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Social Anxiety Disorder - A Solution
by Ann Purcell

EnlightenmentForEveryone.com    Translate This Article
14 March 2016

The next time you go to a party, one out of every ten people you talk to will be having a huge anxiety attack, be frightened to the core and trying hard desperately to function in that social setting. In fact, 15 million people suffer from social anxiety disorder—the third most common disorder after depression and alcoholism.

Causes of social anxiety disorder

The roots of social anxiety disorder could be genetic or biological, caused by abnormal functioning of the brain circuits that regulate emotion and the brain's ''fight or flight'' response. They might be environmentally conditioned—e.g., as with children who are overly sheltered at a young age—or psychological, as in a youngster who may have been embarrassed by her teacher in school or mocked by friends.

We've all felt some degree of nervousness in public, but usually not to the point where it has crippled our behavior. People who have social anxiety disorder depend on what others think of them to make them feel good. To become free of social anxiety, we have to be comfortable in our own skin. Being comfortable with who we are as a person is easy to say—but if severe stress or anxiety is present, that comfort is tough to achieve.

Our mind is like a computer—our thoughts manifest in our daily life, just as the instructions we give to the computer produce what appears on the screen. There is a verse in the Bhagavad Gita (6:6):

He who has conquered his self by his Self alone is himself his own friend; but the self of him who has not conquered his self will behave with enmity like a foe.

Treatments for Social Anxiety Disorder

Intense anxiety is enmity that we create in our mind as a response to stress. Drugs may help calm us down and temporarily relieve the anxiety, but they only mask the symptoms. Unfortunately widespread overdosing on anxiety drugs has become a major problem in society. They are not a long-term solution. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the most widely used therapy today, teaches people to react differently on an intellectual level to the situations that trigger their anxiety. Often a person will imagine the situation that causes their anxiety and then, in the safety of the therapist's office, work through their fears. However, the underlying stress is still there and can rear its ugly head unexpectedly, at any time.

How can we get rid of stress? The most scientifically validated way to do it is through regular practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique, which allows the mind to settle down to ever-quieter levels. Because the mind and body are intimately connected, as the mind settles, so does the body. The body slips into a profound state of rest that allows stress and anxiety to be released.

Veterans suffering from debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder have used Transcendental Meditation, with positive results. In about three months of practicing TM they have reduced their PTSD symptoms by 50 percent.

This shows that practicing Transcendental Meditation can get rid of both deep-rooted stress as well as day-to-day surface anxiety. . . . [article continues]

Read the full article on Ann Purcell's website: Transcendental Meditation and the Journey of Enlightenment

Copyright © 2016 Ann Purcell

See related articles:
Do nothing: The best advice I ever received
Transcendental Meditation: More than a stress buster - Huffington Post



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