For the last year, it seems that everytime we pick up the paper, there is more bad economic news. Let’s see, we’ve had a gas crisis, a housing crisis, a banking crisis, a stock market crisis, an unemployment crisis… what’s next?

If you suffer from general anxiety disorder, then all of this bad news may cause you to sleep poorly and have a hard time concentrating. If you are highly anxious, have a hard time sleeping and concentrating, and if you know that your financial angst is unfounded or irrational, then you could suffer from generalized anxiety disorder (”GAD”). You may want to seek help.

But remember this — it is perfectly normal to feel anxious in times like these. Anxiety is your body’s way of dealing with stress — your body is making sure you stay alert and are diligent in protecting your finances and job. Also understand that you are not alone. According to the American Psychological Association, three out of four adults are stressed about the economy and their personal finances.

If you are anxious about your finances with good reason, then you may want to deal with your anxiety by taking action. Here are a few resources that may be of assistance to you.

First, if you have a financial emergency and need cash but can’t wait until your next payday, you may be able to get a fast loan by applying for a faxless payday loan (however, please do use these loans with caution, or you may end up with more stress than you started with!).

If you need help managing your personal finances and keeping track of bills and account balances, consider using a (free) service such as the one offered by Mint.

If you have a disastrous credit score, consider learning about legal credit repair to raise your score so you can qualify for better rates and loans.

The economy will (eventually) get better. Make sure you take care of your mental health in the meantime.

Social Anxiety Disorder may be met with negative reactions from people who are not aware or have not experienced an anxiety related condition themselves.

Social Anxiety Disorder has been named one of the Top 10 “Yuppie” conditions. The disorder is categorized with similar conditions including: Chronic Fatigue, Tennis Elbow, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Gluten Allergy, Epstein-Barr virus (or EBV), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Restless Leg Syndrome, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and Fibromyalgia.

A Yuppie is short for Young Urban Professional, people who are middle class and financially secure and have reached financial gain with little effort. Like Chronic Fatigue, which was coined “The Yuppie Flu” when it first emerged, Social Anxiety Disorder is often perceived to be a made up condition for people who do not wish to face every day situations. Like many anxiety related disorders, Social Anxiety Disorder may not always be taken seriously because it cannot be physically diagnosed with a blood test or an X-ray. According to ABC.com News, doctors who diagnose these disorders can at times come under criticism as people believe they are making money off of the drugs they prescribe to their patients.

Many people with Social Anxiety Disorder have, in the past, been perceived as ‘shy’. However, being a shy person and being afraid to enter into social situations are two different issues. Shy people are afraid of social situations but avoiding a social situation altogether, to the point of rarely leaving the house, is more extreme.

Dealing with social anxiety and not being taken seriously can heighten anxiety, causing people struggling with the condition to further enter into their personal shells. Being ridiculed and criticized will not cure a social disorder and should be taken seriously. The concept of a “Yuppie” condition exists because people who have not suffered from the condition find it hard to comprehend suffering from anxiety themselves.

My wife and kids LOVE the holidays. I find them totally stressful. I enjoy lots of stuff around the holidays, but work parties and other social events really make me uncomfortable and anxious. I found a few tips to make it through the holiday season. Check ‘em out.

If you are like me, the holiday season is stressful. Yeah, I know, I’m supposed to enjoy the holidays. Food, family, fun…. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the holidays, but I get totally stressed out during the parties and other social events.

Harvard recently published some tips for dealing with social anxiety disorder during the holidays.

Here is a summary:

If you suffer from social anxiety disorder, try to avoid isolation during the holidays, suggests Harvard Women’s Health Watch. That only serves to reinforce social anxiety. If small religious or family events are the least threatening, stick with those. Be careful with alcohol-there are serious pitfalls in using it to ease your worries or boost your courage. Leave time for relaxation, eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and avoid caffeine. Finally, keep in mind that social anxiety is likely to get worse if left untreated.

Read more at http://www.health.harvard.edu/women (sorry — subscription required).

This article is the second in the Living with Social Anxiety series. This article focuses on what a person who suffers from social anxiety disorder experiences when shopping at a store … particularly large retail stores, malls or supermarkets.

