What is social anxiety?

Information

Self-help Resources

 

What is social anxiety?

Social anxiety refers to anxiety surrounding interacting with other people, including your friends, strangers, lecturers, tutors, bosses, and potential boyfriends/girlfriends.  Social anxiety can be very restrictive, and can cause you significant problems at university as you have to give presentations, talk in tutorials, and do group work. 

At the core of social anxiety is a fear that we will be negatively evaluated where we worry that others may think that we look silly or that we may say something wrong.  Some other common features of social anxiety include:

1. Worrying about what people will think of you (“I’m an idiot”, “They’re laughing at me”
2. Avoiding social situation, including avoidance altogether, escaping once you’re in the situation, or doing things such as drinking alcohol so that the situation feels less threatening.
3. Experiencing many physical symptoms, including increased heart rate, increased breathing rate, sweating, etc.
4. Drinking alcohol to help you feel less anxious about social situations

Social anxiety exists along a continuum; in fact some degree of nervousness about social situations is quite common. 
Some degree of nervousness about social situations is quite common – after all, many people feel very nervous about public speaking.  Your anxiety may be problematic if it starts to interfere with your ability to study, work, or live life as you would like it.

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Information

Centre for Clinical Intervention
Information sheets and worksheets on self-esteem, looking at how thought maintain low self-esteem, and what you can do to increase self-esteem and self-confidence.

Reach Out!

Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (CRUfAD)

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Self-help Resources

Shyness TV
On-line education program on what social phobia is, its symptoms, and how to manage the symptoms.

Centre for Clinical Intervention
The workbook found on the CCI website steps you through what social anxiety is, what causes and maintains it, and provides self-paced cognitive behaviour therapy for social anxiety, including modifying unhelpful thoughts that lead to your anxiety, relaxation to calm your anxious reaction, and exposure to help you cope with anxiety-provoking situations.

 

Self-help books

Conquering Shyness by Fred Orr
Conquering Shyness takes a look at ways to overcome shyness by addressing a number of useful skills in body language, relaxation, communication and interpersonal skills, as well as ways of dealing with rejection.  Available for borrowing from our lending library.

Overcoming shyness and social phobia by Ron Rapee

 
The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne

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