Social Anxiety Quiz

Recognizing Social Anxiety Disorder

Mental health professionals frequently use The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) to make diagnostic decisions. While it’s not a perfect system, diagnoses are important for a number of reasons. Without a name for the problem, research vital to understanding a problem and developing effective treatments for it simply doesn’t take place. On a practical level, if you try to receive mental health services for a problem that has no diagnosis, you’re not likely to get your health insurance to pay.

Let’s look at the specific criteria that must be met for a clinical diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. The DSM-IV says an individual with social anxiety disorder will:

• Show significant and persistent fear of social situations in which embarrassment or rejection may occur;
• Experience immediate anxiety-driven, physical reactions to feared social situations;
• Realize that his or her fears are greatly exaggerated, but feel powerless to do anything about them; and
• Often avoid the dreaded social situation — at any cost.

Someone may fear just one or a few social situations — public speaking being a common example — in which case the problem is referred to as a specific, or discrete social phobia. In contrast, generalized social anxiety disorder exists when a person is afraid and avoids many, or most social situations.

Self-Assessment Test: Do You Have Social Anxiety Disorder?

By going through the checklists below, you’ll get a good idea of how your body and mind react to the fear of disapproval, and about the range of social and performance situations that you try to avoid. If you decide to seek help from a physician or a therapist, bring this completed form with you. It will provide the professional with much useful information about you and your situation and may speed up the assessment process.

These are situations in which I’m likely to experience social anxiety:

(Check off any that apply. Put a star by the situations you’re also most likely to avoid.)

❒ Talking on the telephone
❒ Being introduced to others
❒ Answering the door
❒ Interacting with clerks at the
bank, grocery store, dry cleaners, etc.
❒ Dealing with doctor’s offices
❒ Attending church
❒ Buying or returning items at
department stores
❒ Driving (for fear of what other
drivers are thinking of you)
❒ Going to the gas station
❒ Using public restrooms (not due to fear of germs)
❒ Eating in front of other people
❒ Writing or signing name in front of others
❒ Attending social events
❒ Hosting social events
❒ Dating
❒ Talking in a small group
❒ Acting assertively
❒ Expressing your opinion
❒ Talking about yourself to others (being the
center of attention)
❒ Speaking to a large group
❒ Performance situations, such as playing a musical
instrument or taking a test
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________

These are ways I engage in “partial avoidance behavior”:
(Partial avoidance means that you may not entirely avoid
a situation, but you find some way to limit or control your
experience of the situation.)

❒ I use alcohol or drugs before entering a feared social situation.
❒ If I attend a social situation, I stay only a certain length of
time.
❒ I’m likely to set other conditions on attendance, such as
staying close to certain, “safe” people or staying in a
certain place.
❒ I frequently try to distract myself by daydreaming or thinking
about other things.
❒ I’m likely to avoid eye-contact.
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________

These are the physical symptoms I’m likely to experience when I’m anxious:

❒ Blushing
❒ Shaking/tremors (e.g., commonly occurs with the hands, but it might be the head that shakes, or facial twitching, etc.)
❒ Sweating
❒ Hot flashes/cold flashes
❒ Gastrointenstinal discomfort
❒ Diarrhea
❒ Muscle tension
❒ Heart palpitations or racing heart
❒ Shortness of breath
❒ Tightness in chest
❒ Feelings of weakness (e.g., legs feel like jello)
❒ Lightheadedness/dizziness
❒ Choking sensations, lump in throat, dry mouth
❒ Feelings of unreality (almost seems like you’re in a fog)
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________

I experience panic attacks, either in social situations, or in anticipation of them: (A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear and anxiety, usually accompanied by several or many of the above physical symptoms. It will usually reach a peak in five to 20 minutes before subsiding.)

Yes ❒ No ❒

I’m especially likely to experience panic attacks in these situations:

____________________________________________________________

I experience panic attacks approximately _______ times per week.

These are the things I’m likely to be telling myself either before, during, or after a social situation:

❒ I’m such a loser.
❒ I don’t fit in.
❒ Everyone can tell how nervous I am.
❒ I don’t have anything interesting to say.
❒ I’m so ugly.
❒ I’m boring.
❒ I have to get out of here before I embarrass myself any more.
❒ My voice is quivering.
❒ I sound stupid.
❒ I’m a social misfit.
❒ People must think I’m “crazy.”
❒ Everyone thinks I’m too quiet.
❒ If I blow it, it’s the end of the world.
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________
❒ Other: ________________________________

Other key questions to ask about my reactions to feared social situations:

Does avoidance of these situations interfere with my normal routine?
Yes ❒ No ❒

Does the fear and avoidance interfere with my academic (school) functioning?
Yes ❒ No ❒

Does the fear and avoidance interfere with my occupational (work) functioning?
Yes ❒ No ❒

Does the fear and avoidance interfere with my social activities and/or relationships?
Yes ❒ No ❒

Does having social anxiety cause me significant pain and distress?
Yes ❒ No ❒

Now you’ll want to review your answers. Before doing this, refer back to the beginning of this page where we listed the four specific criteria that must be met for a clinical diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. As you look over your answers, keep these criteria in mind. You’ll likely be able to tell whether your anxiety problems fall into this diagnostic category.

Painfully Shy No More 

We want you to know, we think it’s fine to be shy. There’s definitely an important place in the world for quiet, sensitive, and reserved people. But no one should have to be painfully shy. Some of you may not even consider yourselves shy. You may feel outgoing in some situations, but anxiety holds you back at others times. In either case, no one should have to bear the physical distress and the mental anguish that come with social anxiety disorder. No one should have to limit one’s life because of fear.

There’s good news. Now, more than ever, there are ways to minimize the harmful effects of unchecked social anxiety. You’ve taken an important first step by completing this self-assessment questionnaire.

Take some time and allow yourself to imagine a life free from the fear and anxiety you’ve grown so accustomed to. Imagine a life where you can do what you truly want to do, not only what you’re “comfortable” doing. Know that you’re on the right track — you can reclaim your life.

(Adapted from Chapter One of Painfully Shy: How to Overcome Social Anxiety and Reclaim Your Life.)