mistake of assuming that the simplicity of this exercise indicates that it won't be of any use.
Think about this question. What is a reason why certain people look away in such circumstances?
Quite often, it may be because somehow, they think that there's a legitimate reason to feel embarrassed about. It's possibly because they feel ugly, fat, peculiar or too tall. Because of this, they tend to assume that the only reason people will look at them is really because people assume that they are peculiarly awful or that folks may make fun of them and probably point fingers.
Looking around and viewing exactly what is really transpiring around us regularly will assist us to challenge this belief in several ways.
Firstly, Looking up and around aids us to discover that almost ninety nine percent of people do not even take notice of us at all because they are absorbed by their own problems and undertakings. Failing to look up and about frequently makes us conclude that the 1% is equal to 100% of the people we meet.
Secondly, the same act of looking away happens to make anxieties worse. Try this out:
Ask someone else to assist you out with this (It works better if the colleague is someone you are not too close to)
Compile a collection of expressions, which include the things you believe people criticize you negatively on, afterwards get your supporter to pretend and read the sentences in a disdainful fashion twice (e.g. What an hideous looking girl). At the first read look away with your back facing your friend, whilst he/ she reads then at the next read turn back and face the friend.
You will notice that whilst your mate reads your list at you, looking away made you feel so much worse even if ever so slightly. This is so although you gave the colleague the sentence to read back to you. (I usually find that the effect of this experiment is clearer the higher the sense of shame is).
Now how can you take advantage of the ideas offered in this text?
From my experience, I have realized that it is always better to have someone walk around with you initially. My suggestion is that you stay clear of family simply because they will be more likely to find it difficult to be objective. It will also help if you are able to wear a pair of shades to stop people from seeing that you are looking at them.
Have a note pad and a pen along. Prior to leaving make a speculation of how many individuals you feel will look at you. Then go and walk around a somewhat crowded street or shopping complex.
Now, mark a tick for people you see staring rudely at you and a cross for people who do not look at you.
Your findings will more than likely surprise you.
If you are troubled by social phobia or agoraphobia, then the following characteristics will be well known to you.
A feeling of Intense self-focus
Never-ending sensation that folks are staring at you.
Amplified sense of worry.
Fear that people may take advantage of you or abuse you because they can see a clear weakness in you.
A feeling of shame that makes you to look away or look down quite often.
If you feel any of the above is recognizable to you, then you will benefit from using this technique.
So what's the technique?
The strategy is simply to look up and around. Evaluate any person you come across, and observe what is really happening.
Now before you decide to quit on me and think this Idea is ineffective to you, permit me to encourage you to give the strategy a try out for at least 7 days.
Please don't make the mistake of assuming that the simplicity of this exercise indicates that it won't be of any use.
Think about this question. What is a reason why certain people look away in such circumstances?
Quite often, it may be because somehow, they think that there's a legitimate reason to feel embarrassed about. It's possibly because they feel ugly, fat, peculiar or too tall. Because of this, they tend to assume that the only reason people will look at them is really because people assume that they are peculiarly awful or that folks may make fun of them and probably point fingers.
Looking around and viewing exactly what is really transpiring around us regularly will assist us to challenge this belief in several ways.
Firstly, Looking up and around aids us to discover that almost ninety nine percent of people do not even take notice of us at all because they are absorbed by their own problems and undertakings. Failing to look up and about frequently makes us conclude that the 1% is equal to 100% of the people we meet.
Secondly, the same act of looking away happens to make anxieties worse. Try this out:
Ask someone else to assist you out with this (It works better if the colleague is someone you are not too close to)
Compile a collection of expressions, which include the things you believe people criticize you negatively on, afterwards get your supporter to pretend and read the sentences in a disdainful fashion twice (e.g. What an hideous looking girl). At the first read look away with your back facing your friend, whilst he/ she reads then at the next read turn back and face the friend.
You will notice that whilst your mate reads your list at you, looking away made you feel so much worse even if ever so slightly. This is so although you gave the colleague the sentence to read back to you. (I usually find that the effect of this experiment is clearer the higher the sense of shame is).
Now how can you take advantage of the ideas offered in this text?
From my experience, I have realized that it is always better to have someone walk around with you initially. My suggestion is that you stay clear of family simply because they will be more likely to find it difficult to be objective. It will also help if you are able to wear a pair of shades to stop people from seeing that you are looking at them.
Have a note pad and a pen along. Prior to leaving make a speculation of how many individuals you feel will look at you. Then go and walk around a somewhat crowded street or shopping complex.
Now, mark a tick for people you see staring rudely at you and a cross for people who do not look at you.
Your findings will more than likely surprise you.
About the Author:
Are you looking for treatment for severe anxiety? This article teaches strategies on how to manage your symptoms of anxiety.
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