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Free Social Anxiety Test & Quiz
If you find yourself
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Terrified before a social event, your mind racing with negative thoughts
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Overly concerned about how you'll be judged,
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Perhaps you feel physically uncomfortable in groups, or in public,
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May be you start experiencing trembling hands or a racing heart?
If these symptoms sound familiar and are interrupting daily life, you might be wondering whether you're dealing with social anxiety or just normal nervousness - and hopefuly if you use this post and the quiz, it can give some support.
Social anxiety is more than feeling shy or nervous – it's an intense fear that can make you feel isolated and misunderstood.
The disorder is really common and impacts millions who struggle daily with the overwhelming belief that others are constantly judging them. Many people spend years suffering, ashamed to seek help because they don't understand if their experience is "bad" enough for treatment.
As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with nearly a decade treating anxiety in West Hollywood, I've seen how social anxiety disorder makes people feel alone and attacked by their own thoughts.
I created this comprehensive quiz for you to use that may provide some support– it's designed to give you new ways to think about mental health and the specific symptoms of social phobia and anxious thoughts basedon real patterns from therapy.
Take the Next Step: Your Free Online Social Anxiety Test
Living with social anxiety doesn't have to be your permanent reality. The first step toward change is understanding exactly what you're dealing with, and that's where our comprehensive quiz comes in. This isn't a mental health diagonosis, you'll need to see to find that out for certain, but this test was created by a therapist who knows the diagnosis well, so you may find this test to be a useful starting off place.
And it's not another one of those generic anxiety tests!
Avoid Risks?
Feel 'Less' Than?
Compare Yourself?
Based on clinical experience and proven therapeutic frameworks, if you use our quiz you'll see that it evaluates multiple dimensions of social anxiety, including your specific enging of anxiety and the impact certain situations may have on your daily life. In just two minutes, you'll receive a detailed assessment that goes beyond simple labels to provide actionable insights.
The quiz identifies not just whether you have social anxiety disorder, but also your unique "anxiety archetype" – the specific patterns and rules your anxiety follows. This personalized approach means you'll understand not just what you're experiencing, but why certain situations trigger you more than others and what maintains your anxiety cycle.
More importantly, your results will include targeted strategies based on your specific profile. Rather than generic advice, you'll receive recommendations tailored to your particular pattern of social anxiety, helping you begin making changes immediately.
Remember, seeking clarity about your mental health is a sign of strength, not weakness. Whether you discover you have social anxiety or realize your experiences fall within the range of typical shyness, knowledge is power. Understanding your patterns is the first step toward choosing how you want to respond to them.
Why Use Our Free Online Anxiety Quiz
Take the quiz now and use the results to begin your journey toward more confident, authentic social connections. Your future self – the one who can enjoy social interactions at social gatherings, speaking up in meetings, and form meaningful relationships without overwhelming fear – is waiting for you to take this first step.
80% of people with social anxiety disorder don't get treatment for it, there's no instant results, but social interaction anxiety doesn't have to go untreated.
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Do I Have Social Anxiety or Am I Just Shy?
This crucial question reveals a fundamental misunderstanding many people have about shyness versus social anxiety. While both involve feeling uncomfortable in social situations, they're different experiences requiring different approaches to cope.
Shyness is a personality trait where you feel nervous or reserved around new people. Shy individuals might blush, feel self-conscious, or need time to warm up in conversations. However, these feelings don't create extreme distress or make them avoid important life situations. Shy people can still maintain friendships and handle challenges, even if they prefer calm, smaller gatherings.
Social anxiety disorder involves intense, persistent fear of being judged, embarrassed, or humiliated. This fear creates overwhelming physical symptoms and emotional distress that feels terrible. People with social anxiety often feel attacked by their own mind, experiencing panic that makes them want to escape or freeze completely.
The key differences
The key differences that professional mental health professionals may be looking for when they are providing treatment are:
Intensity of fear and symptoms:
While shy people feel nervous, those with social anxiety experience extreme distress. They might feel terrified for days before an event, with physical reactions like trembling, sweating, or feeling like they can't breathe. The anxiety feels horrible and uncontrollable.
Avoidance behaviors:
Shyness might make you prefer one-on-one conversations, but social anxiety leads to significant avoidance. People use avoidance behaviors - cancel plans, avoid certain activities, call in sick, or create elaborate excuses to escape situations where they might be judged. This avoidance makes the fear worse over time.
Negative thought patterns:
Shy people might think "I hope this goes well." Those with social anxiety experience aggressive self-criticism: "Everyone will judge me, I'll be completely humiliated, and no one will ever want to talk to me again." You may experiences these thoughts feel like facts, not fears.
Physical symptoms that feel dangerous:
Social anxiety creates intense physical reactions that people may feel like danger. Your body responds as if you're being attacked – heart racing, mind blank, unable to think or speak. Some people describe feeling frozen or trapped in their own body.
Struggle to feel normal:
Shy people eventually feel comfortable as they adjust. With social anxiety, you may fear remains intense even with people you know well. You might feel angry at yourself for not being "normal" or ashamed that you can't just "get over it."
