A Confusing Development

Peter Morrison · Jun 5, 2019

I experienced social anxiety during my lifetime and I could never understand where it came from. I also never knew why it would hit me in situations where I had no reason to be anxious or ill-at-ease. I suspect it is related to being overly self-conscious. Still not sure.

frink · Jun 24, 2019

I also recently learned of the term "social anxiety", around the time of my diagnosis about a year ago (and my age is mid-30s). My therapist had mentioned this term while quickly listing off a bunch of types of anxiety. I had just claimed I had no anxiety. But as she read this list and I heard the term "social anxiety" I remember saying something like "WAIT. Tell me more about social anxiety." I didn't know it was a thing. I knew I had it before she elaborated. I usually spend about 3-10x more time thinking about social interactions, in person or by email, compared to the time spent on the interaction itself. I fear running into my neighbors and especially dislike when someone strikes up a conversation with me. It is exhausting. Some days just the idea that I need to send an email about a certain topic destroys my productivity for the entire day.

Per the definition of autism spectrum disorder, there are basically two groups of requirements and both groups are required for a diagnosis. One relates to difficulty with social interactions. So if you have social anxiety that affects you negatively, you probably much meet requirements on that side. The other relates to restrictive & repetitive behaviors. I think significant sensory issues may also be in this category. For me, my brain is very "sticky", meaning it is very hard to switch my train of thought from one thing to another. I do have restricted interests. It takes extreme concentration to process a conversation if it is not something aligned with my interests. So I technically have restricted interests, but somehow I don't really feel I should count here, because I don't consider this a deficit or a problem. But anyway, whether or not you meet the requirements of ASD would likely depend on this category. I haven't read any other entries of your blog and only saw your post in a "recently posted" section of this web site, so apologies if this is something you already know or if this isn't helpful.

catdog55616 · Jun 30, 2019

frink said:
I also recently learned of the term "social anxiety", around the time of my diagnosis about a year ago (and my age is mid-30s). My therapist had mentioned this term while quickly listing off a bunch of types of anxiety. I had just claimed I had no anxiety. But as she read this list and I heard the term "social anxiety" I remember saying something like "WAIT. Tell me more about social anxiety." I didn't know it was a thing. I knew I had it before she elaborated. I usually spend about 3-10x more time thinking about social interactions, in person or by email, compared to the time spent on the interaction itself. I fear running into my neighbors and especially dislike when someone strikes up a conversation with me. It is exhausting. Some days just the idea that I need to send an email about a certain topic destroys my productivity for the entire day.

Per the definition of autism spectrum disorder, there are basically two groups of requirements and both groups are required for a diagnosis. One relates to difficulty with social interactions. So if you have social anxiety that affects you negatively, you probably much meet requirements on that side. The other relates to restrictive & repetitive behaviors. I think significant sensory issues may also be in this category. For me, my brain is very "sticky", meaning it is very hard to switch my train of thought from one thing to another. I do have restricted interests. It takes extreme concentration to process a conversation if it is not something aligned with my interests. So I technically have restricted interests, but somehow I don't really feel I should count here, because I don't consider this a deficit or a problem. But anyway, whether or not you meet the requirements of ASD would likely depend on this category. I haven't read any other entries of your blog and only saw your post in a "recently posted" section of this web site, so apologies if this is something you already know or if this isn't helpful.

This was very helpful! I suppose I never thought of "social issues" as something I was aware of, if that makes sense.

A Confusing Development

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Peter Morrison

frink

catdog55616

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