sike to go as a digital media
organization that raises mental health
awareness by presenting psychological
topics in a digestible and relatable
manner please share our content with
those who need it it's a great way to
show your support to us as well if
you're an introverted person the chances
are you prefer your own company chat
that of crowds and consider yourself a
quiet and reserved person there's
absolutely nothing wrong with being an
introvert but it's important to know the
difference between introversion and
social anxiety as the two can easily
become intertwined and mistaken for one
another so what is social anxiety how
can you spot it and what should you do
if you need help dealing with it social
anxiety is described as the fear of
social situations that involve
interacting with other people it can
manifest itself in numerous ways and can
include everything from shyness and
social situations dreading everyday
activities and performing tasks in front
of other people - even having physical
effects on a person like panic attacks
feeling sick sweating or heart
palpitations there are a variety of
different things that can trigger and
cause social anxiety a few of which
being an early traumatic event in life
an isolated upbringing or your brain
structure in genetics
let's compare all of that to someone who
is simply introverted an introvert is
someone who is primarily focused on
one's own mental self introverts are
usually perceived as being more inwards
focused and tend to favor time spent in
solitary finding time spent alone more
rewarding than time spent with others
this is not to say that introverts are
against socializing they're just usually
more particular about who and what they
spend their time on considering the
above examples social anxiety can be
much more damaging to your physical and
psychological well-being than simply
being an introvert demonstrating the
importance of being able to know the
difference and whether or not what
you're struggling with is simply an
introverted personality or social
anxiety the points ahead we'll examine
five different scenarios from the point
of an introvert and someone who is
struggling with social anxiety
what you're turning down invitations to
social events because the thought of it
scares you
not because you'd rather be at home I've
always been an introverted person but
I've always had a good circle of friends
who see each other regularly and that's
something that's always been important
to me but in recent years I found myself
turning down invitations for nights out
weekends away in holidays more and more
often in the past this could always be
attributed to you favoring your own time
and space and choosing to stay in to do
your own thing but nowadays the real
reason you're turning these offers down
is because the thought of being out
makes you feel uneasy it might be that
you don't like being out in social
situations anymore because you're
constantly worrying about how others are
perceiving you and how you're coming
across to any new people who don't know
you and might think you're weird because
get you and you won't stop talking about
Naruto with social anxiety also comes
the feeling of dread when things aren't
in your control what time will this
finish where are we going from here what
is everybody doing next will you be
expected to join are you gonna become
part of some never-ending pub crawl but
you can't make these concerns known
because to most people these worries
would seem totally ridiculous to you're
not enjoying the introverted activities
that you used to enjoy anymore as an
introvert my favorite hobbies have
always been things I can do by myself in
the comfort of my own home and I've
always used these activities as a sort
of recharge a big indicator that you're
struggling with social anxiety is when
these activities stop being enjoyable
and start making you feel guilty above
all else for me it's always been video
games and reading but for you it could
be binge watching on Netflix in the past
you could spend hours days at a time
indulging in these things but when
you're struggling with anxiety it can
sometimes only be a few minutes before
you can feel the back of your mind
clouding and telling you you're using
these activities as more of a
distraction for the fact that you're not
engaging in meaningful activities or
dealing with your anxiety appropriately
three you're not going out and doing
necessary things anymore although it's
in the name social anxiety
it doesn't entirely revolve around
socializing it can also hinder your
ability to engage in everyday and
necessary activities in the outside
world one sign of social anxiety over
introversion is the fear of partaking in
such things as shopping going out to the
gym or working this isn't caused by
somebody wishing to keep themselves to
themselves like an introvert would it's
the social anxiety causing distress and
making a person one withdrawal from the
limelight and stay away from the
possible interactions that come with
these everyday tasks over time it's
obvious how avoiding these tasks will
become a problem for somebody and pile
onto their anxieties and make dealing
with it much harder for you don't enjoy
the social activities that you used to I
always used to enjoy getting together
with my group of friends we'd see each
other between two and four times a week
and I'd love it we go to the absolute
worst club in town and drink dance and
sing all night nowadays the thought of
that couldn't be more unappealing as I'd
constantly be worried about what the guy
in the trenchcoat who doesn't know me
and will never see me again
thinks of my singing voice I'd love
these nights even more because after
being out for the night I'd feel like
I'd earned my downtime when I got home
when you're suffering from social
anxiety even the things that you used to
enjoy can become daunting and make you
feel overwhelmed one major downside of
this is that it's easy to start engaging
in unhealthy behaviors to help you enjoy
these things again for example drinking
more than you usually would to enjoy a
night out but these are simple
distractions and coping techniques to
avoid dealing with your problems head-on
5 you don't maintain relationships as
well as you used to even though I've
never been the most social outgoing
person I've always been part of a
tight-knit group of friends even with my
introverted behaviors I've never really
struggled to keep these relationships
strong when somebody is struggling with
social anxiety however this can become a
sometimes overwhelming task
you've left friends on red for days for
fear of conversations taking unwanted
turns you leave messages unread and
avoided answering the phone to your best
friends or employers for no reason other
than the possibility of what if this
conversation is about something that I'm
not 100% prepared to deal with right now
which you then look back on days later
and laugh about when you open the most
mundane and reasonable text ever written
hopefully these examples will help you
to differentiate between social anxiety
and introversion and allow you to make
the first steps towards dealing with any
problems you may have everybody is
different and as such no one thing will
help resolve everybody's issues every
time the best thing I can recommend if
you think you're struggling with social
anxiety is to speak to your GP about how
best to treat it this could be through
medication cognitive behavioral therapy
or social anxiety therapy we hope you
found this video helpful if you did
please give it a like and maybe a
subscribe and share with your friends
maybe you could help someone as always
thank you so much for watching see you
later