08/29/2025

Stop Saying These Five Things to People with Social Anxiety

Those with social anxiety receive too much advice without your help

Social anxiety can make any gathering feel daunting. Long before someone steps foot in a crowded party, the restaurant where they're having a first date or the conference room where they're giving a speech, they will start replaying worst-case scenarios.

“There's a lot of anticipation and anxiety leading up to the event," said Charissa Chamorro, a clinical psychologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she co-directs the anxiety, OCD and tics fellowship. "The person may ruminate and think over and over again about the situation, and that's where some of these self-critical thoughts come in: 'I'm not going to know what to say, I’m not going to know how to act, I'm not going to know what to do with my hands.'"

Once the social situation arrives—whether that means they’re surrounded by two or two dozen people—they’ll feel like there’s an “intense microscope or spotlight on them,” Chamorro added. “People often report feeling almost transparent.”

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.