How social anxiety affects your relationships

Social anxiety is characterized by stress, anxiety and fear of being judged negatively in social situations. Anxiety may not be pathological (not an anxiety disorder) and still cause damage to someone’s social life. 

But why is that?

People with social anxiety present a negative cognitive bias when judging their social interactions, that is, they interpret social situations as more negative than non-anxious people. Both in face-to-face communication and online anxious people tend to interpret neutral or ambiguous messages as negative. Thus, people tend to avoid social interactions, which restricts their lives. 

The person loses opportunities 

Whether to make a new friend, go on a date with someone special, maintain the relationships already established, make a professional contact, etc.: the escape from social relations harms life in all its aspects. 

In romantic relationships anxious people feel that they receive less support from their partners, even if it is not necessarily true. This leads to lower satisfaction in the relationship and higher likelihood of breakup. And in the sexual sphere, men with social anxiety are more vulnerable to premature ejaculation. 

In addition, people with social anxiety have smaller social networks, report having fewer close friends, have difficulty building relationships and are less likely to get married. Thus, loneliness is more present in socially anxious people, which affects physical and mental health. 

Thus, having social anxiety is related to several interpersonal difficulties, a lower quality of life, higher levels of loneliness and even, in severe cases, being socially dysfunctional. 

And how to change? 

Therapy can help! 

Therapy can help with the desensitization of fear of social situations and help with negative beliefs about yourself and social interactions.