Imagine going into a supermarket where there are lots of people. You start thinking to yourself that everyone is looking at you, then you question if there something with your clothing, looks, or your behavior. Very soon you start having muscle tension, your heart beats more rapidly, you begin sweating, and you may walk faster to get out of the anxiety provoking area.

You go down a store isle to check out items to buy, then someone speaks to you; you hesitate and stutter because you don’t know what to say because you think you might say something stupid or awkward. You may even decide to go down an entirely different isle all together just to avoid an isle full of people that you think are judging the way you look or behave.

People with social anxiety will avoid buying items that they feel may bring embarrassment if another person sees them holding the product. Social anxiety sufferers will tend to go to stores with less people, and if possible they will go to busy stores at later hours when there are less people. An anxiety might decide to buy an item such as alcohol, but he or she afraid of going into the direction of the product because may think another person that sees you will think that you’re a “bad person” or an alcoholic.

If this article describes you when you go into stores, then you may have social anxiety disorder. Social phobia is a treatable medical condition, and you start learning how to get treatment by checking out the articles located in our Articles section.

Getting treatment for anxiety does not mean it’s a quick fix solution, but it takes months to years to see improvements through traditional methods.  This article lists things you can do to reduce the amount of stress, depression, and anxiety that maybe plaguing your life.

Reducing Anxiety and Depression

• Meditate or pray.
• Avoid alochol, because this may lead to sleep problems or even trigger panic attacks.
• Stop smoking. The nicotine can cause panic attacks in some people.
• Stop having caffiene. Caffiene sources include coffee and soft drinks.
• Exercise burns up stress causing chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol, and this will help you to relax.
• Exercise also boosts serotonin, which is an feel-good endorphin, it’ll also help reduce sleep abnormalities, a factor in a stressed brain.  If your depression is linked to your appearance, then exercise will positively help boost self-esteem by reshaping the way you look at yourself.
• Create small, obtainable goals for yourself, then once you reach your goal, reward yourself.

Reducing Stress

• Learn and practice various relaxation techniques.
• Seek social support from friends.
• Manage your time more effectively; keep a daily planner.
• Exercise regularly.
• Get a proper amount of sleep.
• Eat regular, balanced meals.

This is the third installment of the Living with Social Anxiety Disorder series. This article will focus on the behavior of a person that has social phobia at work and what they personally go through.

Working as a cashier

You work as a cashier at a large retail store or supermarket. You start your day off, but as the day goes on it gets busier. Customers start accumulating in your checkout line, you begin feeling the pressure of waiting customers, then an anxiety attack slowly but surely starts. You may start thinking that the customers are getting impatient with you because they are not be checked out fast enough. You get nervous that you’ll make a mistake such as counting the money wrong, because of the pressure of waiting customers. As a result of the anxiety you may start sweating or become confused about things you would normally do without hesitation.

Characteristics

While working you appear to be “quiet” or even “weird” to other coworkers because do not actively engage in conversation with other coworkers. You usually work alone because are you not comfortable with other coworkers because you think they are making judgments about you or your work methods.

A person with social anxiety disorder usually has sporatic work history which takes the form of “bouncing” from job to job; they usually have trouble finding jobs to begin with. The social anxiety disorder sufferer may take a job where they can avoid social situations they fear, as a result they may underachieve by taking a job that is lower than their personal standards. Social phobia sufferers will avoid job positions where their performance is examined frequently or where there is a lot of interaction between people. Also a great number of anxiety sufferers are found within the Internet Technology work sector. The IT field affords the person with social phobia with the ability to work alone, usually, and earn more than someone with his/her limited social skills.

Promotions

People usually climb the corporate ladder through “networking”, but a person with social anxiety might find this extremely hard. Networking requires a person to contact friends to find opportunities, but a person with social anxiety finds it hard to make friends and will usually have few or no friends to begin with.

Meetings

The person with social anxiety will try to avoid meetings because this is where employees usually give ideas and opinions about a particular subject. A person with social anxiety might have suggestions, but he or she might be too afraid to voice those suggestions because he or she fears being criticized. The anxiety associated with meetings maybe amplified by factors such as the number of people present.

