I always thought shyness was you just were afraid/didn't want to talk to people. And social anxiety is where you get nervous and actually can't talk to them.
Are they synonyms for each other, or do they have different meanings?
It's true that we can't change the thing itself by giving it a different name, but often we can change our perception of things by using different words to describe it. After all, language constitutes a large part of how we perceive the universe. Poets have known for centuries, perhaps we can us it to help us overcome SA. My therapist asked me to use "could" instead of "should." For example, instead of telling yourself "I should have done x," you could say "I could have done x." I find this simple change in language very empowering.
I would say no they are not the same but they are similar. Like a dog is similar to a wolf, you know, they are the canine type (or class, or genus whatever the right word is).
It's like that with shyness and SA. Similar--but entirely different animals. I think the difference is that with SA, you tend to avoid things and this avoidance interferes with a normal life.
I personally believe shyness and social anxiety are totally different things, I would be able to function very well in society if all I was is shy (even extremely shy). Physical symptoms of anxiety are debilitating and totally stop you from any type of interaction with other people.
I Agree. To be shy is more like a personnality trait whereas SA is something that pretty much controls your life and causes "distress" in life. In fact, I think some people with SA are not particularly shy; they might have the anxiety, but get comfortable and extroverted afterwards.
SA is not just having intense shyness it is something your brain amplifies ten fold. someone with out SA will get shy in the middle of 2 hot bikini chicks (normal). someone with SA will sh1t in his pants (figuratively speaking) and shake like a wet chihuahua dog in the middle of 2 hot bikini chicks (not normal).
that over amplification it's, what i think, SA.:um
So wouldn't that simply be super omega extreme shyness then? Shyness definitely interferes with people lives as well. I bet a shy person sometimes pisses a little and if you times the amplitude by 100, it'll turn into sh1t.
Personally I can't find a distinction between shyness and SA besides severity of symptoms and negativity.
My feeling is that people with social anxiety can be socially engaging despite having anxiety attacks, whereas shy people can feel uncomfortable talking to someone they don't know very well but they aren't having panic attacks. I know there are people with social anxiety who say they don't consider themselves shy at all.
Every 3 - 6 months, this issue comes around and most of the same people echo the same opinions on the matter- with none changing their opinions or accepting other's perspectives on the issue. So I'll reiterate my positions, and probably will do the same 3 - 6 months from now, when someone else makes a post about this issue again.
First of all, I think there is a GREAT INJUSTICE being committed here against shyness by so easily throwing it into a sentence with Social Anxiety. I see shyness as a perfectly normal human personality trait; no different from any other personality type. Outgoing people do not necessarily care more about people or think positively of people, in some cases, they are extroverted due to their shallow feelings towards people.
There is nothing wrong with shyness or shy people. They do not hate people, or feel intimated by people, or have negative feelings or opinions towards people. Shyness is simply another flavor of human personality. It's like some people liking Vanilla ice cream and some people liking Chocolate ice cream. Some people like getting drunk with a herd of outgoing people, and some people prefer spending quality time with a few close friends and family. I think it's unfair and even illogical to associate shyness with the negative feelings and irrational fears of Social Anxiety.
This is like putting a Racist and an Homophobic together and saying they have the same underlying negative thinking because they are both prejudice. Are we to say that the Racist, is unconsciously homophobic, or that the homophobic is unconsciously racist. I think not. They are too independent traits, which sometimes can be found together but most of the time they are found independently.
Then there is the issue of several other disorders like Panic Disorder and Social Anxiety. Many people here have Social Anxiety but have never had a panic attack, while some people have many panic attacks but do not have social anxiety.
While fear is commonly offered as a universal link between the two, I think that that is more a feature of creativity than science. If we are to believe that people with Panic Disorders are unconsciously thinking negatively, can we then say that people with Social Anxiety are unconsciously having panic attacks?
I am open to just about any theory or opinion that can shed light on Social Anxiety or Panic Disorder, but I do not feel that "irrational thinking" should be used as a blanket to cover anything that remotely resemble Social Anxiety. People may have very similar behaviors, but they may have them for very different reasons.
I don't think they're the same thing. I used to consider myself shy, because I was quiet around new people. Other than that, I was fine.
When I started noticing a difference, it wasn't just that I was shy. It was more than that where I had to go to a doctor for help. People who are just shy don't go to the doctor for it.
Objectives: This study aimed to clarify the boundaries of social phobia and the nature of
shyness. Despite the similarities between social phobia and shyness, the vast majority of
shy persons do not meet diagnostic criteria for social phobia. Conversely, most persons
with social phobia, specifically the generalized subtype, are shy. This study sought to
identify factors that delineate generalized social phobia from shyness.
Results: All symptoms were more prevalent among the shy with social phobia than the
shy without social phobia. Almost 40% of the shy without social phobia did not endorse
social fears per se, even though they reported high levels of shyness. Those with social
phobia reported higher levels of impairment and lower levels of quality of life compared
to the shy without social phobia. Both the shy and social phobia groups reported similar
levels of anticipatory anxiety prior to the social tasks; however, the social phobia group
reported relatively elevated levels of anxiety during the social tasks. Those with social
phobia demonstrated social skills deficits across tasks, whereas the shy did so only in the
unstructured social tasks. Both groups underestimated their effectiveness during the
speech relative to independent observers. None of the three groups differed on the
physiological measures.
Conclusions: The findings indicated that shyness is a broader construct than social
phobia. Some subsets of the shy group appeared to be more qualitatively similar to the
social phobia group than others. Those with social phobia appeared to experience more
anxiety and exhibit more social skills deficits during the social interactions than the shy
without social phobia, which may account for the higher levels of impairment they
reported. The results are discussed in the context of current theoretical models of social
phobia.
I think the lines are blurred and there is a lot of overlap.
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