Social anxiety

Social anxiety disorder is a severe fear of being judged, scrutinized, embarrassed, or rejected by others.

Definition

In its mild form, it may mean tension in social situations, but as a disorder it involves persistent, intense anxiety and avoidance of situations that make functioning difficult. It applies not only to public speaking, but also to conversations, meetings, asking for help or eating in front of others. It needs to be distinguished from ordinary shyness.

Key ideas

Missing key ideas.

Practice and life

Choose one small social situation and treat it as an experiment: what I predict, what I will do, what actually happened.

Common misunderstanding

It is a mistake to assume that social anxiety is simply introversion. It is also a mistake to strengthen anxiety by constantly avoiding every social situation.

Questions for self-reflection

No questions for self-reflection.

Sources

No sources.