Social Anxiety Disorder - How to Overcome It Using Hypnosis
One way of overcoming social anxiety is through hypnosis. There are people that go to hypnotist to help them overcome various things in their life, but I don't recommend it. There is something about someone, who is a complete stranger, leading your mind while it is in the self-conscious state. In addition, no one knows you better than yourself, so it is really best for you to do it yourself.
Self-hypnosis, or meditation, is just seeing in your mind's eye how you want to act (or react) in certain social situations. For an example, if you have a fear of speaking in front of people, then you might want to imagine yourself acting very confident and being relaxed while you talk to a group of people. However, your mind has to be in a relaxed state so it can be willing to accept such imageries or "commands" from yourself.
In order to do meditation - do the following: Let us start by you sitting in a chair or lying down on your couch or bed. Now breathe deeply a few times and start to relax your muscles, starting from your forehead clear down to your toes. Keep breathing deeply. Once your body is very relaxed (this should take between five to ten minutes), it is now time to relax your mind.
Make sure you clear your mind of any negative thoughts. Yes, they will come in every now and then and that is because you are so used to thinking negative. Just let them go. How you can get away from thinking about such things is imagining yourself on a beautiful beach. Now feel the sand between your toes and the sea breeze blowing slightly onto your face. Feel the warmth of the sun on your back. Now look around and just look at wave after wave come in - crashing ever so lightly onto the white sandy beach.
Imagine yourself there for the next ten minutes. This should relax your mind and kick out most or all negative thoughts. Once that is done - then it is time for you to imagine yourself facing your anxiety or fear. For example purposes, we will use the fear of public speaking again. Now just imagine yourself in front of a group of people and you are very relaxed. You see yourself as being very confident and articulate when you speak. Notice the reaction of people listening to you. They look very interested and they are approving of your speech. Once you are done, you then see the crowd of people, give you a standing ovation, and many people reaching out to shake your hand. Tell yourself that people accept who you are and like you as well. Also, tell yourself that you love to give speeches and are very relaxed and confident when you stand in front of people and talk about certain subjects.
The last point you want to do is to "count yourself out of hypnosis". Tell yourself that on the count of three, you will wake up. One - Two - Three...now wake up and you are now feeling very relaxed.
This is what self-hypnosis is. It is just relaxing your mind and body and imagining yourself behaving within the social situation that you fear most. That is all there is to it. However, do this once a day for the next ninety days. You must be consistent and try not to miss the daily session. At the end of three months (or sooner), you should see an improvement.