Social anxiety

Social anxiety is fear or apprehension about being judged, embarrassed, or rejected in social situations. It ranges from ordinary unease to distress that substantially disrupts daily life.

Fear of negative evaluation: Concern that others will judge oneself unfavorably, especially in situations involving scrutiny. Anticipated unfavorable judgment is a central focus of social anxiety.
Social evaluation: The process of assessing how another person is perceived by other people. Actual or imagined evaluation often gives social situations their perceived stakes.
Social Anxiety Disorder Severity Scale: A clinical rating scale that assesses fear and avoidance across social interaction and performance situations. It offers a structured way to track social anxiety symptoms and change.
Introversion: A personality tendency to prefer lower levels of social stimulation or more time alone. Preference for solitude does not by itself imply fear of judgment or distress.
Self-focused attention: Attention directed toward one's own thoughts, feelings, appearance, or behavior rather than external events. Monitoring oneself can intensify perceived awkwardness during social encounters.
Shyness: A tendency toward hesitation or discomfort in unfamiliar or socially demanding situations. Shyness can involve social unease without the persistent impairment of a disorder.
Cognitive restructuring: A therapeutic method for identifying and evaluating unhelpful interpretations and beliefs. It can examine predictions of humiliation or rejection before and after social events.
Agoraphobia: A disorder involving fear of situations where escape or help might be difficult if panic-like symptoms occur. Its central fear concerns escape or help, not primarily negative social evaluation.
Safety behavior: An action used to prevent a feared outcome or conceal signs of distress, often without testing whether the danger is real. Concealment and overpreparation can preserve beliefs that social situations are threatening.
Social anxiety disorder: A mental disorder marked by persistent, disproportionate fear of social scrutiny that causes significant distress or impairment. This diagnosis identifies the clinically impairing end of social anxiety.

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Schizotypal personality disorderRelated: Social anxiety may persist even with familiar people and contribute to interpersonal difficulty.