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Retired NFL Running Back and Heisman Trophy Winner Ricky Williams, featured speaker at the March 2017 AKFSA event "No More Running: Living with Social Anxiety Disorder," shared his struggle with social anxiety, which became more severe when he joined the NFL, the challenge of when sports could no longer mask his anxiety and how he learned to own his condition.
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The overwhelming fear of being embarrassed. You know it well. And while you know it’s irrational and excessive, you just can’t shake it. You’re avoiding certain people and places to spare yourself intense, uncomfortable feelings. But where are these feelings coming from?
For many people living with social anxiety, the first step is just figuring out what is causing the extreme worrying and anxiety brought on by everyday social situations. Once you can pinpoint the cause, you can begin working through it. With consistency, determination and the right support, social anxiety disorder can be managed and even conquered.
Identifying your behaviors and feelings is an excellent first step in discovering if you have social anxiety.
Here we have provided you with an opportunity to download a document (specific for your age group) that presents several scenarios and statements and asks you to identify how you feel about them and to what degree.
Your responses to these statements can be a powerful tool for starting a conversation with a doctor or therapist about your social anxiety symptoms. We suggest printing this document and sharing your responses at your next appointment or session. If you believe you may have social anxiety and have not yet contacted a professional, we suggest that be your next step.
You can learn more about social anxiety and how it affects sufferers by taking a moment to view select segments from our DVD series, Social Anxiety: The Untold Story and reading a few articles, which we believe sufferers of social anxiety will find especially interesting and helpful on this page of our website.
Note: If you are under the age of 12 and think you may have social anxiety, do not answer these questions alone. Ask a parent or an adult that you trust to work together with you to answer this questionnaire:
Social Anxiety Test for Children
Download a Social Anxiety Test here:
Social Anxiety Test For Adolescents
Social Anxiety Test For Adults
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.
View a list of professionals and organizations in the ever-growing network. If you do not see a professional or organization in your area, please contact us. We may be able to help.
Looking for more information about social anxiety? Here are some helpful resources:
The Anxiety Disorders Association of America’s Social Anxiety Page