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Social Anxiety

NAS61891

Interested to know if anyone else with ASD experiences this. I'm not sure how much there's a link. For me I think it was bullying linked in part to autism = development of social anxiety. 

I here people with ASD talk about anxiety, but I'm not clear how it manifests for them. I also see other autistic people who seem fine with talking in front of big groups of people etc.

  • in reply to Original Prankster

    Thanks for your reply; I'm equally poor at both!

  • Yes. Last Friday I FORCED myself to go to a 'race & social' event run by my triathlon club.

    Well, I only had to force myself to stay for the BBQ after the race.

    Even though these are people I see fairly regularly at training or races those interactions are comfortably superficial and limited to "How are you feeling about the race?" "Bike course looks good" etc. and as everyone is focussed on training/racing things like eye contact are less in evidence from everyone (thousand-yard stare while thinking about the course is common).

    So to have to actually interact with these people socially was a big ask. I did it, I didn't enjoy it, but its a way to build up a skill in a 'safe' environment so I have it to fall back on if needed.

    To be honest, to stand in front of a large group would be easier as I'd be talking about a subject I was interested/knowledgeable in and not actually directly interacting with any one individual... so 'presenting' which is MUCH easier than 'socialising'...

  • in reply to Former Member

    I can relate to your first paragraph.

    I struggle with presentations to a group; yes because of my social anxiety, but also in part I think due to my autism. I struggle to share my eye-contact round the room, or run the risk of intensely starring at one poor unfortunate individual. Also my mind can just go completely blank and I can't see anything other than grey.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    I don't suffer social anxiety but I do find group socialising incredibly difficult, to the point I don't do it anymore. I can't process the information fast enough to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the conversation, especially as I struggle to filter out the background noise.

    I've often presented to large groups 50+ and don't find this to be a problem as the room is silent apart from when I encourage interactivity. If I get asked a question and no I won't be able to process a comprehensive answer fast enough I use it as an autism awareness-raising opportunity and ask the person to write it down and explain I'll get back to them later.

  • I suffer from anxiety about any action that doesn't have a 100% guaranteed outcome.   Little things like driving somewhere is hard because of the unknown traffic and having to find a parking space at the destination.    I often avoid going places because of that.  

    Bigger things cause more stress as the list of unknowns gets longer.    Social interactions are stressful because every second is completely unpredictable.   Most NT people do not have hobbies so their conversations revolve about their imaginary status, feelings and bitching about other people - and I'm out of my depth in those situations.   

    Dealing with aspies who have similar interests to me is easy because the subject is comfortable and predictable and safe and we aren't looking for opportunities to manipulate people.