If you suffer with social anxiety, you may wonder whether your symptoms are severe enough for you to be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD).
People with SAD fear being embarrassed or humiliated in front of others. You may be afraid of one or many different types of social situations.
People with SAD frequently have both emotional and physical symptoms.
Some of the emotional symptoms include:
* intense fear of situations where you don’t know other people
* fear of situations where you will be judged
* anxiety about being embarrassed or humiliated
* fear that others will notice your anxiety
* fear and dread of upcoming events weeks in advance
Examples of physical symptoms include:
* blushing
* profuse sweating
* trembling hands
* muscle tension
* racing heart
People with SAD know that their fear is out of proportion to the actual situation, but are still unable to control their anxiety. The anxiety may be specific to one type of social or performance situation (known as specific SAD) or it may be in all situations (generalized SAD). Some of the situations that are common triggers include interacting with strangers, making eye contact, and initiating conversations.
