What is social anxiety?

* Social anxiety is a persistent fear of social situations.

* When you Interact with other people, or perform a task in public this can create enormous fears.

* If you have social anxiety you will avoid social situations, or endure them with a sense of dread.                                                                                                                                                                             
Fear of judgement
In social situations you will be fearful that other people are judging you harshly. Underlying social anxieties are often beliefs that other people are viewing you as either overly anxious, weak, or that people see you as either crazy or stupid. The fear of being harshly judged can restrict your social activities in the following ways.

Social anxiety shrinks your life

Everyday tasks
You may become overly anxious about performing activities in public such as eating, signing your name, standing or even walking, because you fear that other people are scrutinizing your every actions. You may also become anxious about eating in public because you believe others will see that your hands are trembling with fear.

Interacting with people
You may be very fearful about meeting or speaking to people, and fearful that you may appear inarticulate or too emotional in conversations. You may also become fearful about showing signs of nervousness such as trembling, stumbling over words, or blushing.

At work or university

At work or university you may become fearful about working and speaking in groups, giving presentations, or socialising during lunch and coffee breaks. You might also become fearful that you may appear socially awkward or incompetent to other people, which will lead to people rejecting or socially humiliating you.

Distressing thoughts, feelings & sensations 

Fear
You are likely to experience everyday routines, work or social life as being significantly disrupted by fear. Having your daily routines frequently disrupted can also increase your distress.

High anxiety

You will usually experience anxiety as soon you begin to think about, or are faced with your feared social situations.  Anxiety can take the form of trembling, feeling hot, breathlessness, feeling paralysed, a racing mind or going blank. Sometimes you may also experience panic attacks.

Panic attacks
If you have a panic attacks in social situations, you will tend to experience four or more of the following symptoms which suddenly increase rapidly: palpations, dizziness, sweating, choking, trembling or shaking, breathlessness, depersonalization, a fear of dying, suffocating or going crazy.

What causes social anxiety
Negative thoughts
Social anxiety leads to you overly focusing on negative thoughts connected to how well you are doing in a social situation, as well as other people’s perceptions of how well you may be doing. Focusing intensely on yourself in social situations, also tends reduce your competence in social settings. Also, by focusing intensely on yourself in a social situation, this leads to a situation where you do not experience other people’s real perception of your performance.

Overly focusing on bodily sensations
Social anxiety tends to lead to you overly focusing on your bodily sensations such as trembling, feeling hot, breathlessness, or feeling paralysed.

Vicious circles
With social anxiety you become absorbed and trapped in vicious circles of thinking about your bodily sensations, social performance and other peoples' feared judgements.

References
Wells, A.& Clark, D. M (1997). Social Phobia: A Cognitive approach. In Davey. D,. C. L (Ed), Phobias: A Handbook of Description, Treatment and Theory. Chichester. Wiley.

Wells, A. (1997). Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders. Wiley.