Social anxiety and hyperventilation

 

Because most people tend to think of hyperventilation as excessive and noisy breathing, the link between anxiety and hyperventilation is often missed.

Instead of panting through your mouth, hyperventilation can be very subtle. It is often expressed by reasonably fast, and seemingly effortless breathing from the upper chest. The breathing may have a relentless property, where there is not even the tiniest pause after the exhalation, but instead the inhalation begins immediately. Or the person may simply sigh and yawn their way through a conversation or situation, far more frequently than is expected for the level of alertness.

Because it is not recognised, chronic low-grade hyperventilation is sometimes the missing piece of the puzzle in social anxiety treatment. However, improving the automatic breathing pattern will often assist in controlling social anxiety because the symptoms of hyperventilation are very similar to the symptoms of social anxiety. When the breathing is normalised, the feared symptoms usually become less obvious, making the social situation more comfortable.