Vitality News Health Articles

Many people feel some discomfort or experience minor anxieties when entering a new situation or a group of people who are unfamiliar to them. However, for approximately 10 percent of the population, social anxiety can be so severe as to be disabling. Researchers now believe that an even larger group of people probably suffer from milder forms of social anxieties that can result in significant issues in everyday interactions.

The term for this type of anxiety is social phobia. It most often takes place when a person experiences fears and worries that often are caused by being in a social situation. One with a social phobia may also have trouble with forcing themselves to stop thinking excessively about how others are judging or evaluating them.

For those with social phobia, anxious feelings can occur in all sorts of different kinds of situations, such as going shopping, parties, public speaking, being in front of a group of people, or being interviewed. These types of social anxieties can also manifest in the body; for many people with social anxieties, sweating, flushing, trembling, or intestinal issues can occur when facing these kinds of stress provoking situations.

Leading experts now argue that social phobia consists of issues with self-confidence. Self-confidence is the ability to believe that we are able to make good decisions, be independent, and have power over our lives. Those who lack self-confidence — an all-too common issue in today’s modern world — may worry excessively about how they are perceived by others, which may eventually lead to not wanting to participate in social activities or of having a sense of feeling ‘out of control’.

Fortunately, though, there are some basic actions someone who suffer from self-confidence issues can undertake in order to get back this sense of control. One course of action a person with self-confidence issues can undertake is to make use of an anxiety and phobia workbook. You can consider the anxiety and phobia workbook as simply a method to get insight into the issues you are having trouble with by keeping a record of triggers and mood symptoms; there are also activities to do that will help you build more introspection about your self-confidence issues.

When you have come to the point at which you have started to have insight about your issues with self-confidence, and have made the decision that now is the time to begin developing self-confidence, then it might be a good idea to think about a type of treatment that has been demonstrated to be very successful in social phobia. Just like the anxiety and phobia workbook, this specific kind of therapy is defined by having a focus on aiding you to become pro-active and gain power over your life. In sum, you will be curing your own problems.

This form of therapy, called hypnotherapy, functions by harnessing the hidden powers of your unconscious to help you become more confident, self-assured, calm, and comfortable with yourself. You may have a hard time believing that we are all born with these capabilities, but due to difficult life events, learned disempowerment, and troubled social interactions, it is often the case that we lose track of our native abilities to seize these powers. Hypnotherapy has been clinically proven to be useful for people who have self-confidence and anxiety issues.

Many people with self-confidence and other anxiety-related issues often seek a quick fix solution, such as pharmaceuticals, herbal products, and short-term therapy. While these strategies can assist some individuals, they don’t actually attack the root of our self-confidence issues - our unconscious. If you want to deal with self-confidence issues, you must be in charge of your own cure.

If you decide to check out hypnosis therapy to help you build self-confidence, you will begin a course of sessions with a hypnotherapist who will help you to enter a deep state of calmness. Within this place of relaxation, your unconscious is open and ready to be reached by hypnotic suggestion. Your hypnotherapist will then work with you while in this open state by using repeated suggestion to help you to realize that you are a confident, strong, and independent person.

Other valuable options for those who are troubled with problems with self-confidence are to participate in hypnosis through video or audio CDs or tapes, which can be viewed or listened to in the comfortable space of your own house. Many people also find out that learning self hypnosis, a special relaxation method in which it is possible for you to open yourself up to your deepest wants and needs, with just minimal guidance, is very helpful. Whatever type of anxiety hypnosis you select, you will be sure that you are undertaking an important step in creating your own healing and recovery.

Alan B. Densky, CH has developed many hypnosis methods for overcomming shyness and social phobia. His website offers a comprehensive self-hypnosis article library dedicated to every aspect of NLP and hypnosis. Visit for Free hypnosis videos, downloads, and newsletters.

- Alan B. Densky, CH