Social anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder — sometimes known as social phobia — is a type of anxiety disorder that causes anxiety or fear in social settings.
Someone with this disorder has trouble talking with people, meeting new people, and attending social gatherings. They may feel anxious about others judging or scrutinizing them.
They may understand their fears are irrational but feel powerless to overcome them.
Social anxiety is different from shyness. Shyness can make socializing, school, and work difficult, but it doesn’t disrupt life to the same extent as social anxiety. Social anxiety is persistent and overwhelming and may affect everyday activities, such as shopping for groceries (Higuera, 2023).
Social anxiety disorder is a condition that causes you to fear and avoid social situations. It can impact your relationships, job, and other aspects of your day-to-day life. Treatment for SAD, including certain medications and therapy, can be very effective.
If you have social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, the stress of these situations is too much to handle. You might, for example, avoid all social contact because things that other people consider “normal” — like making small talk and eye contact — make you very uncomfortable. The disorder impacts your relationships, work life, and other daily activities. Depending on the severity of your SAD, not just your social life, all aspects of your life could start to fall apart.
Experts divide SAD into a few different categories, based on the situations that trigger the anxiety as well as how severely it affects you.
Generalized SAD. In this type, you feel anxiety in most or all social settings and occasions when you have to perform in front of others, such as giving a speech or presentation. In fact, the number and variety of anxiety-inducing situations may be so great that if you tried to list them all, you’d likely forget at least a few.
Nongeneralized (specific) SAD. This type of SAD troubles you in only a few social situations, perhaps just one. For example, you may become quite anxious when eating with others but be at ease in other social circumstances.
Social anxiety is also classified by its severity.
Mild social anxiety. If your SAD is mild, you may experience symptoms but still be able to take part in social activities - or at least get through them. You’re more likely to have non generalized SAD, in which only a limited number of social situations bother you.
Moderate social anxiety. In this type, you feel SAD symptoms in social settings. You’re able to participate in some of them, but you avoid others.
Extreme social anxiety. In this type, the intensity of your symptoms, including panic attacks, leads you to avoid many if not all social situations (McMillen, 2025).
Social anxiety disorder is a condition characterized by a fear of being watched or judged by others in social situations. It may occur due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
Social anxiety disorder is also known as social phobia. Anxiety is a fear that arises in anticipation of an event, and a phobia is an irrational fear of certain objects or situations.
People with social anxiety disorder may feel worried about appearing anxious, such as blushing or trembling, or about others thinking that they are awkward or unintelligent. Many people also have strong physical symptoms, such as an increased heart rate, feeling sick, or sweating.
Although the person may acknowledge that their fear is excessive, the anxiety often feels overpowering and out of their control.
The triggers of social anxiety vary among people but might include:
meeting unfamiliar people
talking to people at work or school
being called on to speak in class
having to talk to a cashier in a store
using a public restroom
being seen when eating or drinking
having to perform in front of others (Felman, 2023).
People with social anxiety disorder fear and avoid the scrutiny of others. The concern in such situations is that the individual will say or do something that will result in embarrassment or humiliation. These concerns can be so pronounced that the individual shuns most interpersonal encounters, or endures such situations only with intense discomfort. Once largely neglected by the medical community, social anxiety disorder came to the attention of the general medical community a decade ago, and is now garnering increased attention and recognition as a widespread, impairing, but treatable condition.
Individuals with social anxiety disorder are typically shy when meeting new people, quiet in groups, and withdrawn in unfamiliar social settings. When they interact with others, they might or might not show overt evidence of discomfort (eg, blushing, not making eye contact), but invariably experience intense emotional or physical symptoms, or both (eg, fear, heart racing, sweating, trembling, trouble concentrating). They crave the company of others, but shun social situations for fear of being found out as unlikable, stupid, or boring. Accordingly, they avoid speaking in public, expressing opinions, or even fraternising with peers; in some situations, this can lead to such individuals being mistakenly labelled as snobs. People with social anxiety disorder are typified by low self-esteem and high self-criticism, and as detailed below, often have depressive symptoms. The specific fear of urinating in public restrooms (paruresis, or so-called shy bladder syndrome) can be regarded as a discrete, relatively rare subtype of social anxiety disorder (Stein, Stein, 2008).
Felman, A. (2023, November 14). Social anxiety disorder: Causes, symptoms, and treatment. What to know about social anxiety disorder. MedicalNewsToday. Retrieved from:https://shorturl.at/9mEgw.
Higuera, V. (2023, February 6). Social anxiety disorder: Causes, symptoms, and diagnosis. Social Anxiety Disorder. Healthline. Retrieved from: https://shorturl.at/Mbsoi.
McMillen, M. (2025, January 22). What is social anxiety disorder or social phobia? WebMD. Retrieved from: https://shorturl.at/vAVys.
Stein, M. B., Stein, D. J. (2008, April 4). Social anxiety disorder. The Lancet. ScienceDirect, 371(9618), 1115-1125. Retrieved from: https://shorturl.at/psU6D.