differences between social anxiety and social phobia?

[bluebluesky]

I know it's a simple question but I am not sure about the specific differences, if there's any. Thanks.😕

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[ananasaroma]

There is no difference

 

[indoubt]

We could look at them as being on a continuum. Think of having anxiety versus being phobic in proximity of a snake. Similarly, if you have social phobia, you probably won't even get out of the house. If you have social anxiety, you will, but it will be quite unpleasant.

I think another way of looking at them would be that having phobia you react to the social situation as if it were a fear-object (like a snake). Social anxiety may be more about what could happen in future and how things could go wrong--a future oriented state.

I do wonder if different parts of brain are involved in phobia versus anxiety. Differentiating between social anxiety and phobia must be quite difficult and unreliable.

 

[erg923]

We could look at them as being on a continuum. Think of having anxiety versus being phobic in proximity of a snake. Similarly, if you have social phobia, you probably won't even get out of the house. If you have social anxiety, you will, but it will be quite unpleasant.

I think another way of looking at them would be that having phobia you react to the social situation as if it were a fear-object (like a snake). Social anxiety may be more about what could happen in future and how things could go wrong--a future oriented state.

I do wonder if different parts of brain are involved in phobia versus anxiety. Differentiating between social anxiety and phobia must be quite difficult and unreliable.

Although thats good logical thinking, the two terms are interchangeable in the DSM-IV. That is, they refer to the same disorder/construct, "Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)" as listed in the DSM. There is no difference between the two officially.

 

[psychanon]

Erg is right-- they are pretty much interchangeable. Social anxiety (without the "disorder" on the end) may sometimes refer to subthreshold symptoms, whereas social phobia generally refers to the DSM disorder. However, they still refer to the same basic construct.

 

[indoubt]

Although thats good logical thinking, the two terms are interchangeable in the DSM-IV. That is, they refer to the same disorder/construct, "Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)" as listed in the DSM. There is no difference between the two officially.

I have never liked the term "social phobia". Using "phobia" in addressing fear of snakes makes intuitive sense but to label anxiety in social situations as phobia seems inapt...unless you live in the worst part of the country and your neighbors are mostly sadistic murderers--maybe then it's not even a disorder! Or what if you are hallucinating--more or less-so that you see rage in people's faces and fists ready to strike you! But worrying about people's judgment is something else.

But who am I to question the wisdom of burgundy-colored big book?😀

 

[The2abraxis]

I have never liked the term "social phobia". Using "phobia" in addressing fear of snakes makes intuitive sense but to label anxiety in social situations as phobia seems inapt...unless you live in the worst part of the country and your neighbors are mostly sadistic murderers--maybe then it's not even a disorder! Or what if you are hallucinating--more or less-so that you see rage in people's faces and fists ready to strike you! But worrying about people's judgment is something else.

But who am I to question the wisdom of burgundy-colored big book?😀

actually social phobia makes perfect sense. Look at the definition of phobia:

A phobia (from Greek: φόβος, phobos, "fear"), is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or persons.

the biggest factors are irrational, intense, and persistent.

Lets use a good example of a person that has a type of social phobia, maybe, speaking in public. This person may not partake in this event (even if it required for work) because of several "irrational" fears, such as: "If I mess up, everyone will laugh and think I am dumb, and no one will ever want to speak to me again", "If people see me nervous, they won't listen to my speech and they will ignore me and think I am weak", etc...etc... (irrational). This person may always encounter problems like these everyime he/she (uh oh) has to speak in public (persistense), and the anxiety may be so intense, that the person faints (intense).

Compare this to a person who does not have a social phobia: Sure they may get nervous a little bit, but the irrational thoughts will not be so intense or persistent that the person cannot speak or their capacity to give a presentation is given. In most cases the irrational thoughts will not be there at all 😱

This directly compares to someone who has a fear of snakes, and someone who has a phobia of snakes. The phobic person will (sometimes) shudder at the thoguht of a snake or a plastic snake, for they believe they may be bitten and die (irrational). A person that just has a fear (pretty natural actually) would not let this irrationality get to them, and they can talk about snakes, see snakes on tv, touch nice little plastic snakes at wal-mart, etc...

All in all, if you look at the defenition of phobia, you can clearly see people undergo the same aspects in a phobia in social situations (speaking in public) compared to non social situations (petting a python)

 

[WannaBeDrMe]

I might be wrong, b/c social is not my area of expertise, but the differential I see people confusing most often is between social phobia/anxiety and agoraphobia. To me, those are very different disorders with one being the extreme of the other.

I've always wondered if I was wrong but since it rarely came across my plate, I never invested much time in looking it up. I know that I got tired of getting referrals of people dx'd w/agoraphobia who supposedly had received no tx but were functioning just fine in uncontrolled environments.

Has anyone else run across that? I think I'm finally going to take the time to look it up this week. Are they on the same continuum or are they thought to be dissimilar or entirely similar?

 

[ananasaroma]

I might be wrong, b/c social is not my area of expertise, but the differential I see people confusing most often is between social phobia/anxiety and agoraphobia. To me, those are very different disorders with one being the extreme of the other.

I've always wondered if I was wrong but since it rarely came across my plate, I never invested much time in looking it up. I know that I got tired of getting referrals of people dx'd w/agoraphobia who supposedly had received no tx but were functioning just fine in uncontrolled environments.

Has anyone else run across that? I think I'm finally going to take the time to look it up this week. Are they on the same continuum or are they thought to be dissimilar or entirely similar?

Social anxiety disorder (or social phobia) can present with or without agoraphobia.

 

[Ollie123]

Social anxiety disorder (or social phobia) can present with or without agoraphobia.

True. I want to emphasize this isn't my area so take the following with a grain of salt, but I think it would be a mistake to place agoraphobia on a continuum with social anxiety.

There's no requirement that social interaction be the driving factor in agoraphobia. An agoraphobic can be afraid to leave the house even when there is no possibility of social interaction. Certainly they are related, and a truly crippling social phobia can lead to agoraphobic qualities, but plenty of other things can too. I view them just like any other common comorbidity, rather than as one being an "extreme" version of the other.

What I have always wondered is why panic disorder gets the agoraphobia specifier built into the diagnosis. I mean, obviously those two go hand in hand very often, but so do many disorders. I've just always wondered why it gets a common comorbidity as a specifier whereas say, depression with anxiety does not.