Social phobes avoid any contact, especially with strangers, thereby limiting their social circle and depriving themselves of support. One of the ways to improve interaction with others is to start actively helping them.
Social phobia is more than just shyness. Individuals with this disorder may feel such fear and anxiety in situations of interaction with strangers that they begin to actively avoid all contact. Although this saves them from the possible humiliation they fear, at the same time they deprive themselves of the chance to receive support from others, including purely emotional support. They have few friends, and even if they managed to establish a good relationship with someone, emotional intimacy happens very rarely. A vicious circle arises: the more fear a person experiences in a social environment, the more he becomes immersed in himself and doubts his skills, which only exacerbates anxiety.
It is known that by helping others, we ourselves can feel better and begin to look at the world with greater optimism. Canadian researchers Jennifer Trew of Simon Fraser University and Lynn Alden of the University of British Columbia set out to find out whether performing altruistic acts can help those suffering from social phobia stop avoiding communication in standard situations of social interaction.1
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The study involved 115 students with pronounced manifestations of social phobia. They were randomly divided into three groups. The first group had to perform altruistic acts for four weeks – help a roommate wash the dishes, mow the lawn of acquaintances, make a donation to charity, etc. Students in the second group were required to force themselves to communicate in those situations that caused fear – this is a well-known technique for treating such disorders. Participants in the third group simply wrote down the events of the day in their diaries.
According to the results of the month-long experiment, students from the first group became less likely to avoid social situations. This effect was more pronounced than in other groups, and was especially pronounced at the initial stage. This result supports the hypothesis that manifestations of altruism help reduce fear of rejection and anxiety in social situations in general.
1 J. L. Trew, L. E. Alden «Kindness reduces avoidance goals in socially anxious individuals», Motivation and Emotion, June 2015.