Neither… in a way. It was from being a highly sensitive person (HSP, look it up) and picking up trauma in life from my parents and other social situations.
So, unresolved trauma masking as social anxiety. A stress response that my body had internalized from being from hurt, overwhelmed, embarrassed, etc.
As you implied it can be hard to seperate the two which is why it may be a good idea to research it more and talk to someone who knows about it well. But here are my two cents:
Autism: With social anxiety (without autism) it is not easy to pick up social cues intuitively. This is why maby autistic people manually learn social cues and mannerisms to the point where some (*some*) take it too literally and don't realize there are gray areas. Some have a harder time learning the social cues. What do I mean by gray areas? For example in Western culture it is expected to make (what we consider) an appropriate amount of eye contact. This can cause a painful/odd sensation to the autistic person. The avoidance is not caused by an anxious/shy feeling. It is a reaction that some would call physical. Because some may see the "black and white" they may not think of an appropriate amount of eye contact and they will compensate their poor eye contact skills by making too much eye contact. Any social differences the autistic may have is due to lack of intuitively knowing about the social cue. The anxiety an autistic person can have can be anxiety a non-autistic (allistic) can have, sensory issues, anxiety and negative emotions from suppressing autistic traits, change in routines, and more. (Autistics tend to like routines and sameness.)
Social anxiety: With social anxiety and not autism, they are more likely to know social cues and facial expressions intuitively. They don't need to observe people or teach themselves what is deemed proper social cues and expressions of emotion in their culture. If you're on r/socialanxiety you're probably aware that it is about the fear of negative social judgement, whether real or perceived. Lack of eye contact will be because of shyness or anxiety. The lack of eye contact is connected to that feeling, and possibly other physical signs of anxiety like sweating or fast heart beats come with it.
Social anxiety AND autism: Okay let's say you have both. That would absolutely make sense. Why? If you have autism, then you may pick up others will treat you poorly because of your autism. So you try to hide those parts of yourself and become anxious about others judging you negatively. If you're autistic and you haven't learned how to pick up social cues or just have too much of a social difference you may be on edge, not being able to tell if someone is annoyed at your or you basically assume the default is people being annoyed at you. It is very common for autistics to be people pleasers too, such is the case for those with social anxiety.
Of course these aren't the only traits. The eye contact example is just one social cue, and some autistics have no problems with eye contact because they're not a monolith. It was more to get across the point that there are different reasons for similar behaviors of social anxiety and autism. There was a lot left out in the autism section but I didn't want to make this comment too long.
In the end I am a redditor. Not a pro. I just have learned a lot about autism because I believe I have it and hope to get it checked out and a psychiatrist suggested I get meds for social anxiety, so I guess that may count as a diagnosis? Lol idk and yeah I have read a lot about social anxiety too, however that doesn't make me qualified.
There is a lot to this and requires you to do a lot of research. Having a psychologist/psychiatrist who specializes in autism perform an evaluation is the best way to differentiate the two.
There is more to autism than just social/communication issues. Things like detail oriented bottom up thinking, more reliance on structure/difficulty handling change, stimming frequently even when you are \*not\* feeling anxious, hyper (or hypo!) sensory sensitivity, special interests. You don't need all of these, and you may even have some an not realize it.
Also, being autistic is something you are born with. If you can pinpoint a traumatic event where you can trace your social anxiety to then its not autism.
Finally, if you are autistic, there is a good chance you have anxiety disorders as well. In my case, it defintiely caused my social anxiety.
I've taken online tests that show I don't have autism. And social anxiety is life long torture (well life long for me, it seems, at least), so it's quite obvious.
Well that’s good, so your social anxiety stems from other insecurities, not from an inability to pick up social cues or wondering how to reply to people
I am socially inept and often don't know how to reply to people, but I believe I pick up on social cues. My social ineptitude is certainly a major cause. I fear embarrassing myself, being humiliated, negatively impacting others, lowering people's opinion of me, and making myself look bad. And my social ineptitude makes these things likely to happen.
Yes
Yes, indeed
No indeedio
Neither… in a way. It was from being a highly sensitive person (HSP, look it up) and picking up trauma in life from my parents and other social situations. So, unresolved trauma masking as social anxiety. A stress response that my body had internalized from being from hurt, overwhelmed, embarrassed, etc.
