Understanding the Root Causes of Social Anxiety

As humans, we have a natural desire for human connection and social interaction with others. In fact, without it, we risk harming our physical, emotional, and mental health.

With that said, socializing doesn’t come naturally or without some element of struggle for everyone. Social batteries can become drained. Certain situations can be triggering. Circumstances can make different engagements feel uncomfortable and overwhelming.

Social anxiety can manifest in several different ways. You may find yourself panicking in large crowds or when you attend functions or group gatherings. You may feel jitters or perspiration when giving a presentation in front of a group. Meeting new people and making small talk in those settings can feel stressful.

As with any other anxiety type, there isn’t just one cause for social anxiety. Here, we’ll discuss some of the more common root causes impacting social anxiety. 

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AnxietyPathways To Wellness
How to Cultivate Healthy Relationship Practices When You Don’t Get Much Time With Your Partner

Your day is booked from the moment you wake up until you’re ready for bed. Your partner’s schedule looks the same. By the time you have a minute, you’re exhausted, resulting in little time together.

At a point, you may find yourself just accepting that that’s how it will be. Unfortunately, this can take a toll on your relationship. Here’s how you cancultivate healthy practices with your partner when time is limited.

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CouplesPathways To Wellness
How Your Body Remembers Trauma

Trauma is never easy. In fact, it can be one of the more difficult things to recover from. There may be days when finding healing feels like an impossible venture. It can feel as if this trauma is ingrained in your being. The body has a unique way of remembering trauma.

Here, we will explore how and why your body remembers trauma. 

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TraumaPathways To Wellness
What is High-Functioning Depression?

Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions experienced by people across the globe. As common as it is, there are many aspects that people still don’t fully understand.

There are plenty of people who are actively living their lives and who look perfectly normal on the outside but are secretly struggling with depression. You can be highly successful and still struggle with high-functioning depression. 

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What’s the Link Between Childhood Trauma and Chronic Illness?

The makeup of who a person becomes stems all the way back to childhood. Your upbringing and the people around you influence your views, beliefs, attitudes, and responses.

Every choice you make adds another layer to who you are and who you’re going to be. Even decisions made by others or situations that happen to you contribute to that formation. 

When you live through a significant traumatic experience as a child, you may not assume there will be a long-term impact as you transition into adulthood. Often, traumas are associated with mental illness and disorders of the like, but what about physical illness? Here is a look at how trauma shares a link with chronic illness.

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What is Alcohol Addiction?

Addiction can be a tricky subject. For many addictions, the issue itself seems pretty black and white. However, when it comes to alcohol, there is often a lot of gray.

Social drinking is a common phenomenon that many people engage in. In fact, it’s often celebrated and encouraged in movies, television shows, and social media. Alcohol addiction doesn’t form overnight and typically starts with social drinking. Here’s a deeper look at what alcohol addiction is and the four main stages.

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What to Expect After EMDR?

EMDR can be a great tool for managing your mental health and the challenges you’re facing each day. With a quick internet search, you’ll find plenty of positive reviews attesting to the benefits and effectiveness of EMDR therapy.

Many people like the EMDR approach because it isn’t particularly invasive, it doesn’t focus solely on discussing matters from the past, and results occur rather quickly compared to other methods. 

For this reason, many people expect EMDR to work almost instantly and have limited side effects. If you’re considering exploring EMDR, it is important to know what to expect. Given that each person’s experience will be different, here are some commonly reported after-effects.

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How to Deal with Feelings of Loneliness and Isolation in Grief

Grief is a deeply personal and challenging experience that comes after the loss of a loved one. Amid the emotional waves of grief, loneliness and isolation can set in. Whether you’ve experienced the loss of a family member, friend, or beloved pet, the void left by their absence and the disconnection can feel overwhelming. This is what makes grief so hard.

However, there are resources and strategies available to help navigate the loneliness and isolation of grief, hopefully allowing you to find solace in the midst of sorrow.

