Social Anxiety Disorder: What is it?
Everyone can relate to feeling anxious before giving a presentation, asking someone out, or going on a
job interview. Butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms, pounding heart-all of these are normal
feelings in a new or intimidating social situation. Social anxiety, however, manifests as extreme self-
consciousness in everyday social situations that others would find non-threatening: having a
conversation, ordering food, or making a phone call. When anxiety occurs in situations like these, and
results in significant distress, avoidance, overwhelming anxiety, and excessive self-consciousness in
everyday social or performance situations, it is possibly social anxiety disorder. According to Anxiety &
Depression Association of America (ADAA), about 15 million American adults struggle with social
anxiety. If your feeling of anxiety is persistent and intense to the point it interferes with your
functioning (social, occupational, academic) or negatively influences your self-esteem, it is probably
beneficial to talk with a professional. Diagnosed or undiagnosed, the good news is there are steps you
can take to make sure it does not define your college experience.
Some common symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder:
Feelings of being visibly nervous in front of others.
Intense fear of being judged, negatively evaluated, scrutinized.
Intense fear of being embarrassed or humiliated in front of others.
Extreme anticipatory anxiety about social interactions and performance situations, such as
speaking to a group.
Fear of not knowing what to say.
Avoiding face-to-face interactions by depending on technology.
Fear of eating in public.
Using alcohol or marijuana to function in social situations.
Physiological signs such as sweaty palms, feeling a lump in the throat, increased heart rate, and
nausea.
How to manage on
college campus?
The college experience and environment in and
of itself can be a triggering experience for some.
Being in an unfamiliar environment, often with
unfamiliar people, and confronting a daily dose
of new situations can elicit anxious thoughts
and feelings. The college environment tends to
favor extroverts, which combined with social
anxiety can make college feel overwhelming.
Learning your triggers and being intentional
with some basic coping mechanisms can help
reduce the impact of the social anxiety
experience:
Academic Life
Develop relationships with your professors:
Introduce yourself after class, or visit professors
during office hours. Creating dialogue about
your classroom experience helps you create an
ally in the classroom. You do not have to bring
anxiety into the conversation in order to reap
the benefits. If you struggle with active
participation in the classroom, these efforts
demonstrate your interest and knowledge, even
if it does not garner participation points.
Nevertheless, it can’t hurt!
About those participation points: Being an
active learner in a classroom can be
complicated for those with social anxiety. You
think (and over think) about what to ask or how
to answer until you finally make your
move…followed by thinking (and overthinking)
about how your comment sounded, what
others thought of your answer and often
assuming they think the worst. Some coping
for this comes in the preparation. Read the
assignment before class. Identify some key
areas and formulate a thoughtful question in
advance. Write it down! This will help you feel
confident with the question if you start to
freeze. Asking a question is sometimes less
threatening than answering questions. Talk
with your faculty about alternative or creative
ways to participate.
Presenting in front of groups: You will likely
encounter class presentations or speeches
along the way. Even contributing to
organization meetings can feel like “public
speaking.” Working on self-talk and relaxation
skills is important. Your counselor can help
identify strategies that will be uniquely
beneficial for you.
Group Projects: This can be challenging for
students with our without social anxiety, but
extra trying perhaps for those with. Group
projects are not going away anytime soon, and
you will likely encounter them in the work force
as well. Identify what it is you don’t like;
waiting to be ‘picked’ for a group, feel like you
are doing most of the work, others’
procrastination that might enhance your own
anxiety are a few common experiences. Pick the
most stressful element and make a strategy.
This might include improving assertive
communication, using your delegation skills,
‘volunteering’ for a task before you are assigned
the grunt work.
Fellow students: Similar to your professor, it is
helpful to establish an ally in the classroom.
Make an effort the first day of class to establish
contact with another student. This might be
anxiety provoking, but will help establish a
foundation for the rest of the semester. Nod,
smile, make eye contact, say hello, and the
dreaded small talk (about class, homework,
weather, anything!) can prove valuable.
Social Life
So let’s establish that not all people who are shy
are introverts, and not all introverts are
shy…and not all socially anxious individuals fit
easily in these categories! Many people dealing
with social anxiety feel a conflicted need for
alone time that clash with a desire for some
sense of social affiliation. Please know these
can co-exist. We do not all fit into easily
defined boxes, and what fits your needs one
day might trigger you the next. Self-awareness
is your friend!
Live in a residence hall? Try to challenge
yourself to engage with people at least a couple
times a day. You can do this passively by
studying in the lounge, or leaving your door
open and saying hello to people. You can also
take some social risk, be more assertive and
initiate contact with others: inviting someone to
watch a movie, for example, takes the pressure
off small talk. Or ask a friend to grab a coffee
before class; this gives you an automatic end
time. If it goes well, you can do something else
later. And if someone invites you? You might
feel wonderfully affirmed and panic stricken at
the same time. It is okay to smile and say
“thanks, let me get back to you” and take a
minute to consider your needs. Reacting to
panic and saying no immediately is likely not
the best in the end. If you are unable to join,
perhaps offering an alternative will keep the
door open for more invites later.
Live off campus? It is easy and sometimes very
comfortable to retreat off campus. If you feel
like you are missing out, try staying on campus
a few hours a week, even if this means simply
studying in a common area (AMU, Student Life
Center, Davis). This will assist in lessening
isolation and gives you an opportunity for
informally meeting others in a low-risk setting.
