Whether it’s the fear of speaking up in meetings, concerns about how others perceive you, or avoiding important interactions, social anxiety can hold you back from reaching your full potential at work. If you're struggling with workplace social anxiety, you probably already know that... but did you know that trauma can play a role in how these fears develop? In this article, we'll explore how social anxiety impacts work life and how EMDR therapy can help.
Social Anxiety at Work
In this section, we'll explore workplace social anxiety. If you're specifically interested in how EMDR therapy can be utilized to address workplace anxiety, feel free to skip ahead to the next section using the hyperlink provided.
How does social anxiety affect people who work?
Social anxiety can impact every step of a person’s professional journey, from the initial interview to long-term career advancement. During interviews, fear of being judged or saying the “wrong” thing can make it difficult for individuals with social anxiety to present themselves confidently, potentially limiting their opportunities to secure a desired position. Once employed, social anxiety can affect day-to-day performance, making tasks like speaking up in meetings, collaborating with colleagues, or seeking out support feel overwhelming. Over time, this can hinder professional growth, as individuals with social anxiety may avoid pursuing promotions, leadership roles, or networking opportunities that often contribute to career advancement.
What are common symptoms of social anxiety in the workplace?
Common symptoms of social anxiety in the workplace might include:
Fear of Judgment: People with social anxiety might worry excessively about how others perceive their work, their appearance, or their actions. As a result, they may over-prepare or spend an excessive amount of time perfecting their work, or on the flip side, they may procrastinate doing their work due to a fear of failure or fear of receiving criticism.
Avoidance Behaviors: People with social anxiety may skip meetings, avoid phone calls, or stay silent during group discussions. Avoidance behaviors might also look like opting out of workplace gatherings or networking opportunities in order to avoid social interactions.
Difficulty with Communication: People with social anxiety may struggle to initiate conversations, make small talk, or express their ideas confidently. This difficulty with conversation might also look like hesitating to seek clarification or ask for help due to fear of appearing incompetent.
Self-Criticism: People with social anxiety may harshly evaluate their own work performance or replay social interactions that they had at work in their mind to search for mistakes.
Physical Symptoms: People with social anxiety may experience sweating, shaking, a racing heart, or nausea at work. These physical symptoms are manifestations of their emotional experience.
How can social anxiety impact professional growth?
Social anxiety, if untreated, can limit professional growth. Here's why:
A study conducted in 2007 on career advancement found that withdrawal behaviors like lateness and absenteeism significantly impact professional growth. If an individual's social anxiety is causing them miss work or show up late, it could negatively affect how they're perceived by employers, limiting their opportunities for advancement.
This study also found that overtime dedication and job performance are other leading contributors of professional growth. For individuals with social anxiety, fear of judgment or failure might prevent them from volunteering for additional responsibilities or fully showcasing their abilities, which may limit their contributions and the recognition they receive for their efforts.
Additionally, a study conducted in 2011 found that networking is also a leading contributing factor of career advancement. For those with social anxiety, the discomfort of building and maintaining professional relationships may lead to missed opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, and visibility within their field, further hindering their professional growth.
That said, don't lose hope. With the right treatment, you can improve your social anxiety and achieve your professional goals.
Why do I get social anxiety at work?
Everyone is different. Workplace social anxiety could stem from fear of judgment, a need for perfectionism, or from past negative experiences in professional settings. Often times, people hold negative core beliefs about themselves that contribute to their social anxiety. If you're curious about whether there's a core belief at the root of your workplace social anxiety, ask yourself:
What is it about work that I'm afraid of?
What is it about work that makes me anxious?
What does it say about me that I have workplace social anxiety?
What does it mean to me that I have workplace social anxiety?
As I think about my social anxiety at work, is there a negative belief about myself that comes to mind?
What are ways to cope with social anxiety in the workplace?
The best coping mechanisms are the ones that you'll actually use. Here are some ideas that you can try:
Prepare for social interactions by practicing what to say.
Use deep breathing techniques or grounding exercises to help you stay calm.
Start with small steps, like greeting coworkers, and gradually build confidence.
How can I overcome my social anxiety at work?
While coping strategies can help provide some relief, addressing the root cause of your social anxiety is key to overcoming it. This is where EMDR therapy comes in. In the next section of this article we'll cover what EMDR therapy is and how it can be utilized to help overcome workplace social anxiety.
