Fear of communicating with people.

Features of fear of communicating with people.
Communication is life. No matter where a person is, no matter what state he is in, he tends to communicate with family, friends, colleagues, and even strangers. But some people experience psychological discomfort from any contact with others. This is how the fear of communicating with people manifests itself.
Social phobia — fear of communicating with people.
In psychology, the fear of communication is called social phobia. It has a large number of varieties, knowledge of which will help to overcome the signs of phobia.
Why people are afraid to communicate with others.
Social phobia is the fear of communicative influence. The contact itself, which causes the patient to feel panic and anxiety, can have a different character. Some patients find it difficult to talk to unfamiliar people, others-to get acquainted with girls (guys). Some people completely avoid any contact with relatives, friends and colleagues. They are afraid of everyone around them, they close themselves in and become prisoners of their own home, which they consider the safest place.
Depending on the type of social phobia, the fear of communication can have different causes. According to psychologists, the most common causes of social phobia lie in childhood experiences and resentments. Self-doubt and shyness are direct signs that indicate the presence of a phobia. Fear can arise from the desire to communicate with peers who do not want to let a new person into their social circle. And the reason may also be excessive criticism from parents.
The appearance of the problem in adult life is also possible. More often, such a phobia is exposed to individuals who have experienced certain traumatic events or those people who, due to some circumstances, are forced to communicate little with others. Both women and men can become hostages of social phobia. Signs of fear are found in young mothers who are on maternity leave, housewives, pensioners, etc. Patients experience a lack of communicative interaction, which is why the fear of communication develops.

Varieties of fear.
An obsessive desire not to communicate with others is the first sign that a person suffers from social phobia. But the very contact with people that a person is so afraid of can be different. The fear of communication can have the following varieties:
Fear of contact with strangers. Such people can talk for hours with their loved ones, friends and colleagues, but feel insecure and uncomfortable when talking to strangers. Fear of contact with the opposite sex. Such a phobia is based on a complex personality. Boys and girls are shy to meet and communicate with representatives of the opposite sex, more often because of the failures experienced on the “love front”. Fear of communication with peers. Such a fear is rarely found with a sociable child or teenager. Patients are often shy, which is why they can become outcasts in the team. Fear of speaking out. Public speaking is the most common type of phobia. Such a problem can arise in school due to failures of performance at the blackboard, at concerts, etc. Fear of telephone conversations. Not having eye contact with people, but hearing their voice, some individuals experience an obsessive sense of anxiety.
Phobia can also be expressed by the fear of communicating with high-ranking people in society. Those people who have a certain authority in a social group become the main psychological enemy of a person. This phobia is one of the most common.
Fear of speech is the most common form of social phobia.

Signs of social phobia.
Fear of communication is expressed by a variety of symptoms of a physical, psychological and behavioral nature. Depending on the strength of the fear, a person may experience a feeling of anxiety or suffer from a panic attack. In addition, such phobia symptoms are also common:
increased heart rate; feeling of a lump in the throat; problems with speech (trembling in the voice, stuttering, etc.); muscle tension; increased sweating; dizziness and headache.
And also often the patient experiences problems with the gastrointestinal tract. He may experience nausea or cramps in the intestines.
Depending on the degree of fear, the patient may experience either one or several symptoms at the same time. The more pronounced the signs, the more difficult it is for the individual to contact people.

In adults.
The manifestation of social phobia in adult life can have a different character. Often, the patient avoids unwanted contacts with friends, relatives, colleagues or strangers. When faced with people, the patient experiences fear, which determines the appearance of physical, behavioral and psychological symptoms.
The individual may be afraid to leave the conversation, finding a safe place at home, at the workplace, etc. But if it is not possible to escape from fear, as well as to overcome it, the patient is consumed by a feeling of panic. Because of the beginning of the conversation with the opponent, his consciousness becomes clouded. The patient can not think rationally and properly conduct a dialogue. Such events can cause the interlocutor to misunderstand.

In children.
Fear of communication in children is an even more common problem. The fact is that the wrong upbringing of a child can cause problems in adolescence, during puberty. The changing appearance of young men and women themselves create complexes that are very difficult to overcome independently in the future.
But, most often, social phobia begins at school, when a child enters a new social group that is unfamiliar to him. Problems with psychological adaptation occur in more than 50% of all students, but only a few seek help from a psychologist. The result of inaction of the child, his parents and teachers may be:
unwillingness of the student to go to school; lack of desire to communicate with peers; fear of contact with the teacher; refusal to speak publicly (at the blackboard).
This phobia is born out of a fear of strangers, communication with them, and a certain creation of a new social role.
Problems in communicating with peers, answers at the blackboard, conversations with the teacher, etc., are a reaction to the poor adaptation of the student, his fear of doing something for which he will later regret, having experienced a sense of shame.
A student may be afraid of a change in his social role or a decline in his authority among classmates.
Fear of the teacher and unwillingness to go to school are the consequences of an untreated disorder.

Treatment of fear of communicating with people.
Getting rid of the obsessive fear of communicating with others is important, because such a problem prevents the patient from living normally. It is impossible to exist in fear all the time. Therefore, it is important to understand how to overcome the fear of communicating with people. Psychologists advise:
During the conversation, you should focus not on the interlocutor and the fear of him, but on the dialogue itself. Learn to listen to your interlocutor, avoiding your own eloquence. Besides, you don’t have to do anything. A grateful listener is the value of modern society. Practice your own communication skills daily with strangers. A simple question from a saleswoman in a store, a person standing in line, etc. is enough to learn how to look into the eyes when talking. Stop taking any statements of others to heart. All fears are formed in the mental activity of the patient.
You can also make your first attempts over the phone or over the Internet. You can get rid of fear by correspondence. But the voice conversation itself should be the next step on the way to overcoming the phobia.

Conclusion.
Not all people are sociable. Some people are afraid of the other person. It is important to learn how to get rid of the signs of such a problem, to control yourself in order to feel all the delights of life in society.
How to overcome the fear of communication? There is only one way out – you need to rationalize your thoughts and gradually work out the skills of live communication.
With such methods, there should be no problems, because we live in the era of Internet technologies that can be used for the benefit of our mental health.