If you fear participating in public and social experiences you could be suffering from a disorder known as performance anxiety. This type of anxiety is related to social phobia, including social anxiety disorder, although there are some differences between generalized anxiety disorder and performance social anxiety. Social phobias are actually the third most common type of mental health disorder; affecting more than 10 million people. Generally, this type of anxiety is marked by a clear and distinct fear of social as well as performance situations. The individual may be fearful of becoming embarrassed in the situation. As a result, when the person is exposed to a social situation or a situation in which they must perform in some capacity they begin to experience anxiety symptoms. Over time this can lead to avoidance behavior, including complete avoidance of situations which seem likely to result in panic and anxiety related symptoms and attacks.  

One of the most interesting aspects of this type of anxiety disorder is that it is not caused by psychosis. To the contrary, individuals who suffer from performance social anxiety are quite commonly able to recognize that their fears are unreasonable and even excessive. Unfortunately, the ability to recognize this does not prevent the symptoms most commonly related to this form of anxiety. These symptoms may include: 

• Chest pain

• Hyperventilation

• Palpitations

• Dizziness

• Nausea

• Lightheadness

• Headache

• Faintness

• Vomiting

• Diarrhea

In some cases the symptoms of this form of social anxiety can become so severe they result in a condition known as agoraphobia. In this condition, the individual experiences such strong fears regarding being in crowded places and social situations that they begin to avoid them completely.   Perhaps one of the worst aspects about performance social anxiety is that the individual must face their fears everyday; particularly in work and career related situations. Oftentimes, the individual will experience extreme anxiety when meeting individuals who are in authoritative positions. In these situations, anxiety levels can become very high and even result in other health problems due to high levels of stress such as high blood pressure.  Sadly, because most people who suffer from this disorder try to prevent others from knowing about their fear and work very hard to appear normal, they often suffer in silence. As a result, their condition may go undiagnosed for a long period of time or may even be misdiagnosed.  While it is possible to reduce the symptoms associated with performance social anxiety, appropriate treatment is necessary.  One of the most important steps toward recovery is recognizing that everyone is unique and different. Even though the term performance anxiety is often thought of in relation to making some type of performance in public or speaking in public, specific fears can vary from one individual to the next. It can be mild, from feeling uncomfortable writing in public, to quite severe and debilitating in all social situations.  The important fact about this disorder to understand is that it is treatable with appropriate therapy. Many individuals have found permanent, long-term success with treatment methods, such as cognitive behavior therapy. If you suffer from performance anxiety you owe it to yourself to find out how you can begin to unwind the cycle and achieve relief.