Social anxiety is a mental health disorder that commonly occurs with addiction. If you are struggling with addiction and social anxiety together, it is important that you work with someone to address both during treatment. By working with a trusted addiction treatment facility, you can learn new coping skills to manage and heal from both addiction and social anxiety.
If you are a working professional, this is particularly important. Treating both issues will enhance your career success. There are multiple ways in which social anxiety treatment will help you succeed in your professional life. These include improving communication with co-workers, strengthening your networking skills, and enhancing your ability to be present and engaged with your work.
Addiction and Social Anxiety
Social anxiety disorder is a type of anxiety disorder in which you have a hard time managing social situations. However, social anxiety is more than simply being uncomfortable. If you struggle with a social anxiety disorder, you might experience a range of symptoms. However, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) explains that if you have a social anxiety disorder you are likely to experience the following symptoms when around people or performing in front of people:
- Rapid heart rate
- Blushing, sweating, or trembling
- Very rigid posture
- Feeling blank and not knowing what to say
- Self-consciousness or feeling like others are judging you harshly
- Feeling physically ill
- Difficulty making eye contact when presenting or in social situations
These symptoms make it hard for you to go about normal daily activities that often appear easy for others. As a result, it is common to reach for substances to help you dull or manage your symptoms. According to The Psychiatric Times, research has found that it is more common to find anxiety disorders and addiction together when compared to the prevalence of each disorder found alone. These findings show that addiction and social anxiety commonly co-occur. Fortunately, you can receive treatment for both, often called a dual-diagnosis treatment.
Getting Help for Social Anxiety and Addiction
Due to social anxiety and addiction occurring in a dual diagnosis, many treatment centers, including Pacific Sands Recovery Center, offer treatment that addresses both mental health and addiction. As with addiction treatment, treatment for social anxiety is a unique process. Your treatment will address your specific needs. However, your treatment plan is likely to include individual therapy, group therapy, and/or medication.
Improving Career Success Through Treatment
As a working professional, struggling with addiction and social anxiety can make it challenging for you to engage in your work and professional community. While the amount of socializing will vary in different professional roles, the majority of working professionals have some amount of social interaction. It may be presenting or simply communicating with others on a shared project.
Communication
As a working professional, you are expected to communicate with coworkers, your boss, and customers in certain professional roles. These interactions may be simple for some. However, if you struggle with social anxiety, it can be very stressful. As a result, you might avoid creating boundaries, asking for what you need, or networking. However, these all play important roles in professional success.
Setting boundaries and asking for what you need as a working professional can be very challenging when you are struggling with anxiety. However, learning to set effective boundaries with your co-workers and boss will help you be more successful in your professional life. When you are clear about what you are willing and wanting to take on, plus the time and resources you need, you are more likely to be successful at work. Additionally, clear communication can help you to get a raise, have a more ideal schedule, and create attainable expectations. All of these elements can help you to thrive in your career.
It is often said that people get jobs and promotions due to who they know. While this is not always the case, networking can be an important part of getting a raise, a promotion, or a project assigned to you. Networking, however, is often very stressful if you have social anxiety. Through dual diagnosis treatment, you can learn tools that help you to network in a way that is comfortable for you. Treatment can also help you to learn tools to manage stress and anxiety in different situations, which will help you attend networking events while caring for your mental health needs.
Being Present at Work
As a working professional, it is common to have a looming deadline or a set amount of work you need to complete that week. This requires being present and focused. However, with social anxiety, this is commonly challenging. This is due to feeling nervous, increased heart rate, and decreased focus. Completing tasks on time takes focus and presence; sometimes those things may elude you.
Through treatment, you can learn to manage your anxiety. By working with a mental health care professional using therapy and medication, your symptoms will decrease. This will help you to feel better day to day. However, treatment will also help you to focus and complete your work in a timely and accurate way. This in turn will help you to be more successful in your professional life.
In addiction therapy, the underlying issues of addiction are addressed. A common cause of drug or alcohol use is social anxiety. Addressing social anxiety can have a significant impact on working professionals, helping them to be more successful in networking and overall communication in their work. At Pacific Sands Recovery Center, we help working professionals heal from addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders. Our treatment programs are designed for working professionals and can help you to build tools that will improve your professional success. While the step of getting treatment can feel daunting, we make it easy for you as a working professional to get the help you need. To learn more, call (949) 426-7962 today.
