Coronavirus: "Deconfinement has amplified my social phobia" - 20 Minutes

  • 2% of the French population is affected by social phobia, an aggravated shyness which becomes pathological. For these people, chatting, hitting on or walking down a crowded street is synonymous with extreme anxiety.
  • "They already suffer from social isolation and, during this period, their isolation increased, which worsened their depression," analyzes psychologist Vincent Trybou.
  • "As with sport, you will have to force yourself again, push yourself to regain your skills," says psychologist and psychoanalyst Laurie Hawkes.

Stay at home all day, no longer see your loved ones, be deprived of a bar and restaurant: a nightmare for some, a bubble of comfort for people with social anxiety. On March 17, when Emmanuel Macron announced that he had to stay at home, they finally saw their dream come true.

This generalized phobia, although little known, affects almost 2% of the French population. "It is an aggravated shyness which becomes pathological," explains psychologist Vincent Trybou, author of Understanding and treating social anxiety . “The person who has it will feel an extremely intense fear, with sweating and palpitations, as soon as he comes into contact with someone. Whether it's chatting, flirting, raising a hand in a restaurant or at a meeting, people with social anxiety feel like people are going to judge them and find them stupid. She will therefore avoid this type of situation and gradually close in on herself.

No longer feeling marginalized from society

“At the height of my phobia, I couldn't get out of my house anymore. I even had my groceries delivered. A ringing at my door caused me to palpitate and a simple date made me sick, "sums up Alice, a social phobia followed by a psychologist for almost a year. Marc, 34 years old and diagnosed for ten, adds: “Going out, even with friends or family, panics or even paralyzes me. "

"Seeing everyone locked up like me gave me a certain serenity"

Confinement allowed these people to finally be in their element. "I felt stronger than the others since the life of confinement is very similar to the life of someone with social phobia," says Alice. Maxime, 29, goes even further. “Seeing everyone locked up like me gave me a certain serenity. For a moment, I no longer felt on the margins of society. Steven, a former school phobic, also felt peaceful during this episode. “For my family, social phobia does not exist. When they called me during confinement, I was not afraid that they would ask me if I had left. They said to me "it's good to stay with you". This is the first time I have heard this in 25 years. It did me a lot of good. "

Increased isolation

But the picture quickly darkened. "The social anxious who were confined on their own were able to find the awesome situation at first but they quickly became disillusioned," explains Laurie Hawkes, clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and author of Fear of the Other: Overcoming social anxiety . “Even the social anxious are social animals. They also need to have exchanges. For psychologist Vincent Trybou, social phobics had "double punishment" with confinement. “They already suffer from social isolation and, during this period, their isolation increased, which worsened their depression. "

This vicious circle is well known to people with social anxiety. A third of them suffer from depression. Maxime, 29, explains: “Being at home 24 hours a day, alone, does not help not to ruminate, to be anxious, to be depressed, to reflect on the meaning of life, on myself and of course after confinement . Laure also felt the perverse effect of this forced isolation. The mother had been taken care of for years for her social phobia which she said was under control. But the health crisis was right for its progress. She must see a psychiatrist soon. "I think it will be necessary to reinstate an antidepressant to overcome this ordeal, when I had not felt the need for years. "

Exercises to work on the fear of shame

“Social phobics need to have friends. They suffer from social interaction but they also suffer from not being able to socialize with their friends as they would like, ”specifies Vincent Trybou. This is one of the reasons that pushes many social phobic people to consult a psychologist. Because this phobia is not insurmountable. With exercises of increasing intensity, anxiety can gradually decrease.

“We work on the fear of shame with exercises. The goal is to reduce avoidance by repeatedly and long-term exposure to situations to reduce the anxiety curve, ”explains Vincent Trybou. The exercises consist of practicing speaking in public, asking for directions on the street or asking for a better table at the restaurant. “They realize that shame is an emotion that subsides relatively quickly and that it is emotionally less intense than anxiety. In summary, the fear of shaming is more intense and longer than the shame itself. "For Laurie Hawkes," you have to go gradually and set goals step by step. And of course, you have to congratulate yourself every time you manage to reach them. "

A paradoxical disease that decreases with social interactions

Chloe had managed to walk this path. “Six months ago, I decided to take the bull by the horns by imposing exposure exercises on me compared to others every day. It had not been easy but I was holding on and I was starting to see some positive effects. A week before the start of confinement, she had successfully enrolled in a sports club. Cindy, 27, a social phobic for ten years, had finally found the courage to register face-to-face for her master's in psychology. But the containment swept everything in its path.

"Containment has wiped out all of my efforts over the past year"

"This" disease "is vicious. It decreases when you regularly confront others. Because of the confinement, the efforts of confrontation and interaction could have been ruined, ”laments Marc, suffering from social phobia for years. “This confinement made me feel like a dose of crack was given to an addict during his rehab. "

The impression of having taken ten steps back

The young man is not the only one to feel the effects of this relapse. Steven also saw very badly the return to normal. “Looking back, I realize that the confinement had an extremely negative effect on me. I have the impression that it has erased all the efforts that I have made over the past year. Since the bars reopened on May 11, I no longer dare to leave my apartment. Before confinement, the young man finally managed to take his dog out downtown in the middle of the day. He must now set his alarm clock at half past five in the morning to take it for a walk. “The confinement amplified my social phobia. I seem to have taken ten steps back. "

All the social phobic people who testified evoke this "turning back". This is the case of Narcisse who lives in Strasbourg with his daughters. The small battles she had won before confinement again turned into ordeal. “I haven't set foot in a single store, and seeing a neighbor in the building is a source of anxiety. I can't even take my daughters to the park. It will take time and a lot of work to get back to the level of three months ago. "

Maintain your social interaction muscles

But not everyone has the impression of starting from scratch. Cindy, the psychology student, feared that confinement would force her to start all over again. “Even if the road traveled for months has been acquired, it has been difficult since the deconfinement. I don't have to start from scratch but I have to learn to go out and talk to people again. "

"As with sport, we will have to force ourselves again"

For psychologist Vincent Trybou, if the person was followed and his phobia controlled, "good habits" should quickly return. “Those who took a sports break for two months felt rusty on May 11 because their bodies had regressed. But it only takes them three weeks to return to the pre-containment gains. It is the same for social phobics who were well followed. "

Laurie Hawkes continues the metaphor. “As with sport, we will have to force ourselves again, push ourselves to regain our pre-containment skills. The road ahead looks long, but Cindy doesn't want to give up. “I will win this war against this enemy invisible to others but very present every day for those who suffer it. "

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  • Health
  • Deconfinement
  • Covid 19
  • Confinement
  • Coronavirus
  • Society
  • 20 minutes video
  • Video