S.A.D.

Social Anxiety can be overcome but the treatment varies depending on the person. It depends on the severity of your symptoms. Therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy or getting support from family and/or friends are the treatments for social anxiety depending with the person suffering from it. But according to this website, cognitive behavioral therapy has shown to be the effective treatment for this disorder.  

I came across this website where it talked about social anxiety disorder including the people who suffer from it. Socially anxious people think that their thoughts and fears are irrational. They also know that people are not judging or criticizing them. They are aware that people don't try to humiliate them but irrational thoughts and fears kicks in. They still feel judged and criticized even if they are not so they continue to feel the same way. According to this website, "It is believed that SAD is the result of a combination of factors, both genetic and environmental."

For my original research, I interviewed a close friend of mine through email whom I know suffered from social anxiety disorder. Click this link to see the conversation.

Interviewing a friend of mine who have suffered from this disorder helped me a lot by informing me so much about what social anxiety is like in your life. This original research proved me that the information I have found on the internet were reliable. Knowing somebody else's experience with social anxiety tells you what social anxiety is really like and helps you learn from the issue coming from the person who has experienced it. Reading my friend's responses devastates me because I feel like social anxiety took over her life and it did not let her see the outside world because she was trapped in her own fears. Social anxiety also separated her from her close friends whom she wanted to spend time with.

My friend who has suffered from social anxiety went through an intense therapy for 4-5 months. The therapy, I believe went successful and now she is no longer suffering from social anxiety.

As an agent of change for this issue, Jae Regino and I are actually collaborating in the last part of this project. We are both planning on making a website instead of doing a fundraising because we both want to make a change by actually being there for the change. We also get to communicate to the people who will join the community in this website. This website is going to be the place for people who suffer from social anxiety to get to know and talk to other people in the same path as them. We both want to make a change and help other people who are going through this devastating situation. Helping other people gain their confidence would be great!