Social Anxiety
An intense, persistent fear of social or performance situations due to fear of negative evaluation, embarrassment, or humiliation — leading to significant avoidance and distress.
Quick answer
Social anxiety describes intense fear of social or performance situations in which scrutiny by others is possible, driven by fear of embarrassment, humiliation, or negative evaluation. ICD-10: F40.1 (social phobia); ICD-11: 6B04. One of the most prevalent anxiety disorders, causing significant occupational, educational, and social impairment.
Recognition
Do any of these feel familiar?
People describe dreading social events weeks in advance, rehearsing conversations obsessively, and analysing interactions afterwards for evidence of embarrassment. Physical symptoms — blushing, sweating, voice trembling — create a secondary fear of these symptoms being noticed. Many have declined career opportunities, social invitations, and relationship possibilities to avoid the anxiety. Some function adequately in structured professional settings but find unstructured social interaction overwhelming.
What is Social Anxiety?
An intense, persistent fear of social or performance situations due to fear of negative evaluation, embarrassment, or humiliation — leading to significant avoidance and distress.
Approaches Commonly Explored
Commonly explored for conditions related to Social Anxiety, grouped by mechanism — select your subtype above to highlight the most relevant path.
How to use these approaches
Most people begin with Stabilise approaches, then progress toward Resolve and Sustain.
Cognitive patterns, emotional processing, and stress response.
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