How to distinguish Aspergers from social anxiety?

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They share many similarities and apparent "symptoms", but have different causes. So, how to differentiate them?

I don't think they are very similar or have similar symptoms. How are they similar?

Asperger's Syndrome is defined by restricted interests, repetitive/stereotyped behaviors, and social and communicative differences from a young age.

The first two are not characteristic of social anxiety. As for the third, people with social anxiety may have social differences, but these differences are not present at a young age, nor are they caused by communication differences or neurologically based difficulty learning social customs.

Social Anxiety can fit into Aspergers Syndrome and in most cases too. (Although not all cases).

Social Anxiety is what it is. It's the over-anxious feeling we get when we're around other people. Usually it tends to get worse the more people that surround us.

Aspergers Syndrome is far more extensive than that. As well as suffering from Social Anxiety Disorders, people with Aspergers also have other issues, such as becoming fixated on a particular interest. Being unable to read and understand facial expressions and social cues. Unable to identify and express their own emotions to other people. Failure to grasp situations. Unable to break out of routines, or find it unbearable to do so. We can appear to lack empathy on the surface. Being unable to recognize subtle tone changes in speech which can lead to us taking things literally when they're not intended to be. Having language and logical intelligence that is considered advanced for our age level. Being unable to look at people in the eyes, or not realizing when we're staring. Possible delays in motor development, making it take longer to master physical tasks. Often becoming over stimulated, caused by things such as bright lights, touching certain fabrics, hearing certain noises..... etc

It's important to understand however that no 2 people with Aspergers are exactly the same. We're all unique in our own way and our disabilities/abilities can vary greatly.

Somethings I wonder if I have more Social Anxiety than Asperger's myself. I don't struggle with being independent or taking things literally (as an example) so i'm never sure.

Some days I wonder if I even have Asperger's at all.

I'm not socially anxious at all? I'm BAD at being social, I miss cues and subtleties, I can ruin any joke anybody tells by taking it too seriously, and I don't particularly enjoy talking to people, all of which might CAUSE social anxiety, but I'm pretty social anxiety isn't on the list of autistic symptoms, like you can definitely have one and not the other

So does that mean your not as worried about screwing up socially even though you do?

Also do you have any social difficulties like not being able to approach people you don't know...I am trying to figure out if that kind of thing comes more from my aspergers or if it's more social anxiety I mean I don't usually feel necessarily afraid to approach/talk to people it's like I just can't. It is hard to tell if it's a psychological thing like by being so anxious I've convinced myself I cant do it or if the physical components in my brain that let people go up and talk to a random person is defective.

I posted a similar thread on Reddit and I thought about asking the same here but you beat me to it. Here is a list I made about what SA and AS might share together:

Have a hard time reading facial expressions and interpreting them and reading social situations and trying to figure out what the person is feeling and thinking.

Another thing that could be part of SA would be not knowing what to say in situations and difficulty carrying on a topic and difficulty reading social cues.

And I asked this also in my post:

And it is possible that someone with SA can also say inappropriate things like an ASD person can and lack a social filter?

Also another thing they have in common is scripting, ASD people script but so do people with SA.

They both get nervous when they have to talk to a person. They both get nervous in new situations.



I also wonder how do we differentiate if this is just anxiety or if it's autism that is causing the anxiety for social situations. How does a doctor figure out if this is an autism symptom or just anxiety that is hampering their social skills?

Yes, I often wonder about this too. I don't know if Aspergers causes my social anxiety or if I just have social anxiety and that makes me look like an aspie.

The only differences I can think of are the physical traits. I always had an odd gait. I remember when I was 6, people would say I walked like a robot. I also have a strange stare. I don't think social anxiety can cause this.

If someone has social anxiety and doesn't have a social life, spending too much time alone, could this person develop restricted interests and repetitive behaviours? I think it's a possibility.

Some of the things that seem to be more common with Aspergers than social anxiety
Ridiculously good memory.
Glancing at a page of text and pulling out content.
Savant skills
Face blindness
Multitasking issues. Conversely, the ability to single task for a long, long time.
Cross dominance. Ability to write well with either hand
Issues with driving
High IQ in some areas and low IQ in other areas
Losing track of time.

My mom says I just have social anxiety but yet she has said in the past year I have autism traits I did have odd postures and gaits and one kid in my second grade class used to call me a big butt because of the way I walked and stood and my mom would try correcting my posture and it was uncomfortable. Even my voice lesson teacher would make me sit up straight. But I don't know if this is my mom's assessment of me or if this is what my psychiatrist told her when he was diagnosing me. That is why I keep thinking about calling the hospital here where I was given the diagnoses and see if they still have any reports about me written by my psychiatrist including any diagnoses reports and ask for a copy of them. I am hoping it's all in the computer system because my ex told me they destroy their records after seven years and then go by what he said about me. Sadly my psychiatrist is retired and I don't even know if he will remember me if I called him personally if I found his home phone number online and I don't know if he has dementia.

Plus kids would make comments about my facial expressions and say I was sour spoiled or a show off or mean or rude and I don't think anxiety can cause this. Same as for them rejecting me. I should ask my mother next time please tell me how anxiety can make kids think I was mean and rude and selfish and spoiled and a show off and make me have odd body postures and odd facial features because it's been pointed out to me and even she has made comments about it too when we lived in Montana so how does my anxiety cause this and I will see what she says to that and this was before puberty so how was this all possible. Plus why would I get so upset easily as a child and didn't like change and why I would get very upset if someone was in my room or been messing with my doll house or my playhouse and did my anxiety also cause this too before puberty. Was I just a little b***h, was I just a brat and a bad child and I deserved everything I got. Did I just have a bad personality because this is how I feel when she tells me I just have anxiety and I didn't start to slip onto the aspie criteria until puberty because then how do I explain my symptoms before then or was I just a bad child. Then I will see what she says.

I don't know why this site doesn't let you know when you've been quoted.... To answer your question, I don't get a lot of joy from social interaction and it's wearying, but I don't suffer a lot of regret over my social faux pas the way other people tend to. Starting up a conversation with a stranger is especially tiresome, but I can do it, and sometimes even get a really good talk out of it, if I'm minding what I've learned about social rules well enough

It should be point out that autism is typically misdiagnosed in females.

Also, I'm not sure that the severity of autism has any correlation with success in life.
I seem to be a lot more successful that many people here that seem to have only a few
aspects of autism--I can recall issues with virtually everything autistics have at one time
or another. Been there, done that.

For me- Asperger's causes social anxiety, and I'm sure that any person on the outside might could see this by observing me in times of social anxiety; they would notice that I tend to "retreat" into comfortable repetitive movements/positions that are somewhat calming- like squeezing the end of my shirt and rubbing it around on my fingertips or some other movement that is familiar and intensely repetitive.

I'm not sure if that is strictly Asperger's or not though. I'm sure that pure anxiety could manifest in notably off movements- but I'm thinking that the appearance would be different?

Is there proof that this statement is true?

There have been several articles about it online. Google is your friend.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... %20females