What Worsens Social Anxiety?
Understanding what makes social anxiety worse helps you identify common patterns and make changes. Several factors can transform manageable nervousness into overwhelming panic.
Avoidance may provide temporary relief but strengthens anxiety long-term. Each time you escape a feared situation, your mind learns that it was dangerous and you couldn't cope. This makes the fear more intense next time, creating an escalating cycle of avoidance and anxiety.
Negative self-talk acts like an aggressive inner critic and you can spiral in worry loops. Thoughts like "I'm going to embarrass myself" or "Everyone thinks I'm weird" increase physical symptoms and emotional distress. These thoughts are the cause of mental stress and other emotional symptoms - they feel like truth, making you believe you're in actual danger.
Isolation seems like it would help, but it makes anxiety worse. Without regular social contact, people become even more frightening. Normal interactions start to feel foreign and overwhelming. The longer you stay isolated, the harder it becomes to reconnect.
Physical factors significantly impact Social Anxiety Disorder
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Lack of sleep makes due to worry makes your mind less able to cope with stress
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Caffeine creates physical symptoms that feel like panic
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Poor nutrition affects mood and energy
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Lack of exercise increases overall anxiety levels
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Perfectionism creates impossible pressure. When you believe you must work extra hard to avoid making mistakes, and always appear confident, you set yourself up for failure. The gap between these expectations and reality becomes a source of intense shame.
Social media presents unique challenges. Comparing yourself to others' highlight reels makes you feel inadequate. The fear of judgment through likes and comments may make posting feel terrifying. Many people spend hours crafting posts, then delete them out of worry or fear
Substance use often backfires. While alcohol might temporarily reduce anxiety, it can lead to dependence and actually increase symptoms over time. Many people also experience increased anxiety after drinking, which feels especially horrible for those already struggling.
Rumination may keep you trapped in cycles of negative thinking. Replaying embarrassing moments or imagining future disasters maintains high anxiety levels. Your mind becomes stuck in these patterns, making you work extra hard hard to focus on anything else.
Why Am I So Socially Awkward?
Anxiety has a set of rules it forces you to follow - and until you take the quiz, you probably don't know what the rules are and which you are obeying. These rules only serve anxiety's goal of keeping you small, safe and separate - AND they keep you feeling anxious or socially awkward
Take the quiz - and find out your top rules of anxiety- and then you can learn how to break them!
Feeling socially awkward creates its own form of distress. You might feel different from others, struggling to understand social rules that everyone else seems to know naturally. This experience often overlaps with social anxiety but has distinct characteristics.
Self-consciousness makes natural interaction difficult. When you're hyperaware of every movement and word, conversations feel like performances where you might fail. You may become afraid of saying something wrong, which ironically makes you more likely to struggle with basic interactions.
The fear of judgment creates a vicious cycle. You believe others are watching for mistakes, in social situations so you monitor yourself constantly. This divided attention makes it hard to focus on when people are speaking, leading to awkward responses that confirm your worst fears.
Perfectionism combined with social anxiety makes every interaction feel high-stakes, resulting in behavioral symptoms in certain settings. You believe you must be charming, confident, and interesting at all times. When you inevitably fall short of these impossible standards, you feel ashamed and angry at yourself for not being "normal."
Past experiences of being attacked, public speaking, being bullied, or humiliated create lasting patterns. Your mind and body remember these dangerous situations, keeping you in a state of hypervigilance. You might feel terrified of history repeating itself, making relaxed interaction nearly impossible.
Lack of practice compounds the problem. When anxiety makes you avoid social situations, or even a public restroom, you social interaction anxiety makes you miss opportunities to develop confidence and skills. This avoidance feels protective but actually makes future interactions more difficult and stressful.
Some people struggle with reading social concerns or social cues, making conversations feel like navigating without a map. You might misunderstand jokes, miss subtle signals, or feel constantly out of sync with others. This can leave you feeling alone even in a crowd. Social skills development might help, to improve social confidence in social gatherings.
The Best Treatment and Therapy For Social Anxiety and Anxiety Related Mental Disorders.
This online quiz I created is the first part of a comprehensive assessment self test that we offer as our Anxiety Audit Session. It takes just 2 minutes but provides insights that can transform how you understand and approach your social anxiety.
Developed by mental health professional and licensed therapist Oliver Drakeford, LMFT, it's the first step toward breaking free from the rules that keep you stuck. We offer online and in-person support for all types of anxiety disorder including social anxiety - learn more here. We offer anxiety groups, professional diagnosis and behavioral / CBT / Systempic approaches
The best approach to therapy for social phobia I've found and practice is a strategic form of CBT - cognitive behavioral therapy- that confronts the signs and symptoms of anxious thoughts with the deliberate removal of safety crutches.
Clients are coached to seek activities that provoke uncertainty—asking for rejection or letting awkward silences breathe—because actively requesting stronger anxiety retrains the amygdala to tolerate distress and dismantles rules like constant self-attack and comparison
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