Overcoming Social Anxiety with EMDR Therapy
In this section, we'll explore EMDR therapy as a treatment for social anxiety.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of therapy that uses bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements) to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories and distressing experiences. Often negative core beliefs become intertwined with these memories/experiences, creating barriers to healing and self-acceptance. EMDR processing can help transform these negative core beliefs into positive, more adaptive ones. By targeting the root of emotional distress, EMDR can facilitate profound and lasting change.
8 Phases of EMDR
History-Taking: Understanding your background and identifying key issues.
Preparation: Learning coping strategies to manage stress.
Assessment: Pinpointing specific memories and negative beliefs.
Desensitization: Processing memories through bilateral stimulation (e.g., guided eye movements).
Installation: Reinforcing positive beliefs.
Body Scan: Checking for residual physical tension.
Closure: Ensuring you leave sessions feeling stable.
Reevaluation: Reviewing progress and addressing any remaining issues.
How is EMDR different from coping strategies for social anxiety?
Unlike coping techniques, which focus on managing symptoms in the moment, EMDR can help to address the root causes of your anxiety. While coping strategies can provide significant relief during challenging situations, EMDR is different because it utilizes bilateral stimulation which can help to rewire your brain’s response to triggers (like the thought of going to work or networking with coworkers). Compared to coping strategies, EMDR therapy can lead to deeper, more lasting changes in how you experience and respond to social situations.
How can EMDR be used to address social anxiety in the workplace?
According to the DSM5-TR, social anxiety often has an environmental component, with past experiences shaping current fears. EMDR therapy can help you to explore the root causes of your anxiety, including how early experiences contribute to your feelings of inadequacy or fear in workplace settings. Once identified, EMDR therapy can facilitate the processing of experiences such as social victimization, bullying, or other traumatic events that may be contributing to your workplace social anxiety.
By processing these memories in a safe and structured way, EMDR can help to reduce the intensity of negative beliefs and emotional reactions associated with social situations. Over time, this can lead to greater confidence and ease in the workplace, enabling you to take on challenges like speaking up in meetings, building relationships with colleagues, and advocating for your professional growth.
A Case Example
Jane is a 23-year-old investment banking analyst. She graduated from a target school, where she excelled academically and was involved in Greek life. However, when it comes to interpersonal interactions at the workplace, Jane finds herself struggling. She fears being negatively perceived by her boss and by her peers, which makes it difficult for Jane to complete her assignments because she spends an inordinate amount of time trying to perfect her work.
Jane avoids speaking up in team meetings, even when she has valuable insights to contribute, because she worries about sounding incompetent. Her hesitation to engage with coworkers has made it harder for her to build strong professional relationships, leaving her feeling isolated in her role. She also experiences physical symptoms of anxiety, such as a racing heart and sweaty palms, when preparing for one-on-one meetings with her manager. These challenges have begun to impact Jane’s overall performance and confidence. Although she meets her deadlines, the stress she feels daily is taking a toll on her mental health and job satisfaction.
After almost a year of white knuckling her way through her workplace anxiety, Jane connected with an EMDR therapist who offered Sunday sessions that accommodated her hectic work schedule. In the first couple of sessions, Jane's therapist asked questions to learn more about her and what's bringing her to therapy at this time. After that, Jane's therapist taught her some mindfulness based coping strategies to help her manage anxiety in the moment. Her therapist explained that these coping strategies could provide immediate relief and help Jane feel more grounded, enabling her to continue her daily responsibilities while they worked on deeper issues.
As their sessions progressed, Jane and her therapist began developing a treatment plan to target her workplace social anxiety. Through this process, Jane realized that she holds a negative core belief about herself ("I will never be good enough in the workplace"). Jane also realized that this belief stemmed from earlier experiences in male-dominated spaces, like the time her dad told her that "little girls shouldn’t try to keep up with boys" when she came home from school with skinned knees because a boy tripped her in gym class or when she was dismissed and excluded from important decisions during a group project in college.
Using EMDR therapy, Jane and her therapist identified and processed these past, negatively charged memories. As a result, Jane was able to reframe these experiences and integrate a new, more adaptive belief about herself ("I am good enough regardless"). Over time, this shift helped Jane to approach her assignments with greater confidence, speak up more in meetings, and begin fostering meaningful connections with her colleagues.
How can I find an EMDR therapist for workplace social anxiety?
You can use therapy search engines, like Psychology Today, to find an EMDR therapist who has experience working with individuals that are struggling with workplace social anxiety. If you can't find exactly that, I recommend filtering for a specialty in anxiety and with EMDR as the type of therapy. Then, you can schedule a short consultation call to ask additional questions about their experience with workplace social anxiety and to help you determine if they seem like a good fit for you.
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