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4 Strategies for Resolving Disagreements in a Healthy Way

Conflict and disagreement are a normal part of life. You’ll inevitably experience a disagreement with a coworker, argue with a friend, or not see eye-to-eye with your partner on an important matter. Conflict will even arise with strangers along the way. 

Often, conflict has a negative connotation because when it is unhealthy, it can lead to war, the loss of friends, or even divorce. While conflict is uncomfortable, it does not need to come with losing a relationship. There is a healthy way to resolve typical disagreements and have productive outcomes. Here are 4 ways to have constructive, healthy conflict. 

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4 Signs of Codependency

Codependency can develop in any relationship with peers, friends, family, and partners. It can be a difficult place to be because one essentially adapts one’s personality and behavior to fix a problem, meet a need, or fill a void rather than create a fair and equal relationship.

Codependency shifts the balance of power and creates an unsustainable dynamic. Here are some indicators that your relationship could be codependent.

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4 Common ADHD Myths

ADHD is something that many people believe they understand, but few on the outside fully realize what it entails. There is plenty of misinformation that gets circulated through word of mouth or on the internet about what ADHD is.

Untrue assumptions about the cause, diagnosis, or treatment can make receiving proper care difficult for those who face this challenge. Here are four common myths about ADHD and the facts of the matter.

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Pathways To Wellness
Can Anxiety Create False Memories?

Anxiety can make day-to-day functions a struggle for people who suffer from it. Social activities can be difficult, reading social signs or conforming to social norms is harder, and controlling your thought processes may feel impossible.

Memory is one thing that can be affected by anxiety. Recent studies have shown that people who demonstrate anxious behaviors are also more likely to falsify memories. How does anxiety correlate with false memories? 

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How Unmet Childhood Needs Affect Adult Relationships

Childhood is an important factor in shaping your development into an adult. This is especially true where relationships are concerned.

If you’ve experienced a rough childhood where you didn’t receive proper support or you oftentimes felt unsafe due to an unhealthy relationship with your parents, it’s very likely you’ve carried some of that with you into adulthood. 

Any unmet needs or unresolved issues can manifest throughout your relationships, creating negative and unwanted problems. Here’s a look at how your relationships can be affected. 

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Pathways To Wellness
5 Tips to Manage Anxiety Without Medication

Life’s everyday pressures and stress can make anyone prone to anxiety. If you experience symptoms or anxiety attacks, you’re not alone. As many as 40 million adults suffer from an anxiety disorder. 

If medication isn’t your first choice, there’s good news for you. Here are five effective ways to manage your anxiety without pills. 

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Pathways To Wellness
How to Feel Comfortable & Allow Yourself to be Intimate

Being comfortable with intimacy can be stressful or a source of friction in your relationship. When you’re uncomfortable, your connection and closeness with your partner can suffer. If you’re not in a relationship, engaging with another individual on that level can make it more difficult.

Knowing how to feel comfortable and confident as an intimate individual can be quite empowering. Here are suggestions for increasing that comfort level. 

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Pathways To Wellness
How Enmeshment Leads to Codependency

Where family is concerned, having close relationships and communication habits are extremely valuable. They’re your support system. They love you and are there for you during this journey of life. 

Unfortunately, sometimes, those bonds and connections are dysfunctional. If you become too intertwined with each other, it can raise a few red flags and lead to much larger issues.

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The Lingering Effects of Childhood Trauma

Most people will experience some type of trauma during their lifetime. When you think of childhood trauma, however, the idea just hits different. 

It might be a common misconception that when trauma happens that young, the child isn’t going to be severely affected by it due to their age and/or understanding. Unfortunately, childhood trauma comes with a cost and can have a ripple effect later in life if unaddressed. 

Depending on your experience, your effects can be more mild or more severe than others. Understanding how your trauma can affect you can help you regain control. 

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