After spending many years suffering with problem blushing, I have always wondered why it is that people develop problem blushing tendencies. Do problem blushers just have sympathetic nervous systems that are entirely too active? Or is there more to problem blushing than just a physiological variable?



One thing that seems to be consistent among those who suffer from problem blushing is being very sensitive to the opinions and judgments of other people. Is this an inborn personality characteristic? Or did something in the environment in which problem blushers were raised lead to having an excessive concern about how they are viewed by other people?

In my own situation, I believe that while some of my problem blushing might be attributable to physical characteristics, my environment did in fact play an important role in my blushing problems. My parents had a tendency to be very critical, and I feel that that contributed to my excessive blushing issues.

Even now as an adult who has overcome facial blushing, I feel myself withdrawing when I am around them. Without realizing what I am doing, I seem to be very careful about what I say and do around them, as a means of making sure that my actions don't result in disapproving words or looks from them.

While I did not realize it while I was a child, as an adult looking back it seems clear that much of my behaviour was impacted because of the critical way my parents responded to my actions. Even my childhood friends noticed that I acted like a different person when my parents were around. I became very inhibited in the presence of my parents, so as to avoid getting overly critical, negative feedback.

As an adult, I learned that excessive negative feedback is key to causing inhibitions from reading Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. It is true that those who are socially inhibited tend to be excessively careful in their actions, so as to avoid drawing additional criticism. This is a vicious cycle, because such actions lead to even greater levels of inhibition and anxiety.

So, I do believe that my upbringing has something to do with the fact that I am overly sensitive to how other people judge me. While some people may have a greater physical tendency than others to react to judgment and criticism by others, the fact remains that blushing is triggered by situations in which one might be judged, or by the fear of being in such situations.

One of the major keys to putting a stop to problem blushing behaviour is to train yourself to believe, rightfully so, that what other people think about you doesn't define you. There is no reason to be ashamed of yourself, or to base your sense of self-worth on the judgments of other people. You have to get over feeling shame about yourself in order to tackle your problems with excessive blushing.