What causes social anxiety?

By
Dr. Cheryl Mathews
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what causes social anxiety

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Social anxiety is typically caused by a combination of predisposing factors + a life stressor.


Some of the pre-disposing factors could be:

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    Heredity (anxiety in your family) or other biological/medical causes
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    You were bullied
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    Your parents or authority figures communicate an overly cautious view of the world
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    Your parents or authority figures are overly critical and set excessively high standards
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    You're told that you need to be perfect, and you think you're not measuring up
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    Your parents or authority figures suppress your self-assertiveness
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    Your parents and/or siblings are anxious and model that behavior to you
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    You're told you're inadequate or you feel that you're inadequate/inferior
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    You immigrated from another country
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    You are gay
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    You've experienced trauma (abuse, violence, natural disasters, etc.)
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    Other predisposing factors

Then at any point in your life a major stressor comes along such as:

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    Significant personal loss
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    Significant life change
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    Stimulant and recreational drugs
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    Other stressor

The typical age of onset for social anxiety is 17 years old or teenage years.

You don't need to understand the causes to overcome social anxiety disorder. The key to recovery is looking ahead to the future and not focusing on the past. Continue to the next blog to get the rest of the story.

What are your pre-disposing factors? Feel free to comment at the bottom of the page.

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How to overcome social anxiety