four social anxiety myths:
1. a common misperception about people with social anxiety is that weâre all introverted.
social anxiety makes us worried and nervous in social situations; overthinking what we say, caring too much about the opinions of others, thinking everyone is judging us, having anxiety/panic attacks.
but a lot of people with social anxiety are very friendly and talkative once they get comfortable with people! i enjoy talking and socializing with friends, itâs just difficult most of the time with everyone else.
i like to call myself an introverted extrovert. iâm an extrovert at heart, but iâm not good at being extroverted. there are also extroverted introverts, who are naturally charismatic and well-liked, but donât enjoy parties, crowds, etc.
2. all people with social anxiety are anxious in all social situations.
there are people with severe anxiety who are constantly anxious and want little to no social interaction. but a lot of us have anxiety depending on a variety of factors, like:
the topic of conversation
the amount of people in the room/conversation
how well we know the people in the room
the social status/age of the people in the room or conversation
our appearance (angry pimple, bad hair day, evidence that we cried in the bathroom ten minutes ago)
some are quick to dismiss the possibility of other people having social anxiety who arenât anxious all the time. but everyone acts different around different people, right? that doesnât mean theyâre fake, it just means they have varied comfort zones among people they talk to!!
3. social anxiety just means you get nervous speaking in public.
nooooooo!!! social anxiety is a variety of symptoms, not just nervousness.
a normal person gets nervous, and their words jumble together, they get clammy hands, theyâre a little embarrassed, but they can calm themselves down soon after.
a person with social anxiety gets nervous, and they stutter, mumble, they get so worried about the stupid things they said that they canât focus on anything, which makes them say more stupid things. they get so nervous that they sweat, overheat, tremble, their heart pounds and races, their face turns red. when they can focus on anything, they replay whatever embarrassing thing happened, over and over again in their mind, which gives them worse anxiety. they want to run away, they wonder if theyâll ever be normal. which brings me to the next myth:
4. social anxiety can be fixed or powered through.
social anxiety is a mental disorder that is diagnosed by a doctor. you wouldnât walk up to someone with leukemia and say âgod, just get over it!â because itâs a medical problem! you canât just get over it by telling yourself to! itâs the same with social anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and any other mental problem. of course you can learn new ways to deal with it, get to a point where it controls you less, go to therapy, etc., but itâs always a part of your life.
