What is Social Anxiety Disorder? Symptoms and Treatments.

What is social anxiety disorder?

Social anxiety disorder, otherwise known as SAD, is an intense fear or discomfort in social situations. If you have social anxiety you may experience feelings of embarrassment, nervousness, and self-consciousness, and you might worry excessively about negative evaluations from other people.

If left untreated, social anxiety disorder can cause other health issues such as a depressive disorder, panic attacks, and avoidance behaviours.

We’re here to help unravel what social anxiety disorder is, and answer any questions you may have, including how you can overcome SAD.

Symptoms of social anxiety

You may be here because you think you have social anxiety, or perhaps you think your friend or family member is showing signs and you want to help them. Below are the common symptoms social anxiety sufferers experience. If you can associate with many of the symptoms, then it’s advised to get in touch with your GP who can offer a more thorough diagnosis.

Symptoms of social anxiety:

You worry about everyday activities such as starting conversations, speaking on the phone or speaking to people you don’t know in the office

You worry about speaking to people in common places such as the shops, gym, school playground

You avoid social activities, occasions and social settings such as parties, dinner with friends, work events, first dates

You have a fear of embarrassment, therefore you feel self-conscious when doing things outside your comfort zone, or you don’t try new things altogether

You have a low self-esteem and may experience depressive episodes

You avoid making eye-contact, especially with someone you don’t know

Physical symptoms include feeling sick, heart palpitations, high blood pressure or sweating

How common is social anxiety disorder?

If you nodded to many of the symptoms above, then you may be wondering, “Why me?”

Firstly, please try not to worry as you’re not alone. Social anxiety disorder affects as many as 1 in 10 adults in the UK, with twice as many women being affected compared to men. Experts believe this could be due to the different levels of hormones in males and females, plus women’s anxiety levels and social fears can increase after giving birth and becoming a mother.

Social anxiety disorder is also often developed in your teenage years - therefore there’s not much you personally could’ve done to control whether you developed SAD or not. Anxiety in children is common, but it's the social aspect of anxiety that develops later in life.

What causes social anxiety disorder?

Social anxiety disorder will be in your genetic makeup. For example, if your parents or grandparents suffer or have suffered from SAD, then the odds are high that you will too. There’s also evidence that shows SAD can be caused by a combination of bad experiences as a child. One study showed half of people affected confirmed their phobia began after one memorable embarrassing experience.

While the development of SAD may be out of your control, you can control how you overcome it.

Are there different types of social anxiety disorder?

Two types of social anxiety disorder have been identified. These are:

Social anxiety disorder - this is when you fear most everyday social situations

Non-generalised social anxiety disorder - this is when you feel fear in situations that might not affect you everyday, such as public speaking, speaking in board meetings or performing a speech at friend’s wedding

The latter type of SAD can be masked for a very long time until an individual finds themselves in a specific social situation and starts experiencing symptoms such as heart palpitations, sweaty palms and panic attacks.

How does social anxiety disorder interfere with people's lives?

People who live with social anxiety disorder can find their quality of life is affected by each of the elements below. However, the scale in which these are experienced will depend on the level of anxiety present.

Loneliness - due to low self-esteem, SAD sufferers may have a limited number of friends they feel happy to talk to and interact with, and it can be hard to develop meaningful relationships

Constant feeling of worry - a persistent fear feeling; anxiety levels tend to be high everyday

Difficulties at work - interacting with peers is tricky, and career progression is challenging with a lack of confidence in abilities and negative interpretations

Difficulties at school - teenagers will avoid social situations and their low self-esteem can lead to being bullied. Exams results may fall too due to confidence and concentration and therefore result in a poor educational achievement

Limited opportunities - saying ‘no’ to invitations or new opportunities is very common, therefore the opportunities stop being presented after a while

Panic attacks and depressive symptoms - SAD sufferers who don’t seek help could end up with other mental health conditions.

Treatments for social anxiety disorder

Positively, anxiety disorders is an area that is well-covered by the NHS and other medical organisations, which means there are a number of effective treatments readily available. The recommended ‘treatments’ to try first are:

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioural therapy, otherwise known as CBT, involves working with a therapist to change how you react and think about certain situations when your SAD arises. If you’ve not tried CBT before you might be worried about it being too intense or perhaps a bit ‘woo’, but we hands down recommend you give it a shot because it’s a really effective treatment method. You’ll also gain anxiety management tools that you can use throughout your entire life.

CBT and individual therapy is now available to everyone for free via Talking Therapies and you don’t need a GP referral to access it.

Group and one-to-one courses

There are many group and one-to-one courses dedicated to helping people overcome social anxiety. The Social Anxiety Institute is a good place to start and will be able to recommend some great courses near you. Alternatively, if you want help with your confidence and non-generalised social anxiety, we run in-person public speaking courses and online public speaking courses that have helped thousands of people overcome their fears and give them a self-esteem boost. The NHS also has a popular self-help guide that you can access online for free.

Building confidence and self-esteem

A lot of people with symptoms of anxiety will lack confidence and self-esteem. Overcoming SAD can be like tackling different pieces of a puzzle one step at a time, and one piece of the puzzle could be your confidence and feeling more positive about yourself as a person. There are many accessible confidence coaches today that can work with you to discover why your self-esteem is low and how you can bring it back up. The Life Coach Directory is a good place to start to find a suitable coach near you.

When to get help for social anxiety

If none of the non-medicated psychological therapies work for you, then the next step is to see your GP. It may be difficult to talk to your GP about how you feel, but they will have a huge amount of knowledge for SAD patients that they can pass on to ensure you get the right support to help you overcome your fear. Some people find antidepressant medications such as escitalopram or sertraline can help - but do make sure you chat to your GP first and get their advice.

More social anxiety articles

If you’d like to explore social anxiety further, we have many more articles on the subject:

How to help someone with social anxiety

How to overcome social anxiety

How social anxiety affects relationships

How do you know if you have social anxiety?

If you’d like to chat about your social anxiety and discover how one of our courses can help you, please drop us a note and we’ll be in touch.