I know that a lot of people with social anxiety have problems with people thinking others don't like them. So I was wondering...
Do any of you with social anxiety have reasons to think that people don't like you, or do you just feel that way because of SA/low self-esteem, etc.?

I have legitimate reasons to know people don't like me because people have told me straight to my face that they don't like me. Just last summer, my neighbor told me that I'm an unlikeable person. As a kid, I was told by at least three adults that they didn't like me. Plus, two therapists & my vocational specialist told me that they thought I was "gruff," "rude," "cold," "aloof" etc. for a long time until they got to know me better.

I come off as unlikeable because I'm so scared around people & never know what to do or say or how to interact. But I'm actually a very nice person & am just unable to show that.

Apparantly being nice won't cut it with people since most people are attracted to happy and outgoing people. I'm usually nervous and quiet around people (unless it's someone I know well) and I've had my friends tell me that someone we were hanging around doesn't like me for those reasons. I think if I'm not told directlywhat someone's opinion of me is, I'll analyze their vocal tone, facial expression, and dialect and come to a conclusion. This is where my brain can easily trick me into thinking someone dislikes me when they actually don't.

From my knowledge, what you are experiencing lies in the normal path of introvert personalities. Introverts often develop their intellectual and spiritual sides long before their social skills, which lag behind those of the majority of others. I don't think that this fact, in itself, is a symptom of social anxiety. It is common for introverts, to reach some form of stable social integration only in their late twenties, or later on. The contradiction between "knowing your inner value" and "feeling socially inadequate for others", is also to be expected in introverts and will probably last a lifetime. But none of this means that we can't get better and better, as we mature, at balancing ourselves against the external adaptive pressures. In the meantime we should do our best to keep an open mind, and not to hold (excessive)grudges with the world or form negative prejudices.

I would say I have reasons for assuming people won't, or don't like me. People find me annoying, generally and I've been told this to my face. I have quite morbid and unusual interests and most people don't know how to take this. I don't talk much when I'm around people (because when I do talk, people look at me like I'm a freak) and since I've been accused of being arrogant, or of giving people dirty looks in the past, I try to appear nicer and more friendly by smiling etc - however, because it's so obviously fake it comes across as being condescending and thus exacerbating the issue.

Being constantly treated like you're weird, different, a freak will eventually take its toll.
I'm so used to people disliking me that I don't even make that much effort with them anymore. There's no point.

I think the reasons for my anxiety were more geniune at first, mostly centered around low self esteem. Now, I probably invent reasons as much to avoid challenging the status quo as opposed to having any real reason to believe that people are judging me unfit. I stopped worrying about what people think of me a while ago and now I have the fear of the fear itself.

A little bit of both maybe. Either way, I make good company for myself.

Misanthropy? No, just frustration from too much idiocy.

My social anxiety only gives me physical pain if I'm feeling anxious in public- even if it has very little to do with the people themselves!

I've heard people don't like me but they never say it to my face and sometimes I get bad vibes from people. Why would you tell someone else that you don't like a certain person? Why not tell that certain person if you need to tell someone, it ends up getting messy and stupid. It's cowardly, of course I would never have the guts to say "I don't like you" to someones face. I usually keep the thought to myself or I tell my sister who doesn't know anyone I'm talking about.

I've heard people don't like me for lots of reasons and their all futile. I hang around guys too much, I'm shy, I try to be asian(? my best friend at school is asian so apparently that makes me a wannabe).

I have the same thought every time, do they have any right to talk abut me when I have done nothing wrong to them, some I've never even talked too.

I was bullied for years and I don't want to experience this again in a new environment. So yes, I'm always nervous if I get to stick with a group for months, years (at work, college or so, for example).

I'm a quite "boring" person. I have a "boring" appearance. I wear "boring" clothes. I have "boring" hobbies.
All this could lead others to think bad about me and that they won't want me in their group anymore.

I have read a lot of stories by bullying victims at work. This really scares me and so I keep thinking about it when it's about studying/working in the future.

Edit: Wrong topic

On topic: I think some bullying could be reasons for my anxiety. I'm too apathetic to care these days but I remember there were certain people (one was family) that were out to get me.

I've been told that I don't make a good first impression. Apparently I seem aloof and not very happy. I just don't show my emotions very easily, and I don't see why I should. And at school, several people (teachers and students) thought I was arrogant, just because I didn't say much in class. It never occurred to them that I was just shy. Because of this, I'm pretty nervous around new people I meet.

I'm the same.

I have been told that I am awkward and "un-smooth" with my physical movements and gestures. I'm also awkward in speaking and vocal inflection. I attribute this to combination of being naturally clumsy and lack of proper social development. I have zero perception of myself, so I find it really difficult to adjust my behavior to elicit a positive response from others. Being overweight my whole life made things difficult as well, both from the physical and social limitations that come from it. A lot of anxiety stemmed from this directly; I'm often tired and feel sick before I even left the door, I'm constantly uncomfortable in my own body from carrying all the weight around and after all that I have to try to be outgoing and at ease socially.

I'm always paranoid that I stink, because all humans do. I can't stand the smell, so I assume I'm just as offensive to them.

Plus, every time I'm around other humans, I get a barrage of insults about my height, my attitude, my unpopular opinions,
the way I dress, my manners, my irrational fears, and so on. Not to mention the constant looks of contempt from everyone.
Adults usually aren't so bad, with the stink eye, but children actually stop and point at me like I'm some sort of hideous
freakshow.

I'm just generally disdained by humanity. But that's fine, because I find them just as distasteful.

I'm a walking freak. I hug, I nuzzle, I talk, and on a time i can turn and despise the people around me just for being there. I go form a social butterfly to a total anti-society nutjob in jsut a few minutes. No one can figure me out, I don't dress right, I'm eccentric and yet isolated, outgoing but shy. No one really gets me, and so people turn to despise what people don't understand.

I'm just... a freak.

I don't think you're a freak, Soulless. The real freaks are those who live their whole lives in the middle of the bell curve and
never even think about why they are there. The lack of introspection most people demonstrate is really horrifying.

Low self esteem is the main reason for my social anxiety. l just don't like people seeing me when l am at my worst. When l get depressed, l let myself go. People don't want to see me let myself go. l get so ugly