Understanding Social Anxiety

Social anxiety is a mental health disorder that is associated with fearing social situations. Through a complex interaction of genetics, family environment, and important life experiences, socially anxious individuals develop negative beliefs about themselves, others, and the social world. An example of a negative belief for someone who is socially anxious is that they lack important social skills and that their social behavior is likely to be inadequate or inappropriate. In reality, this is likely not the case, but their negative belief can blind them from viewing themselves accurately and can cause them to avoid social situations.Living in a state of anxiety with negative beliefs that impair their ability to detect positive things in their social environment contributes to hypervigilance for potential social threats. This can result in a drain on cognitive resources and interfere with the individual’s ability to attend and respond appropriately to the social situation at hand. (Hope, Heimberg, & Turk, pp. 12-15)

Anxiety symptoms can be grouped into four domains: cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical.

Cognitive Symptoms

• Overestimation of danger
• Underestimation of ability to cope
• Underestimation of help available
• Worries/catastrophic thoughts

Emotional Symptoms

• Nervous
• Anxious
• Irritable
• Panicky

Behavioral Changes

• Avoiding situations where anxiety might occur
• Leaving situations when anxiety begins to occur
• Trying to do things perfectly or trying to control events to prevent danger

Physical Symptoms

• Sweaty palms
• Muscle tension
• Flushed cheeks
• Light-headedness

(Greenberger & Padesky, pp. 174-175)

Reducing anxiety is a critical step in overcoming social anxiety and the above symptoms since as anxiety decreases, social behavior improves. Anxious thoughts and fears about social situations can be paralyzing and can cause someone to avoid social interaction at all costs. If their fears become less scary and certain situations stop causing them to feel anxious, there won’t be as many barriers to leading a life filled with meaningful relationships. Here’s a list of things that if improved, go a long way toward decreasing someone’s social anxiety:

• Having negative beliefs about social situations and other people
• Having negative beliefs about oneself
• Making negative predictions about the outcomes of social situations
• Avoiding certain situations or people based on these negative predictions
• Focusing on potential social threats during the social situation
• Making negative evaluations of performance after the situation has passed

(Hope, Heimberg, & Turk, pp. 13; 19)

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