Social anxiety disorder (or social phobia) is a persistent and overwhelming fear of social situations. It is a very common anxiety condition, with about 6% of the population (that’s about 3.8 million people in the UK)  having severe enough symptoms to be diagnosed with the disorder and this, of course, does not include the many many more people that suffer with “shyness”. Like other forms of anxiety, it exists on a continuous scale. For some people, their fear can be so intense as to make everyday activities such as shopping or speaking on the telephone impossible. While others may only be anxious about activities like going to a party or speaking to an authority figure. In whatever way you are affected by social anxiety, it can knock your confidence and self-esteem, impair your performance at work or school and interfere with your relationships. It is important for you to know that anxiety is highly treatable condition that tends to respond very well to hypno-psychotherapy, so there really is no need for you to suffer any longer.

Common signs of social anxiety are:

• having low self-esteem and feeling insecure about relationships
• fearing being criticised
• avoiding eye-to-eye contact
• not speaking or speaking very quietly
• talking excessively
• avoiding starting conversations
• choosing solitary hobbies or careers
• misusing drugs or alcohol to try to reduce anxiety
• dreading everyday activities, such as:
  • meeting strangers
  • talking in groups or starting conversations
  • speaking on the telephone
  • talking to authority figures
  • going to working
  • going to school
  • attending parties
  • using public toilets
  • eating or drinking in front of people
  • writing in front of people
  • shopping
  • being the centre of attention

If your anxiety is interfering with your daily life, like school, work, sleep or relationships, then it is really important for you to know that there are many well-established and highly-effective strategies to reduce and control anxiety. Hypno-psychotherapy can be a highly effective way to help you achieve a calm, balanced and enjoyable life. In helping you, I bring together almost twenty years of experience as a therapist with established techniques from stress management, hypnotherapy, NLP, positive psychology, meditative-, behavioural- and cognitive- therapies. Applied with compassion, sensitivity and skill, these represent a potent set of tools to help set you free.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to book an initial consultation, please get in touch and we can discuss how  I can help you.

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Mark Witter

Mark Witter MA DHP PhD

A highly qualified and experienced hypno-psychotherapist, creating a safe, compassionate and professional environment to confidentially support your healing and personal development.

Find out more about Mark