Many people have a social phobia to an extent because nobody wants to be singled out, put into the focus and perhaps be ridiculed but there are a lot of people today that really have a problem with that constant thought. This is known as social anxiety or social anxiety disorder.
This type of anxiety starts to manifest itself whenever the person is going into virtually any type of social environment. They become anxious, their heart beat rate starts to increase, palms get sweaty and they start having thoughts thinking that everyone is staring at them, they do not belong here, or even worse, that they will make some type of mistake or blunder that will cause the other people there to ridicule them in that public setting. For many people, such social anxiety is a major problem that they cannot get over, and it is much more than just simple stage fright.
This type of situation can come up in a wide variety of interactions may be be seen as a social interaction. This would include something as simple as stopping to ask someone for directions, or something more important like being interviewed for a job or giving a speech to an audience.
If you have or know someone who has this type of social anxiety you should encourage them to seek help to learn how to view their situation differently and be able to manage their social anxiety disorder and not let it control them.
