I have social anxiety how do other people deal with this problem ?

I have a social phobia that has gotten worse recently and not better. I used to very out going, I use to enjoy meeting new people and now I hate it. If I'm interacting with people related to my work, asking someone for directions, ect. . . no problem. But if it's a social situation I feel completely uncomfortable the whole time and can't wait to leave. This isn't how I used to be at all. I've been in therapy for other reasons and we have discussed this alot actually and I've taken medication. Nothing is really helping at the moment. My wife wanted to invite some people over to the house for dinner today I thought I was going to panic. I had to tell her no. What do other people do to help themselves?I have social anxiety how do other people deal with this problem ?
Maybe you need to identify what is bothering you when a social interaction occurs. What are you insecure about when a group of people approaches you? Are you maybe afraid of what they might say to you? Are you maybe avoiding the crowd because you're afraid of what they think of you? Considering you had therapy, you may have went over alot of things that we can offer you here. But nonetheless, identifying these can bring one step closer to getting over your social phobia. Only you would be able to know how it scares you.



edit: here's what I found:



Overcoming Social Phobia

Dealing with social phobia takes patience, courage to face fears and try new things, and the willingness to practice. It takes a commitment to go forward rather than back away when feeling shy.



Little by little, someone who decides to deal with extreme shyness can learn to be more comfortable. Each small step forward helps build enough confidence to take the next small step. As shyness and fears begin to melt, confidence and positive feelings build. Pretty soon, the person is thinking less about what might feel uncomfortable and more about what might be fun.



http://kunthy.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/s鈥?/a>I have social anxiety how do other people deal with this problem ?
Well, one of my family members has the same problem and what she does a lot is role playing, or practicing for the upcoming social events. For some people it helps them feel more prepared for the event and acting it out first might help.



Good luck! :)
Whether you spas out or not you need to expose yourself to other groups of people. It's an essential part of life. The less you do it the worse you are going to get. Do the best you can. If you get stuck and don't know what to do follow what your wife does.
Has anything happened at a previous social gathering that might have affected you? Or has there been some event in your personal life? There must be some sort of trigger for this. I used to suffer badly from real panic attacks. An elderly lady I knew said that I should just think that I was no more or less interesting than anyone else in the room, and weirdly it seemed to help!