Can you have Both Social phobia And Aspergers?

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Exactly! couldn't agree more.

I have never been diagnosed with social anxiety but I am convinced that I have it sometimes.

Quite possible. I happen to have both Asperger's and social phobia myself (I have been diagnosed with Asperger's). Sometimes I feel like the social phobia is greater and more afflicting than the Asperger's. I have more of the symptoms of social phobia than I do of Asperger's.

-I feel anxious when in a social situation.

-I worry too much of what others think and if they're judging me.

-I do avoid situations where I may become the center of attention, even around people that don't judge so harshly, like small children, mentally disabled people or elderly people even with Dementia.

-I do avoid jobs where I might have to deal with the public or face public speaking.

-I do face quite a lot of anxiety about social situations that it makes me become depressed because I don't want to be this way.

-I don't drink alcohol or take drugs for various medical reasons, which is why I tend to avoid social events all together, otherwise if I could drink or take drugs to be more social, I would. This then makes me feel isolated and depressed.

-I am extremely sensitive to criticism of others.

-I do have a huge phobia of being in a situation where I'm going to be humiliated or embarrassed. I can become embarrassed very quickly and I don't like the feeling at all.

-I fear rejection, because to me it's a form of humiliation.

Yes - I was diagnosed with both. Psychologist diagonosed social phobial long ago, but recently have been to proper psychologist who diagnosed Asperger's and social phobia as well and said that the latter probably is what interfered with earlier diagnoses of Asperger's . She says that usually with Asperger's you have difficulties socially but "don't really care what other people think of you", but with social phobia you are outright scared of people.
To be honest, with that particular point, from reading a lot of posts here as well as books on the subject of Asperger's I found that a characterisation that isn't accurate because it seems to me that many people do care about relating to other people..

But yes it is possible to have both.

P.S. This is tangential, but personally, I don't think phobia is such an accurate name for this condition, because it is not "irrational" to be afraid of people if you have been harmed (psychologically or physically) a lot in the past, that's reacting to previous bad experiences?

Yes, you can!

hey everyone I really like reading these forums, especially lately because I'm realizing I am definitely not normal. I have never been to a therapist/psychologist but I feel I either have Asperger's, social phobia, or both. I'm 25 and male.

I have a lot of the symptoms of AS - narrowed interests, social awkwardness, difficulty of making friends and relating to others: I have very few friends, but am perfectly fine with it. I'm very bad with small talk and never know what to say around other people or know what they're thinking. I naturally tend to think everyone is thinking what I'm thinking or like what I like. I'm very bad with eye contact - I hate making eye contact and when I do it's for too long and always seems awkward. I'd rather not make eye contact at all or talk to anyone but I also am aware that is rude and socially not acceptable. I'm a chemical engineer and very quarky science and math smart. I have a freaky good almost photographic memory. However, I don't really have rituals or intense routines. I tend to do things the same way - for example: making my lunch, the foods I eat/buy, how I put on clothes, etc. I feel like I definitely have mild AS at most because I don't come across as autistic - i'm sure a lot of people think I'm somewhat normal.

But then I definitely have high anxiety and tend to be paranoid a lot. I'm always over thinking things. I can also be very scared in social situations - I fear people are thinking negatively towards me, I'm scared of saying the wrong thing and I always think people automatically don't like me or think I'm weird. This tends to be more intense around people I feel are important, people who I regularly see, and people I want to be friends with. But a lot of the time I could really care less about what people think of me - especially people not important to me or people I know I'll rarely ever see. When I'm around people I'm very comfortable with my anxiety is much lower but I still have trouble keeping conversations or knowing what to say.

My girlfriend thinks I'm somewhat of an Aspie but my mother doesn't think so. My quarks come from my moms side of the family - My mom is a very anxious person and my uncle has SAD.

Basically to sum things up: I feel I have symptoms of AS and SAD but do they both have the same symptoms? I know SAD is classified by an intense fear of people and social situations but I'm not always scared and it's never too extreme. Sometimes I think maybe even I'm normal and I just think I have AS or SAD?? Does anyone diagnosed with AS/SAD relate to this? Would really appreciate replies. thanks

Last edited by jangie on 25 Jul 2014, 9:13 am, edited 2 times in total.

I've been diagnosed with both ASD and social anxiety disorder, so apparently you can have both. In my case, I'm pretty sure they're related, since my social anxiety is rooted in a long history of rejection and bullying that was based on my perceived "weirdness", ie, my autism.

I probably have social anxiety or just the characteristics. I know I get nervous about using phones and having to talk to my boss or talking to people and I fear rejection. I also worry about coming off as stupid.

ASD can definately cause Social Phobia

The doctors said I have social anxiety, but many symptoms are similar to asperger. I'll say my symptoms to social phobia that I found online:

Intense fear of interacting with strangers - aspies doesn't like meeting new people, I don't for exemple not because social anxiety, I don't have subject with new people...
Fear of situations in which you may be judged - not so much
Worrying about embarrassing or humiliating yourself - yes, because sometimes I'm very honesty and don't realize it
Fear that others will notice that you look anxious - yes
Anxiety that disrupts your daily routine, work, school or other activities - no
Avoiding doing things or speaking to people out of fear of embarrassment - yes, another aspies symptom because honesty, avoiding eye contact etc
Avoiding situations where you might be the center of attention - sure, who likes being the center of attetion???
Difficulty making eye contact - sure
Difficulty talking - no!

So let's see, maybe social anxiety is caused by asperger. Asperger doesn't have cure, so as social anxiety?! I'm curious now

I completely disagree. Social anxiety can affect anyone. It's not struggling to read social cues, body language and the poor social integration that people with autism have. The anxiety is caused by social fears. This isn't the same at all.

And stereotyped behaviours, circumscribed interests, adherence to routine and rituals are not related to social anxiety. As well as aversion to eye contact. And there are plenty of people with autism who have no social anxiety whatsoever, I've met a few IRL. And I nearly count myself as one. Although I get anxious for different reasons, mainly over obsessing if my clothes look right and there is no dirt on them.

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Some says I have asperger, since kid, many symptoms, so not a long time another doctor said social anxiety, but this just started with age 15. So maybe social anxiety and aspergers are similar, or social anxiety caused by asperger. I really don't know.

As Aspergian's we are hypersensitive in about every way- that edgy feeling of unsteady breath can cause a debilitating social fear i.e social phobia. It can get better if you push thru it and adapt that seeing people or going into stores is just another thing we hate but have to do. Wear sunglasses/hat whatever makes you feel less noticed if you need to at first. I'm still working on this one.