What is social anxiety/phobia?

Social anxiety (i.e., social phobia) involves expressing fear or avoidance of interacting in social situations.

Fears can take such forms as changes in "body feelings" when in social situations (e.g., rapid increase in heart or pulse rate), and increases in negative thoughts during social situations (e.g., "These people think I am an idiot!").

Avoidance of social situations can take the form of refusing to engage in feared situations (e.g., public speaking), engaging in abrupt forms of feared situations (e.g., saying "hi" and "bye" quickly to a group of peers and walking away), or engaging in limited forms of feared situations (e.g., one-on-one conversation without initiating eye contact).

Some social situations that individuals who have concerns with social anxiety might fear or avoid include attending parties, using public restrooms, speaking with authority figures (e.g., bosses at work, teachers at school), and meeting unfamiliar people. 

When social anxiety becomes a significant concern, individuals who have concerns with social anxiety may experience decreased work performance (e.g., poor evaluations), academic impairments (e.g., poor grades), and interpersonal problems (e.g., few or no friends, difficulties engaging in and sustaining romantic relationships).   

What are the symptoms of social anxiety/phobia?

Individuals who have concerns with social anxiety often experience some (but not necessarily all) of the following symptoms:

• Nausea
• Blushing
• Rapid breathing
• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
  
• Dizziness
• Excessive worrying about upcoming social situations
• Fears of embarrassment or humiliation
• Avoidance of anxiety-provoking situations

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What is the difference between social anxiety and shyness?

Social anxiety is distinct from shyness because social anxiety is accompanied by severe impairments to a person's life including how they work or do in school and how many friends they have.

Conversely, it is not abnormal for teenagers to feel shy.  In fact, shyness is a natural reaction to many social situations, particularly when one encounters the situation for the first time (e.g., first date, big debate at school).

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How is social anxiety/phobia treated?

Social anxiety can be treated through various forms of psychological and medication treatments. 

The forms of psychological treatments with the most evidence available that they work are referred to as "Behavior Therapy," "Exposure-Based Therapy," or "Cognitive-Behavior Therapy." The specific treatment activities differ a bit among these therapies. However, they share a few common elements:

  1. View of social anxiety as a set of learned behaviors.

  2. View that a social situation becomes anxiety provoking as the result of one's body and mind learning to treat the social situation much like their body and mind would treat a physically dangerous situation (e.g., being chased by a bear).

  3. Result: Dealing with social anxiety involves giving your body and mind evidence that social situations are not physically dangerous. This involves getting practice with social situations, first in a comfortable environment (e.g., therapist's office with lots of encouragement), and then slowly taking practices out into the "real world" where social situations happen (e.g., the mall, school).

  4. The key goal is for someone experiencing social anxiety to unlearn the anxious thoughts, behaviors, and feelings that led them to fear and avoid social situations. This is done through practicing these situations and giving one's body and mind evidence of what social situations are like (e.g., interacting with other people) and not like (e.g., being nearly hit by a car).

Information on medication options can be found here    

Where can I find more information?

• The Social Anxiety Institute
  
• Social Psychology Network
• Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Association
• Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)
  
• Association for Psychological Science (APS)
• American Psychological Association (APA)
  
• The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

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