What is Social Anxiety Disorder?
Welcome to the Social Anxiety Alliance UK home page!
If you are able to offer help please see our opportunities page.
People with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) experience an excessive fear of social situations. They often worry about being embarrassed, rejected, or judged negatively by others. Anticipatory anxiety and situational avoidance are common, and individuals may endure social situations with a high level of discomfort. Everyone’s experience of social anxiety is likely to be different. The scope of the anxiety may be focused on specific types of social situations or generalised to almost any social or public encounter. Please see here for technical definitions.
Milder forms of social anxiety may be considered a normal, temporary feeling of nervousness in social situations. SAD is a more persistent fear that interferes with daily life in ways that cause significant distress or impairment. Most people experience some social anxiety, but the disorder is a more clinical diagnosis for when the fear becomes debilitating and impairs a person’s ability to function in aspects of their social, professional, or personal life.
People with social anxiety disorder are sometimes advised to just face their fears, with the idea that this will automatically improve things – but it’s often not that simple.
Getting better often requires understanding how social anxiety symptoms, inward focus, thoughts, feelings and behaviour influence each other to keep social anxiety going. Learning the skills to tackle each element, and the relationships between them, can break the cycle – see social anxiety maintenance cycle.
Many people hide their social anxiety through avoidance, safety behaviours or coping mechanisms.
More severe forms of SAD have the potential to impact every aspect of communication and interaction with others. Children and young people with social anxiety may struggle with group activities, friendships and may even avoid school.
Social Anxiety Disorder is still very under recognised – especially on mainstream TV and Radio. Without more awareness too many suffer alone and think they are the only one or there is something wrong with them. 
In whichever way social anxiety affects you, and to whatever degree, we hope can begin to find help and understanding on these pages.
Progress usually involve learning about social anxiety disorder (see Find out more, NHS webpages and guidance, NICE Guidance, Australian CCI resources, self-help books) and then accessing What the NHS Offers, Other therapeutic approaches or Self-help to develop new thoughts, feelings, strategies and behaviours.
For further general information about social anxiety disorder see Find out more.
Please also see our draft guide on how to make progress.
We do need help to raise awareness – please contact us if you can help.
Prevalence figures are here.
Our Mission and Goals
Our charity mission is to foster a society in which social anxiety is widely understood, with easy access to appropriate information, support and treatment so that no one has to face social anxiety alone.
Our goals:
(1) Help those affected by Social Anxiety find the information and resources they need.
(2) Increase public awareness and empathy towards social anxiety.
(3) Promote and improve access to appropriate and effective treatment.
Providing links to self-help resources
Providing information on accessing NHS and private therapy
A-Z
Collaborating with UK mental health charities to develop social anxiety information and resources
