How can meditation possibly help with social anxiety? Meditation is something you would probably do sitting at home by yourself. And if you’re like most people with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) you’re probably pretty relaxed if you’re sitting at home by yourself. After all, you can’t meditate in the middle of a party, or speech, or date, and that’s where you really need help!
It turns out there’s a lot more to meditation than relaxing. In fact, if you have SAD, you’re probably stuck in some “brain loops” that are causing you to keep going down the same mental roads that all lead to the same place. Fortunately, the brain can get un-stuck from these loops and meditation can be just the rewiring it needs. In this post we’ll explain how meditation can help your brain rewire and improve your SAD.
How is the brain affected in Social Anxiety Disorder?
Our brains are not wired to stay quiet. If not occupied with a specific task, the brain will default to restless thoughts and chatter. Research says that the average person has between 6,000 and 60,000 thoughts a day, depending on how “thought” is defined (and maybe how much coffee they’ve had!). Surprisingly, about 95% of these thoughts are repetitive, meaning most of what you think today is the same as what you thought yesterday.
The big difference for people with SAD is that most of the repetitive thoughts are negative. By negative, we mean either worrying about something that will happen in the future or that has already happened in the past.
You know how it goes – you have a job interview coming up and it’s all you can worry about for weeks. Even when you are not thinking about the job interview, suddenly you get a knot in your stomach and a feeling of dread. This disrupts what you are doing and now you are completely off track. An hour later you finally get back to what you are doing – a big waste of time.
Or you made a comment to a co-worker weeks ago and you still worry about it.
Did I sound stupid? Are they offended? Could they tell I was nervous?
Why is meditation helpful in Social Anxiety Disorder?
Because the brain in Social Anxiety Disorder is preoccupied mostly with the past or the future, bringing the mind into the present is one way to retrain the brain. Meditation can help quiet the mental chatter and help you focus on the present. During meditation, you can gently notice that your mind has wandered off into the past or future. This wandering off is normal. The process of noticing it in a non-judgmental way will help you change your thought patterns. The idea is to become curious and open about your thoughts, instead of frustrated and resistant.
Remember – what you resist persists! Meditation helps you let go of the resistance.
Meditation is like a gym for your mind.
Just like going to the gym and lifting weights will make your muscles stronger, practicing meditation will make your mind “stronger”. Your brain has been stuck in negative repetitive loops. These loops create pathways – the path of least resistance. Just like water travels down the channels that are already there, the mind takes the path of least resistance. Meditation helps you carve out new pathways and make new connections. Strengthening these new pathways will help you shift toward new thought patterns and less critical ways to think of yourself. You are literally rewiring your brain when you practice meditation.
I struggled with social anxiety for years, but I am finally living a full and happy life. Meditation was a big part of what helped me, but not the only thing.
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