What is the difference between social anxiety and introversion?

We all know the feeling of being nervous or uncomfortable in a social situation.

• Maybe you’ve clammed up when meeting someone new or gotten sweaty palms before making a big presentation.
• Public speaking or walking into a roomful of strangers isn’t exactly thrilling for everybody, but most people can get through it.

If you have social anxiety, though, the stress of these situations is too much to handle. You might avoid all social contact because things that other people consider “normal” — like making small talk and eye contact — make you so uncomfortable. All aspects of your life, not just the social, could start to fall apart.

And so, when the main behaviors as social withdraw is almost identical for persons that are „introvert” or “shy” or have “social anxiety” how to understand really what is my situation.

For the quiet types among us, “introversion” and “social anxiety” frequently get used interchangeably. Or, just as often, social anxiety is mistakenly thought of as an extreme form of introversion. But while you can definitely be a socially anxious introvert, you can also be socially anxious extrovert—for example, you may really want to go to the bar with your co-workers but worry they actually don’t want you there.  Or you may crave company but obsess about the possibility you’ll say something stupid.

Shyness is part of a person’s personality. Defined by the Social Anxiety Institute, it is “anxiety, inhibition, reticence, or a combination of these in social and interpersonal situations, and nervousness or anxiety about evaluation by others.” Shy people can have social anxiety, not all people with social anxiety are shy or introverted. Research shows that less than 25 percent of people who are shy also have social anxiety disorder.