Overview of Social Anxiety

Goal

To understand what social anxiety is and how it is caused.

What is Social Anxiety & How is it Caused? (Hope, Heimberg, & Turk, pp. 12-15)

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.

Another example of a negative belief is believing that they will display noticeable anxiety symptoms (e.g., blushing, trembling, or sweating) and that others will conclude bad things about them based on those symptoms. They may also believe that social relationships are inherently competitive (as opposed to cooperative and supportive), which can cause them to doubt themselves and to focus on avoiding harm. These negative beliefs contribute to individuals with social anxiety having more negative than positive reactions to social situations. In other words, their beliefs cause their attention to gravitate toward the negative.

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.

Assessing for Social Anxiety Exercise

Instructions: Take this questionnaire to gain insight into how severe your social anxiety may be: https://www.learntolive.com/liebowitz-assessment/

Complete the questionnaire periodically as you complete this course to gain awareness about what may be contributing to your social anxiety and what helps to decrease it.