It is also okay to know your needs; sometimes
you might just prefer to be alone in a quiet
environment to decompress and not feel “on.”
No apologies necessary! Balancing alone time
and social connectedness needs in an
intentional way will likely give you a better
sense of control and reduce overall stress level.
A bit of both is probably necessary.
Friendships: If you have social anxiety, you have
likely dealt with a precarious balancing act of
caring for yourself and not alienating your
friends. Sometimes others might not
understand what triggers your anxiety, or how
draining it might be for you to be in social
environments. If you find your friends
personalizing your anxiety (getting upset when
you choose not to go out, or rejecting
invitations to uncomfortably large social scenes)
you may choose to discuss this with them.
Once your friends understand your triggers, it
might just keep them from dragging you into
situations that exacerbate your anxiety. Having
said that, not everyone will understand, and
that is okay too. Over time it is important to
find a social ally, much like the academic allies
discussed earlier.
How to overcome SA
Confront Distorted Thinking
All of us have some tendencies to be stuck in
our thinking from time to time, perhaps giving
too much airtime to negative self-talk. Those
with social anxiety tend to have a few
prominent thinking traps that perpetuate the
anxiety and elevate distress. Personalizing
situations, negatively interpreting events,
magnifying the importance of a situation, and
being hypersensitive to criticism and rejection
are a few common ones. Working with a
therapist will help you identify your traps and
explore strategies to change. You can start by
identifying one or two that sound all too
familiar to you, increasing your awareness of
how frequently these thoughts show up.
Practice Daily
Have you ever heard the phrase “practice
makes permanent?” It is likely that your
experience of anxious thoughts has been
“practiced” (unintentionally) for quite some
time. After recognizing your thinking traps, it
takes daily, intentional effort to bring about
changes in our thought patterns. Identify one
new skill/behavior or a comforting
thought/mantra and practice every day,
multiple times a day. When this becomes more
comfortable or routine, and then add another.
Try Out New Social Skills
As with most phobias, one of the best strategies
is exposure. As awkward and uncomfortable as
it might feel, challenge yourself to try new skills
and expose yourself repeatedly to situations
that cause some anxiety. Making comfortable
eye contact, saying hello to people you pass,
practicing phone calls, and raising your hand in
class are all strategies that increase social skills,
improve skill-confidence, and aid in reducing
anxiety over time. Start with the lowest risk
and work your way through new skills. You
might be surprised the benefit you can get from
making intentional “wrong number” phone
calls, or asking the store clerk to help you find
an item.
Avoid Avoidance
A common response to uncomfortable anxious
feelings is to avoid those things that make us
anxious. Although this seems like a solution
when we are in the moment, this has some
long-term implications that are not helpful.
Avoidance reinforces the fear response. At
some point, our brain interprets this not as “I
choose” but as “I can’t”. The more we avoid
things, the more our world shrinks and our
anxiety seems to loom even larger. Think of
things like making phone calls. You might
choose to use technology instead of calling, but
over time, actually making a call becomes more
intensely anxiety provoking.
Learn Relaxation & Self-care
Find some effective means of self-care that
works for you. Yoga, deep breathing, and
calming music are all helpful in reducing the
physiological impact of anxiety. Meditation or
“mindfulness” practices provide benefit. Cardio
exercise helps reduce cortisol levels, the
hormone responsible for that stressed-out
feeling. If you can’t “people” and don’t feel like
going to the gym, run the stairs of your
residence hall, do jumping jacks in your room,
plug in your earbuds and focus on a mantra.
There are wonderful apps for mindfulness,
guided relaxation, and meditation. Relaxation is
not just for reacting to stress and anxiety. Make
this a proactive part of your daily routine to
increase your resilience to anxiety.
Know your risks
Some things to consider. Having any mental
health condition unfortunately can make us
more vulnerable for other mental health
conditions. Unmanaged/untreated anxiety
increases the vulnerability for depression.
About 50% of those with depression have a pre-
existing anxiety disorder. (hercampus.com)
Another risk is alcohol and other drug use.
More so than other college students, those with
social anxiety are particularly susceptible to
using alcohol to facilitate social situations.
While it might seem effective in the moment it
can lead to greater situational and health
problems. An estimated 20% of adults with
social anxiety disorder also suffer from alcohol
abuse or dependence (hercampus.com).
Healthy coping is key.
Consider Treatment
We understand that seeking help can be an
anxiety trigger in and of itself. Sometimes
socially anxious people, by very nature of
fearing embarrassment and humiliation, put off
getting the needed professional support. ADAA
estimates that 36% of those with social anxiety
had symptoms for ten or more years before
seeking treatment. In spite of being highly
treatable, only about one-third seek treatment.
Seeking help for mental health problems is not
a sign of weakness. If you feel this way, throw
that idea out the window! Seeking help is taking
charge and working to get your life back!
Professional help exists for a reason. When you
are ready, help is available. This is a free
student service at University of Findlay. Why
wait?
On Campus Resource
University of Findlay Counseling Services
(Free, Professional, Confidential)
307 Frazer Street
By appointment: 419-434-4526
Walk-in time: Tuesdays 3:00-4:00 pm, Fridays
9:00 am-11:30 am
Self Help Resources
Anonymous screening:
http://screening.mentalhealthscreening.org/OILERS
Oiler Nation web site Keyword: counseling
(self-help)
Content adapted from the following
sources:
https://adaa.org
https://socialanxietyinstitute.org
https://www.hercampus.com
