SYMPTOMS OF SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER (Not Comprehensive or Scientific)
COGNITIVE
1. Forming rigid and irrational beliefs about the world and one's self.
2. Believing that one has defects which are catastrophic and permanent.
3. Thoughts which are obessive, intrusive, and self-depricating (i.e. PURE OCD).
4. Dwelling on one's defects obsessively.
5. Expecting to confirm one's defects (i.e. fortune telling)
6. Psuedo-paranoid thoughts.
EMOTIONAL
1. Feeling doomed, hopeless, unworthy, worthless, disgusting, horrid, unloveable, pathetic, creepy, alienated, or stupid.
2. Very low self-confidence, assertiveness, and self-esteem.
3. Severe depression.
4. Intense anxiety in situations which could corroborate one's "defects" (e.g. being around others, performance situations).
5. Intense shame and embarrassment when one's defects are "corroborated" (e.g. blushing, being rejected, failing a test).
BEHAVIORAL
1. Avoiding contact with others (e.g. meeting new people, public situations, friends, family members).
2. Avoiding performance situations (e.g. the workplace, interviews, applications, school, tests, public speaking, the gym, sports, sex).
3. Adopting a disingenuous persona (i.e. foreign interests, mannerisms, and personality traits which make one " non-defective")
4. Unease making eye contact with others.
5. Being unusually stiff, fidgeting, twitching, blushing, trembling, sweating, stammering, or laughing inappropriately around others.
6. Difficulty feeling vulnerable or being honest around others.
7. Developing solitary obsessions to preoccupy one's self.
8. Poor social skills.
9. Difficulting reading others' emotions.
10. Abruptly ending relationships (e.g. to keep others from getting too close, to avoid confrontation)
11. Pretending to be perfect, infallable, grandious, or superior (e.g, difficulty admitting to a mistake, needing to always be right).
12. Avoiding specific situations (e.g. being in crowds, using a public toilet, asking questions, being the center of attention, working in front of others, eating in front of others, using the telephone, bars, clubs, parties, dances, celebrations, ceremonies, meeting authority figures, having sex)
13. Panic attacks.
14. Justfiying or explaining one's self inappropriately to others.
15. Adopting false attitudes that disguise anxiety (e.g. being overly-excited or playfull, acting overly-calm or distant).
16. Avoiding physical contact with others (e.g. even with friends or family members).
17. Avoiding personal interests which are perceived as embarrassing.
18. Inappropriately seeking approval from others (e.g. doing or avoiding things to impress others, obessing over one's image).
19. Erectile disfunction (i.e., difficulty staying erect during sex).
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