Social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) is an intense anxiety or fear of being judged, negatively evaluated, rejected, or humiliated in a social situation. The feared judgements are often related to being seen by others as incompetent, awkward, weird, stupid or weak. People that struggle with this form of anxiety often are overly focused on themselves and fear acting oddly or appearing visibly anxious (such as blushing, sweating or fumbling with words).
This type of anxiety goes well beyond shyness. Many people with this type of anxiety have strong physical symptoms in social situations, such as
- rapid heart rate
- sweating
- nausea.
- Blushing
- Trembling
- “mind going blank”
Though people with social anxiety understand that this anxiety is excessive, rationality doesn’t help to make it any better. As a result, social anxiety often drives people to avoid social or performance situations. The typical types of social situations that are feared and avoided are:
- public speaking
- Talking to strangers
- Initiating conversation
- Ending a conversation
- Dating
- Blushing in public
- Writing when others are present (for example signing a credit card authorization)
- Being watched at work
- Crowds
- Making eye contact
- Entering rooms
- Using public restrooms
- Going to parties
- Eating in front of other people
While over 90% of people with social anxiety avoid at least one of the types of situations above, there are the 10% of people that have intense social anxiety that don’t avoid social situations. In reality, more often than people would think elite performers like actors struggle with social anxiety.
Social phobia is very common and is equally experienced between men and women. While it can begin at any age, it most often shows up starting around age 13. Roughly 5 – 13% of people will struggle with social anxiety at some point during their lives. About 7% of the U.S. population has social anxiety disorder at any one time, making it the most common anxiety disorder. Sadly, more than ⅓ of people with social anxiety disorder report experiencing symptoms for 10 or more years before seeking help.