If this article describes someone you work with or yourself, then you or that person may have social anxiety disorder. The good thing is that it is a treatable medical condition.

This article is a continuation of the Living with Social Anxiety Disorder series where web visitors are given a small insight into the daily lives of social anxiety sufferers. This particular article focuses on the difficulties of going to school and keeping up academic performance.

Imagine dreading going to school, more so than others. You sit in the back of the classroom or find ways to “blend” , because you fear being called upon by the instructor to answer a question. You also avoid lunch and may even skip it, or other classmates see you as aloof or snotty because you don’t talk others. You have a question about class work, but you’re too afraid to ask for help because you fear that other students or your teacher will think you’re uneducated. If even one or all the situations describe the way you feel, then you probably have social anxiety disorder.

Some people with social anxiety disorder do very poorly academically and some may even drop out of school if the anxiety is too much to bear. Students with social phobia do not usually ask for help, in the classroom setting, out of fear of embarrassment. Most students will remain relatively unnoticed (won’t stand out) or invisible by others in the classroom.

Students with social anxiety will tend to stay away from school activities such as sports, choir, and band where their “performance” can be criticized. These same students are often seen by others as loners, snobby, or just uninterested in anyone or anything.

When it comes to classroom participation there be little or none on part of the student with social anxiety. In groups, the person with social phobia may not voice his or her opinion about something even if she or he wants to. Projects that require the student to do public speaking will probably not be done by the student. In high school academics, social anxiety suffers who don’t participate in class or ask for help might be overlooked by educators that think the student is uninterested with academics which will further make them overlooked.

We hope this article has given you some insight into the difficulties of people with social anxiety when they seek an education. If you’re one of millions that feels this way, then read more of the articles for information on getting help and treatment for social phobia.

Without doing research first, a person would probably deduce that shyness is the same as social anxiety disorder; the two are worlds away from each other. People with social anxiety want to have friends and lead normal lives, but they fear rejection or embarrassment in particular social situations.

This article will look at different social situations and give you an insight into what the socially anxious person feels in those situations. We will look at social anxiety in the classroom, dating, and eating in public.

Social Anxiety Disorder in the Classroom

We all know it is important to ask for help in a classroom setting if you have concerns, a question, or do not understand something. For a person with social anxiety disorder, the fear of “asking a stupid question” might be enough to keep them from asking at all. In some other cases, they might not ask a teacher for help because they fear that the educator will think they are “dumb” or “stupid.” In some cases this will lead to poor grades for the social anxiety sufferer.

Individuals with social anxiety disorder are often overlooked or “invisible” in the classroom. They will appear to be uninterested by teachers because they fail to ask for help when their grades continue to fall. Sometimes the fear that comes along with social anxiety is so great that many will choose to drop out of school.

Dating With Social Anxiety

Did you know social phobia sufferers are far less likely to get married or even date for that matter? Dating is one of the social interactions that people with social anxiety disorder fear. It is the fear of rejection that will keep people from dating. Statements such as “I won’t or don’t know what to say” or “He or She won’t like me” are common from those who suffer from this debilitating anxiety disorder. Men with social anxiety will tend to have worst end as far as dating goes because of social norms, because it is usually expected that a male will approach a female to initiate courting.
Eating and Writing in Public

Most people eat out at restaurants, but for the person with social anxiety it is a dreaded experience. A person with social phobia will fear that when they’re eating out that other people will think he or she is not following proper eating manners. If with social anxiety does choose to “eat out” they will endure it with extreme distress.

Lastly, we look at sufferers who fear writing in public. Signing forms or other documents in public is a trivial act to most people. For those with social anxiety, blushing, sweating, and trembling are all too common physical symptoms that occur when trying to write something in front of others. The person with social phobia will think the person in front of them or behind him or her is criticizing their penmanship. Sometimes the person who suffers from social anxiety will think the person watching him or her thinks the sufferer is taking too much time to write or sign something.

Social anxiety disorder can limit a person socially, financially, and academically. If you’re an anxiety sufferer and want to stop the cycle of fear, then check out our article on finding help for social anxiety.