What is the difference between social anxiety and autism

DX'd - Other
1

can someone please enlighten me

2
1 Like
3

I have both, so they can co-occur with each other.

1 Like
4

Same here. 151515

1 Like
5

My niece is autistic and very smart. I think I have autistic traits but I’m not that smart.

Autistic people have sensitive emotions and hearing and stuff. I have that, but I’m not full blown autistic, just partly I think

1 Like
6

I think in sad its fear but in autism its not, its just no social feelings at all depending on autism severity. One of my best friends had social anxiety disorder, he still takes Citalopram, it helps but not a lot.

7

He can be paranoid of his own friends and attack them. Once he punched my other friend as he thought he was talking badly about him behind his back. I told him its not true but he acts out on his fear without controlling it.

8

i got autistic traits but i don’t have full autism or a spectrum diagnosis. i had been diagnosed with aspergers syndrome right before paranoid schizophrenia but the dsm changed things and then doctors doubt it. i don’t know what i have. the child in me thinks im just schizophrenic with genius level creativity and intellect despite a marginal iq of 120-140.

i fantasized or wanted or believed i once had schizotypal aspergers or schizotypal autism but it’s not real and only recognized in eastern europe and russia. i don’t have it but i can imagine the smartest person in the world has it – the guy who solved Poincare conjecture the perelman guy from russia.

i have some finnish ancestry and have delusions im smart and stuff but i perform poorly on tests and thus there is no proof. i often felt they dumbed me down intentionally – most likely aliens.

i can imagine and perceive a future where genetic babies have schizotypal autism minus the depression and stuff.

you cannot find a lot of info on it because it’s not a recognized condition in the western world and it plays right in the delusion that im a super genius like perelman lol.

but i don’t have it but i kinda wish i did.

9

I had social phobia added to my MI.

Sza, ptsd, gad, agoraphobia

10

My niece has autism and has zero social anxiety, she is basically fearless, she just has little interest in social interaction.
So I would say that social anxiety is a fear of social situations and autistics usually just have little interest in social situations.
I don’t think one has much to do with the other honestly.

2 Likes
11

I find l-carnosine helps me a lot with socialising. I might see if my niece will take it.

12
13

Someone who is autistic may or may not feel anxious about social situations. Autistic people tend to struggle with social skills.

Someone with social anxiety may not struggle with social skills necessarily, they may just dread social interaction.

Also, autism is sooo much more than just a deficit in social skills it is a whole developmental disorder with many accompanying traits.

1 Like
14

My anxiety around people is broken down thus:

  1. I can’t filter out distractions properly. The more people, the more distractions and the more trouble I have functioning because I simply can’t concentrate.

  2. I totally blow with social cues. I can handle them if I’m with one other person or two other people, but can’t watch for them if I have more than two people because of point one.

  3. I suck at F2F interactions. Having to think my way through them is draining. The more people at once, the more draining the experience is (trying to make the right amount of eye contact with ten different people? Screw off!)

  4. There’s also the SZ. Other people – strangers especially – affect my positive symptoms. The larger the number of people the more stress it places on me. Being around enough people for long enough will cause my positive symptoms to resurface even if I am currently without.

My therapists say I don’t have straight social anxiety, but that my anxiety over social situations is understandable and part of my symptom management.

1 Like
15

How well do you mask? I don’t think I’ve ever done so, but it seems plenty of people on the spectrum do.

16

thanks for the replies guys, any more input is much apprecoiated as im trying to study up on mental illnesses in general

17

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.