Aspergers vs. social anxiety

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Just a distinction I'm confused about. There are a lot of websites that try to explain the difference but none of them are really clear. If someone is socially awkward but doesn't really have sensory issues, can they still be considered autistic? If so, how?

SAD is an extreme fear of being in social situations, usually manifested by being judged negatively and scrutinized in a social setting.

Asperger's is (whoa, here we go):

-Social impairment, as in, really no idea how to participate in two way social communication with another; usually manifested in a lecturing style of interaction whether the other person is interested or not
-Nonverbal impairment, unable to understand body language, and doesn't communicate the same back
-Repetitive behaviors, which are usually manifested by a single intense interest (of varying length of times), that excludes doing most other things
+ lots of other things that you won't find in SAD

It seems like a lot of people with Asperger's say they don't have problems with body language though. And by repetitive behaviors, does that encompass watching TV or playing a video game or something? That's often a symptom of depression too, as would be doing anything antisocial for a long period of time.

I'm going just by what the book says. Nonverbal encompasses quite a lot, so you'll probably find some people who understand some bits of it, but they'll still be impaired in much of it. Some people may stare at you intently as they speak at you, and people would think this person has appropriate eye contact on first glance (but it's not). Posture, facial expressions (except the extremes), eye contact, vocal intonation, gestures, and whatnot, will all be possibly affected. I doubt you'd find many who're "normal" at these things who have AS.

If you watch and play movies and games that follow a similar and narrow genre, then yes.

true, i just feel like a lot of issues in these areas can be chalked up to social anxiety/self-consciousness as well; it's a really fine line.



would having a wide range of interests, however mild, rule it out then? i've never been able to understand the "one specific interest" thing, since most people specialize to some degree in a certain field or interest, but are at least somewhat interested in other things as well.

You need to determine whether it's due to SAD or normal self-consciousness. It's actually a physical component that makes the person with an ASD do the things they do, rather than a cognitive thought or emotional process. Some with AS will fear making eye contact, but it's due to the physical pain that it causes, rather than feeling...the things self-consciousness brings on.

The single interest is pretty much that. You spend most of your waking time and energy in pursuing it, and you love doing it.

that's interesting, i wonder how it manifests itself. i have pretty bad social anxiety and it takes effort for me to make eye contact with people i'm not comfortable with, but it's out of a sense of shame or embarrassment, for lack of more accurate terms. it feels like you're letting your guard down to a degree that's hard to deal with.



does it need to be something weird or obscure? almost anybody highly-regarded in the arts or sciences kind of has to be this way by default.

This is my personal opinion but I would say that you have to modify these criteria some what when considering adult; What would be an incredible specific and weird interest for a child could be something totally normal for someone to base a research career upon. For example a child obsessed with spiders would be considered rather unusual but there is plenty of people who study them. In other words; When looking at adults it may be more correct to look upon the intensity of the interest and how/if it keeps the person from doing other "normal things" like socializing. Most experts agree that the diagnose criteria for Asperger's is not ideal and lots of things have to be considered by the clinicians.

As to why the difference between SAD and Asperger's can be confusing it's probably because a lot of us (Aspies) have SAD as well, and some have a difficult separating what behaviors is because of Asperger's and whats SAD. I have both and sometimes I probably express feelings as a result of SAD while you could get the impression it's just Asperger's. - It's probably as a result of Asperger's but still....

Yes I think Asperger's are going to be concerned about whether they will be rejected by the tribe (and this is logical, because they know they have poor social skills). But also they are going to not want to face the reality of their hardwired primitive need/concern about fitting in the tribe.


I suggest use Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (Albert Ellis):

You may be 'awful-izing' i.e. being very frightened of some things, without really thinking them through and facing their reality?
e.g.
"It will be awful if grandma dies." People do die. So say to yourself "It would be nice if my grandma lived forever, but not end of the world if she dies."
"It will be awful if the people here don't like me'. Instead say "It would be nice if the people here like me, but not the end of the world if they don't.'

You may be doing some exaggerated thinking?
e.g.
"My daughter is very likely to be taken away by someone in the next hour - it happens to everyone, all the time!"
"I am a very un-safe mother, and I take no care at all over my daughter!"
See that your thoughts are unrealistic and exaggerated, and replace them with more reasonable ones.

You may be holding on to false beliefs about yourself or the world that are stopping you recognise, face and think through your real sources of anxiety?
E.g.
'It is only what is inside me that matters for my attractiveness to men'. Instead say "It is both what is inside, and my outside appearance, that matters for my attractiveness to men. I can try to look nice, and maybe someone nice will be attracted to me."
'I am self-reliant, self-actualised etc; it doesn't matter to me what anyone else thinks of me'. Instead say 'The truth is I have an ape brain developed for living in complex tribes for 100,000's of years - if I was not accepted by the tribe I would be cast out, and if I was on my own I would die - so, like it or not, I am affected by what other people think of me, and if the tribe accepts me.' and 'It would be nice if the tribe accepted me, but if they don't, and I die, that's not the end of the world.'

You may be demanding too much of yourself?
E.g.
"I must look amazingly good!" Instead say to yourself "It would be nice if I was the most attractive-looking woman in the world, but it's not the end of the world if I am not."
"I must save the world today", etc etc

You may be demanding too much of others, or of the world?
E.g.

"It would be nice if everyone was nice to me every moment of my life, but it's not the end of the world if not.'
"It would have been nice to have had perfect perfect parents, but it's not the end of the world that I didn't."
"It would be nice if the world was perfectly just to everyone, but it's not the end of the world that it is not."


Go for it - attack the faulty thinking!