Does your face go as red as a cherry when attention is on you, or maybe even for no reason at all...
Is it a skin problem or is it a social anxiety psychological problem? If it is what can you do about it?
Red face problems can be "simply" skin/medical related. In which case it’s likely to be red all the time and you should see a qualified doctor or skin specialist.
But if the red face demon gets triggered by social situations then it may well be a “social anxiety” problem where the natural blushing reaction gets fired by a trigger(s) of some sort.
For example, a comment here from an online forum I came across “
…can't stand being stared at, being talked about even if its nice, being introduced to people because my heard beats faster and faster and my face begins to turn beat red”
As you can imagine such social red face problems can have serious knock on effects in our social lives and work - and therefore to money and career prospects.
The red face sufferer will look to avoid trigger situations. This can mean they:
May find it hard to make friends and start relationships.
Have problems at work interacting and selling themselves and their ideas (career lethal).
Skip lessons or skip school totally.
Red Face Social Anxiety – How does it start?
There are no end of reasons, some examples include:
A very embarrassing event in front of many people who you associate with a lot. They don’t let you forget it…so it spirals…
A result of a change in environment – Going from the socially familiar to unfamiliar
Naturally pale and easily flushed anyway. This gets spotted. The person gets teased. The spiral starts.
It can be especially bad for kids and teenagers. Kids being unintentionally cruel as they often are tend to tease the person about it and so it gets worse.
Such a social anxiety problem can start in many ways and may seem to have no root but it almost certainly does.
If unchecked it can lead to depression and other anxiety and panic attack and disorder problems.
My own Red Face example
As a 14-16 teenager I had it pretty bad. I can now see that it was a social anxiety problem. At the time it was just “I get embarrassed really easily”
It started after changing schools when I was 14. Going from an environment where I was an “alpha kid” to one where I was on the bottom of the ocean floor socially.
One guy noticed that when attention was on me I’d get go very red in the face and started to tease me about it. This put me into a downward self confidence spiral where I dreaded the situations where it happened and started to invent new ones!
This extended into more areas of my life, so speaking in front of groups became a dreaded activity and I had no confidence with girls and so wondered if I’d ever get a girlfriend.
I did "self help" myself out of it in the end though the experience has certainly had knock on effects that will last all my life. My self help article goes into how to get out.
“Red face – Social Anxiety” You are not alone
Excessive blushing and “going red in the face” as if very embarrassed even when you’re not is not an unusual problem at all and million of people of all ages suffer from it.
The good new is that you can do something about it! It is NOT a problem for life and it is almost entirely psychological.
What to do next?
Firstly determine if this red face problem is a social anxiety one or medical.
Frank self analysis can help. If not maybe see your doctor or a therapist.
Once you have a diagnosis then the right treatment options can be considered which could be in the form of:
An anxiety drug of some sort
Psychological therapy
A self help program