Mental health disorders can easily confuse even the most educated person. Social anxiety and agoraphobia, for instance, exhibit overlapping details yet differ vastly in their causations, symptoms, and treatment options. Differentiating social anxiety vs agoraphobia is imperative in obtaining the appropriate type of treatment and improving one’s quality of life.
From a social perspective, determining whether your symptoms relate more closely to social anxiety or agoraphobia can be particularly challenging; however, seeking professional help is the best way to obtain more conclusive answers. For additional resources, the guide social anxiety vs agoraphobia provides pertinent descriptions of both conditions.
Social Anxiety Explained
Social anxiety, or social phobia, is the fear of social situations, particularly of being judged or scrutinized in social settings. People with social anxiety can be extremely self-conscious, and can even experience overwhelming fear as well as avoid social situations such as meetings, gatherings, and even conversations.
There are a vast array of worries that cause a person with social anxiety to feel consumed by the fear of being evaluated by others. Fearing that one will make mistakes, look foolish, or face embarrassment in social situations can cause severe impairment of the working, personal, and social functions of a person’s life.
Unlike the fear of leaving one’s home that can sometimes accompany agoraphobia, people suffering from social anxiety experience fear of some specific situations such as those that involve social interaction. There can also be physical symptoms that accompany the social fears such as sweating, a racing heart, or trembling. These fears can make social situations unbearable.
See also: How to Treat Depression: Evidence-Based Strategies for Long-Term Mental Health
Understanding Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a form of anxiety disorder characterized by the fear of social situations from which a person might feel unable to escape or which might be difficult to leave. These situations often involve open and/or crowded spaces and can also include public transportation. People with agoraphobia often find comfort in familiar surroundings and will sometimes even avoid leaving the house.
Both social anxiety and agoraphobia can involve avoidance behaviors, causing the two to be sometimes conflated. Unlike the fear of being scrutinized in social situations that is characteristic of social anxiety, the fear that characterizes agoraphobia is that of being trapped in a social situation that one cannot leave. People who experience agoraphobia are also likely to experience panic attacks, which can cause other people to avoid situations as well.
What Is The Difference Between Social Anxiety Vs Agoraphobia?
Some differences to note when discussing social anxiety vs agoraphobia are:
What Are The Triggering Events?
Fear of social judgment. Speaking in front of a crowd, speaking to new people, social events. Social anxiety is triggered when social judgment is involved. Agoraphobia is the opposite. Through the crowds of malls, bus stations, and airports, Agoraphobia fears what lies outside – the possibility of a situation or an emergency that requires help.
What Is The fear Based On?
Fear of embarrassment, fear of being criticized, fear of disappointment being emotionally involved. Social anxiety fears public embarrassment along with the possibility of judgment. Agoraphobia fears inability, being public, being trapped, and the loss of control.
What Are The Avoidance Behaviors?
Avoiding social situations is the strategy social anxiety uses. Avoiding public places is the strategy that agoraphobia uses.
What Are The Symptoms?
Agoraphobia and social anxiety are each prone to a variety of symptoms, and may overlap, but in a variety of contexts. Social anxiety can include things like sweaty palms, red cheeks, or an increased heart rate, and agoraphobia can include symptoms like dizziness, and panic attacks.—
Causes and Risk Factors
There might be cause and effect differences between social anxiety vs agoraphobia, but they share some of the same risk factors that include genetics, brain chemistry, and environmental factors.
Negative social experiences, overprotective parents, and learned behavior can initiate social anxiety. On the other hand, agoraphobia is often due to the complications of panic disorder and is known to happen because of repeated panic attacks from which people avoid certain situations that might cause the attacks.
Agoraphobia, social anxiety, and environmental stressors, trauma, and chronic stress can be worse when both conditions are active. Trigger identification is important for stress and management therapy.
Diagnosis and Professional Assessment
Social anxiety and agoraphobia is diagnosed through a complete and thorough review of the mental health of the person attempting to get the diagnosis. The reviewer of the mental health will analyze the symptoms of the person, the frequency of the symptoms, and the impact of the symptoms on the person’s ability to function and do daily activities. The indicators and signs of social anxiety and agoraphobia may overlap and because of that, social anxiety and agoraphobia can be confused and mixed together and the diagnosis of each may be neglected. That is why it is important to get an evaluation from a professional and certified person in the mental health field. When people diagnose mental health issues themselves, they may arrive at an incorrect diagnosis without the assistance of a qualified professional. The chances of these nemesis diagnoses from the mental health problems and social activation problems of chronic anxiety and isolation are significantly lower when a diagnosis is acquired quickly because it reduces problems and simplifies potential future issues.
Treatment Approaches
how effective the available treatment is will depend on which of the two conditions, agoraphobia, or social anxiety, is present. Treatment in both conditions is available in the form of therapy, some medications, or a combination of both methods.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Social anxiety and agoraphobia are two conditions that CBT can help manage. CBT coaches people to learn about their thought processes and refocus on more positive thinking. CBT helps people manage their anxiety through role playing and other therapeutic means coaching people to face their fears through gradual steps (exposure therapy). One goal is for people to learn to manage their anxiety so they can function in society. CBT helps manage the fear of evaluation by coaching in the areas of social skills that are pertinent to social anxiety. CBT for agoraphobia is exposure therapy in which people learn to cope with being in public and manage the anxiety that comes with being in public. They do this in gradual steps as well.
Medication
SSRIs and SNRIs are sometimes prescribed in conjunction with CBT as they can help manage the anxiety and fear symptoms. For therapy to be effective, the participant’s anxiety has to be tempered. Some anxiety symptoms can include excessive worry related to fear surrounding public exposure, and medication can help mitigate the symptoms. Short periods of time on benzodiazepines (for anxiety) are acceptable but they carry a risk of creating a dependency so they are not recommended as a long term strategy.
Lifestyle and Self-Care
Incorporating a healthy routine that includes some exercise, along with practicing mindfulness, and having social support can help the overall treatment plan. Having social connections to family and friends provides some support and lessens a feeling of isolation.
Coping Strategies
Social anxiety and agoraphobia can both be managed by using the following coping strategies.
- Exposing oneself to the fear in a gradual way.
- Practicing mindfulness and meditation to reduce anxiety.
- Situations where panic or social anxiety arise can be calmed with breathing techniques.
- A journal can be a good way to manage and reflect on a person’s triggers as well as their progress.
- There are many support groups that can offer a place to share and listen to each other and your experiences in a safe environment.
Building resilience with greater self-awareness will help manage the symptoms and get control of the life again.
When to Seek Help
Professional help is necessary to tackle avoidance behaviors that disrupt daily activities, work, or relationships. Not seeking treatment runs the risk of these symptoms becoming more severe, leading to a greater sense of loneliness. A professional will help determine whether social anxiety and/or agoraphobia is present and provide a treatment plan that has a positive outcome.
The earlier someone intervenes, the more successful the outcome will be.
Conclusion
Understanding the difference between social anxiety vs agoraphobia is essential to getting the treatment that is needed. Though they both entail fear and avoidance, getting to know the triggers of the fear and any subsequent symptoms will help guide the treatment. The impact of anxiety can be lessened through medication, therapy, and the implementation of positive coping strategies.
These challenges can be difficult to face on your own, and the differentiating point could be getting professional help. There are professional mental health practitioners such as Pacific Coast Mental Health, who provide social anxiety and agoraphobia treatment with love and care. Another help resource is social anxiety vs agoraphobia for further help.
