{"id":123,"date":"2020-04-12T14:01:32","date_gmt":"2020-04-12T19:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dontpanicdothis.com\/?page_id=123"},"modified":"2023-02-18T02:07:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T07:07:19","slug":"social-anxiety-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dontpanicdothis.com\/social-anxiety-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Social Anxiety Disorder, and how do you know if you have it?<\/p>\n

Jitters before a job interview? Nervous to meet your new girlfriend\u2019s family? Stressing about the class presentation that\u2019s a month away?<\/p>\n

These are just a few examples of social anxiety; something almost all of us will experience at some point. Very few people are completely immune to the effects of social anxiety, due to defense mechanisms in our DNA.<\/p>\n

Social Anxiety such as this is often normal and expected in most healthy individuals.<\/p>\n

Social Anxiety Disorder <\/em>is where things get trickier.<\/p>\n

Often called SAD or social phobia<\/a>, social anxiety disorder is more than just shyness. This disorder involves all of the usual anxiety symptoms but the anxiety is specifically triggered by social situations.<\/p>\n

People suffering from SAD may experience anywhere from mild to severe anxiety. This anxiety can come about before, during, after, or just from thinking about social situations.<\/p>\n

Sufferers of social phobia may feel anxious engaging in even the most simple and routine social scenarios. Their whole day could be ruined just thinking about how they may see someone they know at the grocery store. They may skip out on important family events like birthdays or weddings due to their anxiety. In extreme cases, a person may slowly and completely isolate themselves to avoid uncomfortable or routine interpersonal interactions entirely.<\/p>\n

While mild social anxiety is often nothing to worry about, worsening social phobia is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n

Avoidant behavior shrinks anxiety sufferers\u2019 comfort zone over time and can lead to even more crippling disorders such as agoraphobia.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of SAD<\/strong><\/h2>\n