Social anxiety disorder (DSM-IV 300.23), also known as social anxiety[1] or social phobia[2] is a diagnosis within psychiatry and other mental health professions referring to excessive social anxiety (anxiety in social situations) [2] causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some areas of daily life.

Mmmmm... wikipedia...

I think I might have a misunderstanding of this disorder. To give a bit of information as to where I am coming from, it might be helpful for me to mention that I am currently seeing a therapist who is assisting me in the process of finding out if I have Aspergers... I do not know if it is due to the possible Aspergers or not, but I tend to have incorrect emotional responses to things that go beyond laughing at inappropriate times or feeling nothing when I should be feeling sadness or upset. It's pretty bad... We were robbed once and managed to catch the fellow who broke into our house. Instead of freaking out, I stepped between my husband (who was beating the bloody hell out of the guy) and the man on the floor, told my husband to get dressed before the cops arrived, then I yanked the man off the floor, held him by the arm, sat him on the couch and asked him if he wanted a cigarette. Now on the flip side, I had to go get a form last month and was so upset and confused by the amount of people, the dying overhead light, and lack of a visible line to stand in that I got tunnel vision, staggered to my car and bawled my eyes out for three hours. All I could think was, "There is no line. How am I supposed to know when it is my turn to talk to the lady at the window if there is no line?" I freaked right out. I do that often enough in situations where I do not know what to do before hand. Sometimes I pass out or disappear into myself for awhile. I cracked a guys dash board with my head once when I fell forward... not a good thing... but is it really social anxiety or is it something else? I do not know.

My tendency to shut down while in public has had my therapist questioning me about social anxiety. It has been my understanding that this disorder has its roots in fear. I do not fear situations or other people, I just dislike leaving my house and having to deal with people/situations that are not in my control. At least I do not think it is fear... I have to wonder if somewhere in my mind fear is registered as something different. Perhaps I have a misunderstanding of what fear is. I do not know. Anyway, I am not concerned about being judged by others, I am however concerned about inserting inappropriate comments and offending others. I have always done this and do not mean to. I do not seem to understand the basics of getting on with others in a way that makes them comfortable with me. As a result, I scare people... I crowned myself the queen of alienating others many years ago and settled on the mindset that if I cannot communicate then I will try harder not to. I know I am not like most others I have encountered and I find playing pretend in order to get on well with them to be an exhausting chore that I do not have the patience for. Granted, getting out has always been difficult for me, but the older I get, the more I hide away... the more I hide away, the harder it becomes for me to successfully go out in the world. It is a nasty little cycle that I would still be oblivious to were it not for my husband. He is somewhat social and my preference to confine myself to my property bothers him. So now I have to face what causes me upset and if I knew what this was, it might be helpful in getting better. I believe the best way to learn about a thing is to listen to people who know a thing or two about it. So I ask, anyone have any insight they would like to share?

I am sorry if this is incoherent... I am not sure how to vocalize my thoughts on this. I hope I have explained myself well enough. I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this... does this sound like social anxiety or something else? Does anyone care to explain what social anxiety is to them... how it makes them feel both mentally and physically?

I don't think it's social anxiety, it doesn't sound like it... It seems like it's Aspergers.... But what do you think it is?

I can't say if you might have Asperger's, or some other autism spectrum disorder, or not. But, what you describe doesn't sound much like the social anxiety disorder that I'm familiar with.

I realise you wrote “social anxiety” which all of us experience occasionally I would think. I take it you mean social anxiety disorder.

The people I've been seeing for my problems have said I might be having social anxiety disorder. In social situations I sometimes feel I'm expected to be outgoing and talkative et cetera and so I get very anxious and tense. There's literally a fear of saying stupid or odd things behind it. Suddenly, I cannot focus and all I want to do is leave the room/situation. If I happen to be sitting down I inadvertently contract some of the muscles in my legs. A few times I've gotten very dizzy too, I suppose my blood pressure must have dropped or something.

Yeah, that's about it I guess. Such experiences are not too pleasant as I'm sure you can imagine.

In short I'd say it's the pressure to “perform socially”, or whatever you would call it, plus a bunch of bad past experiences with people that causes all of this.

I hope this can be of some help to you.

Thank you for your response. It is appreciated. When it was first brought up to me, I dismissed the idea, thinking it was likely some combination of sensory overload and just me being the hermit that I have always been.... I am still leaning towards that direction, but I trust my therapist enough to look into things that she puts out there. Social anxiety disorder just does not seem to fit well to me.

Thank you for your response. It was helpful. I'm going to chew on this a bit, as it seems that in my initial impression of this disorder, the 'interacting with others' was left out and 'just being out among people' was dropped in its place. It seems that interacting is the key point here... Yes?

I think it s hard to label everyone with various disorders, some are full blown and in the centre of the field, while others just border it slightly. You may have a mild form and experience it in a different way, as we all do, but i m not sure it really deserves so much thinking about it.

To me, i experience social anxiety that simply involves a deep fear of not wanting to embarrass myself and the energy i expend thinking about everything in order to avoid such a circumstance, it really exhausts me.

Hmm, maybe that's the reason I get tired most of the time - my doctor is giving me medication for social anxiety disorder. I'm not so bad when everything is clear but given an ambiguous situation (such as there not being a clear line at the office), I get very anxious indeed.

Yes, i think that s the main cause of it, i like structure and previous knowledge of a system beforehand. When i walk into an unfamiliar environment where i don t know the correct procedure, this is when i get most anxious.

Oh hell yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

You have just exactly pinpointed and explained something that has been confusing me for ages - why I am fine in some situations, and completely all over the place in others. I was assuming it was something to do with the relative anonymity of transactions in (e.g.) a bank over other familiar places like a corner shop. You've just made me realise that it's down to whether I have already scripted the transaction.

Now I have to work out what to do with that .

Thanks

I'm like this too. This is why I always order the same thing when I go to a restaurant. My coworkers make fun of me for it. It's because I'm afraid that if I order something new, they'll ask me a question about it that I won't have a prepared answer for (like how do I want it cooked or what kind of toppings or whatever) and I'll say something stupid or embarrassing. I have a few scripts that I've become comfortable with over the years (usually as a result of observing someone else initially), but any time there's a deviation from that, I panic.