Recommended Viewing
Watch the story of Andy Kukes, and incredibly bright young man who lived with undiagnosed social anxiety. His story serves as a reminder of how important it is to find the resources we need to cope with this disorder.
NEW
Family, Friends and Mentors
Sufferers of social anxiety are not the only ones affected by the disorder. Family members, friends, co-workers and other key members in a sufferer’s life can experience residual effects.
You are most likely here because, first and foremost, you are worried about someone’s well-being. You are on a mission to form an understanding, learn ways to support your loved one, locate help and perhaps even find support from others who are in a similar situation.
AKFSA is not only here to help those suffering from social anxiety, but also those who play an active role in their lives. Our hope is that the information and resources on this website are beneficial for both you and the social anxiety sufferer in your life.
+ identify a sufferer’s symptoms
Identifying your child, friend or family member’s reoccurring behaviors and tendencies can help both of you as you start to learn more about social anxiety and what it means to have the disorder.
Here we have provided you with an opportunity to download a document (specific to your family member or friend’s age group) that presents several scenarios and statements and asks you to identify how you think your friend or family member behaves or feels during certain situations, and to what degree.
Your responses to these statements can be a powerful tool for starting a conversation with your loved one and may be very helpful for him or her to share with a doctor or therapist. You may even want to print this document after downloading it so that it is easier to share and discuss. If the person you are concerned about feels that he or she may have social anxiety and has not yet contacted a professional, we suggest that be the next step.
You can learn more about social anxiety and how it affects sufferers and those close to them by viewing select segments from our DVD series, Social Anxiety: The Untold Story and reading a few articles, which we believe friends, family and mentors of social anxiety sufferers will find especially interesting and helpful on this page of our website.
Download an exercise here:
+ find help near you
AKFSA is currently engaged in outreach activities across the United States to further our goal of building a network of professionals and organizations that have received continuing education credits on social anxiety disorder topics. You can view a list of professionals and organizations in the ever-growing network here. If you do not see a professional or organization in your area, don’t be discouraged. We are adding new entries to this list everyday.
Find help.
+ learn more
Looking for more on social anxiety? Here are some helpful sources:
The Anxiety Disorders Association of America’s Social Anxiety Page