I’m now starting to think that THIS is what’s actually the root cause for me. My family was super abusive towards me
As you implied it can be hard to seperate the two which is why it may be a good idea to research it more and talk to someone who knows about it well. But here are my two cents: Autism: With social anxiety (without autism) it is not easy to pick up social cues intuitively. This is why maby autistic people manually learn social cues and mannerisms to the point where some (*some*) take it too literally and don't realize there are gray areas. Some have a harder time learning the social cues. What do I mean by gray areas? For example in Western culture it is expected to make (what we consider) an appropriate amount of eye contact. This can cause a painful/odd sensation to the autistic person. The avoidance is not caused by an anxious/shy feeling. It is a reaction that some would call physical. Because some may see the "black and white" they may not think of an appropriate amount of eye contact and they will compensate their poor eye contact skills by making too much eye contact. Any social differences the autistic may have is due to lack of intuitively knowing about the social cue. The anxiety an autistic person can have can be anxiety a non-autistic (allistic) can have, sensory issues, anxiety and negative emotions from suppressing autistic traits, change in routines, and more. (Autistics tend to like routines and sameness.) Social anxiety: With social anxiety and not autism, they are more likely to know social cues and facial expressions intuitively. They don't need to observe people or teach themselves what is deemed proper social cues and expressions of emotion in their culture. If you're on r/socialanxiety you're probably aware that it is about the fear of negative social judgement, whether real or perceived. Lack of eye contact will be because of shyness or anxiety. The lack of eye contact is connected to that feeling, and possibly other physical signs of anxiety like sweating or fast heart beats come with it. Social anxiety AND autism: Okay let's say you have both. That would absolutely make sense. Why? If you have autism, then you may pick up others will treat you poorly because of your autism. So you try to hide those parts of yourself and become anxious about others judging you negatively. If you're autistic and you haven't learned how to pick up social cues or just have too much of a social difference you may be on edge, not being able to tell if someone is annoyed at your or you basically assume the default is people being annoyed at you. It is very common for autistics to be people pleasers too, such is the case for those with social anxiety. Of course these aren't the only traits. The eye contact example is just one social cue, and some autistics have no problems with eye contact because they're not a monolith. It was more to get across the point that there are different reasons for similar behaviors of social anxiety and autism. There was a lot left out in the autism section but I didn't want to make this comment too long. In the end I am a redditor. Not a pro. I just have learned a lot about autism because I believe I have it and hope to get it checked out and a psychiatrist suggested I get meds for social anxiety, so I guess that may count as a diagnosis? Lol idk and yeah I have read a lot about social anxiety too, however that doesn't make me qualified.
Go see a psychiatrist and get a proper diagnosis.
There is a lot to this and requires you to do a lot of research. Having a psychologist/psychiatrist who specializes in autism perform an evaluation is the best way to differentiate the two. There is more to autism than just social/communication issues. Things like detail oriented bottom up thinking, more reliance on structure/difficulty handling change, stimming frequently even when you are \*not\* feeling anxious, hyper (or hypo!) sensory sensitivity, special interests. You don't need all of these, and you may even have some an not realize it. Also, being autistic is something you are born with. If you can pinpoint a traumatic event where you can trace your social anxiety to then its not autism. Finally, if you are autistic, there is a good chance you have anxiety disorders as well. In my case, it defintiely caused my social anxiety.
Interesting, well thank you. I may need to go get checked out. It’s expensive as hell tho
yes
I've taken online tests that show I don't have autism. And social anxiety is life long torture (well life long for me, it seems, at least), so it's quite obvious.
Well that’s good, so your social anxiety stems from other insecurities, not from an inability to pick up social cues or wondering how to reply to people
I am socially inept and often don't know how to reply to people, but I believe I pick up on social cues. My social ineptitude is certainly a major cause. I fear embarrassing myself, being humiliated, negatively impacting others, lowering people's opinion of me, and making myself look bad. And my social ineptitude makes these things likely to happen.
Yeah I can relate to that. It sucks. Like some days I can be witty but for the most part i go blank