Is having social anxiety part of AS?

Post Reply New Topic

Not all people with AS have social phobia/social anxiety. Or do they?

I certainly don't. I have no problems talking to strangers on the subway, on the street, etc. It's actually easier for me to talk to strangers than to people I know, because I feel that the people who have gotten to know me have certain expectations from me, and if I come across as weird in some way, they will stop talking to me.

I also have no trouble with public speaking. I used to get super nervous, even back in grade 10, but with more practice I have gained confidence.

I'm also extremely open with people. I like to tell other people about my experiences and feelings. It's when I have to respond to whatever they have to say that it gets difficult for me, but that has nothing to do with social phobia. I might get nervous and tense when I get confused about what to do in a social situation, or when the level of external sensory stimuli is too high.

Adam (from the movie) didn't have social anxiety, either, like in the scene where he sits at the bench with a complete stranger and starts talking about his interests...

Nope.

Can be a comorbid, but so can any anxiety or mood disorder.

I also don't have social anxiety but I am shy but I don't have it. I think it's common in AS though.

I also have social anxiety from my AS

Nervous & tense = anxiety

I don't have trouble approaching people though, and that's what people with social anxiety struggle with. I don't shy away from social contact, even though it is difficult at times. Many people with AS can't bring themselves to go outside because of the people, which I don't understand. I go outside solely to talk to people.

So what I'm asking is, is having trouble approaching people and being tense simply being around people supposed to be an AS trait? I don't feel tense just being around people, like on the subway. I can do simple eye contact with strangers and maintain a conversation with them, but nothing too complicated and only if I'm interested in the subject. And I actually enjoy it. I wonder if this is something that can make me not an Aspie.

Last edited by MathGirl on 13 Sep 2009, 2:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I work as an IT-Technician / Supporter, and I have no problems when people come to me and explain their problem. And I love to help. But as soon as you take me out of my usual enviroment I get nervous. Let say if I'm going the other end of my work, to set up a computer for someone I don't know.

If there's no people, then there sure isn't a problem, I would do it right-away.
But if there is, or might be, then I really don't want to go.
In the end, I can force myself to do it, but that doesn't change the fact, that I hate it.
And if it was not about computers, but something entirely else, no way I would go!

There's a difference between getting nervous in social situaions sometimes and having significant social anxiety. Even NTs get anxious in social situations occasionally, especially introverted NTs.

Asperger's and social anxiety do not automatically come together. Social anxiety is a fixable problem; Asperger's is a permanent brain configuration. I sometimes think that many people blame on Asperger's what should actually be blamed on co-morbid social anxiety disorder...

The boundaries between what is described as a permanent brain configuration and a fixable problem are less clear than the above suggests. There are various neurological and genetic factors associated with SA as well (e.g., evidence for impaired reading of facial expressions). There are various etiological mechanisms that lead to the similar behavioural expressions that result in fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for social phobia, and for many, the available treatment options cannot fix their problems; it's not a unitary disorder.



It can be very difficult to separate AS and co-morbids, which often overlap at the neurological level. AS and anxiety occur together more frequently than not, and the evidence from family studies, for example, shows they are closely linked.

For interest, there is one social phobia criterion in the DSM that mentions PDDs and other condtions:

G. The fear or avoidance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition and is not better accounted for by another mental disorder (e.g., Panic Disorder With or Without Agoraphobia, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, a Pervasive Developmental Disorder, or Schizoid Personality Disorder).

This implies that they consider someone with a PDD (for example) who experiences anxiety and avoidance as a result of that to not be diagnosable with social phobia. However, a person with PDD might have developed social phobia symptoms due to the same mechanism(s) as someone without PDD; they cannot properly determine this.

i have... severe anxiety. Not sure if it's just social. I have anxiety about almost everything I suppose. It didn't used to be this bad when I was younger. I think it's just a common co-morbid.

AS can set you up to have it, but it's not a part of AS itself.

No, not all do. Many people with AS have social anxiety. In this case it's also very necessary to separate "social phobia" from "social anxiety." I'd say that there are very, very few people with AS who have social phobia. A phobia is an irrational fear. If the fear is because of repeated social problems, it's no more a phobia than if someone who is blind and deaf is afraid of busy streets. Anxiety, yes. Phobia, no.

I know I'm not the only one here who has had the experience of overcoming social anxiety through massive amounts of therapy, only to find that my worries had been fairly normal and rational responses to not understanding social interactions. Even after loads of psych courses including social & interpersonal psychology, there are lots of things I just don't get. When I let go of my anxieties about doing the wrong things socially, it gets me into trouble!
For me, therapy-induced confidence in my social ability is a lot like drunken confidence.. I end up being confidant that I have abilities that I just don't have!

It would be very confusing to separate the terms social phobia and social anxiety. Social phobia and social anxiety disorder are used interchangeably, and people diagnosed with it almost universally refer to themselves as having social anxiety (SA).

I do not suffer from social anxiety, and I really don't worry at all about my social deficits although I do try my best to minimize them. I suspect that much of AS social anxiety is caused by extremely serious rejection/abuse/bullying of many with AS with submissive appearances, and which seems to be endemic in schools and elsewhere.

How can something that's a legitimate fear be a phobia, though? Talking to anybody I don't know is like trying to cross a street in heavy traffic, blindfolded. Isn't "irrational fear" part of the definition of the word "phobia"?

i dont have any social anxiety either, i dont socialize, nor do i care, not to be mean, ill flapp,a nd spin and be giggling as a i rub my rubber keyboard all over my lips and face, and hands, running on my tipp toes right in the middle of a crowd.