Affected by Social Anxiety

I believe a mental disorder is measured in terms of functionality. An adult person should be able to accomplish certain activities in his regular life, such us: being able to take care of himself/herself, work, study, have a family relationship, have friends, have a couple, etc.

How much the functionality of the person is affected in terms of these different aspects is what would tell us, how dysfunctional the person is. But to call social anxiety a mental disorder, to me that’s not correct.

We have social difficulties, we have problems establishing relationships, we’re “afraid” of social situations because of our fears of being rejected, because we are afraid of being harm by others. But to say that we have a “mental disorder” is too much.

This of course is my personal view of Social Anxiety. I believe in the possibilities of having a better quality of life, even though of social fear, we are still able to develop a good life, each of us have our own strengths and weaknesses, based on that we must learn to build our own space in life . Of course I respect others thoughts related to this matter.

So I would say we have a social “dysfunction” that can be measured in each individual according to how much affected is his/her regular life.

How much is your regular life affected? Talking about family, study, work, friends, hobbies, etc? From 1 to 10, how much do you think social anxiety has affected your life?