Do you think there are more men or women with social anxiety?

[greyskittles]

................................................

[M80]

I'm not a psychologist but I would say it was 50/50?

[grease monkey]

well i only discovered two years ago that there was more than
just me. I thought i was le freak unique. Imagine my surprise when i discovered you orrible lot

[SuGaR!*]

women are more likely to suffer from depression due to their hormones an as anxiety can come with depression id say maybe more women suffer from anixety but i dont think there would much difference in it really.

From Wiki:

"Approximately 13.3% of the general population may meet criteria for social anxiety disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the highest survey estimate, with the male to female ratio being 1:1.5 respectively".

(So, according to that, for every two men with SA there are three women with it).

[mico]

You could look up statistics, but I wouldn't put much faith in them. Sugar says that women are more likely to suffer anxiety and depression. That may or may not be the case, but it is backed up by statistics. However, fewer alpha males are willing to go to the doctors with anxiety or depression because they're 'supposed to be stronger than that'. So fewer males are recorded as statistics, prefering to keep their troubles to themselves.

[SuGaR!*]

aw mines not from numbers or what ever, its just that womens hormones change all the time , i know mens do to but everyone knows womens are worse because of all the stuff their bodies do through out their lifes. they can also have hormonel imbalance which can cause depression and stuff, i think with depression there are prob more women sufferes but anxiety i dont think there would much difference if it wasn't fifty fifty.

[mico]

Originally Posted by SuGaR!*

aw mines not from numbers or what ever, its just that womens hormones change all the time , i know mens do to but everyone knows womens are worse because of all the stuff their bodies do through out their lifes. they can also have hormonel imbalance which can cause depression and stuff, i think with depression there are prob more women sufferes but anxiety i dont think there would much difference if it wasn't fifty fifty.

Don't worry, Sugar (sounds odd everytime I say that...), I wasn't disagreeing with you. I simply borrowed your words so I could make an example about statistics in response to the original post. You may or may not be right, I don't know.

[SuGaR!*]

Originally Posted by mico

Don't worry, Sugar (sounds odd everytime I say that...), I wasn't disagreeing with you. I simply borrowed your words so I could make an example about statistics in response to the original post. You may or may not be right, I don't know.

aw right i ok nm lol

[Amber Fyre]

Well statistically women are more likely to suffer from social anxiety.
Although there are more males on this site than females.

However, females are also more likely to seek help for anxiety and depression than are males (but this doesn't necessarily mean they're more likely to suffer from it). The statistics suggesting that females are more likely to suffer are usually based on who has been diagnosed. Although this isn't always the case - sometimes a random sample of the population is taken and they're tested and it is based on this.

So, putting it simply: it's hard to tell really. There is a suggestion that females are more likely but this can be called into question.

[Innervision]

Pretty much everything I've read on SA points to there being marginally more female sufferers than male. The following paragraph being common in lots I've read...

Onset of social phobia typically occurs between 11 and 19 years of age. Onset after age 25 is rare,3,4 although it is not uncommon for an existing social phobia to remain unprovoked for years until some new social or occupational demand (e.g., meeting new people, public speaking, promotion) forces these persons into social encounters that trigger the syndrome. Slightly more females than males have social phobia.3 In one study,5 about one half of the patients reported that their phobia began in response to a specific embarrassing experience; the others reported that it had been with them for as long as they could remember.


Source- http://www.aafp.org/afp/991115ap/2311.html

[Amber Fyre]

I have access to quite a few psychology journals so been looking through them quickly and here are some findings:

gender differences (GDs) in social anxiety disorder (SANXD) are apparent for treatment seeking and symptom clusters, and hormonal influences may affect the natural course of illness. The lifetime prevalence rate is 13.3%, with rates of 15.5% in women and 11.1% in men. Although studies indicate that more women suffer from SANXD, it appears that men are more likely to seek treatment.

Although the overall prevalence appears to vary according to the population considered and the diagnostic criteria applied, the ratio between female and male rates is quite stable across studies (approximately 1.5 to 2.1; (Kessler et al., 1994;Wittchen et al., 1999). In the Epidemiological Catchment Area study, the lifetime prevalence rate of SAD was 3.1% in women and 2.0% in men (Schneier et al., 1992), and in the National Comorbidity Survey study, the corresponding figures were 15.5% and 11.1%, respectively (Magee et al., 1996).

These suggest that females are more likely to suffer from social anxiety (as confirmed by other studies) but as I pointed out earlier you should never look at statistics or findings without questioning them. Females (based on research) are generally more likely to seek help for anxiety and depression and may feel more comfortable admitting that they suffer from them (although the first study I mentioned claims males are more likely to seek help for social anxiety).

[Prospero]

I think guys are more likely to be on the internet talking about it. I've heard men are more likely to *suffer* due to shyness/SA because they're expected to be the initiators in relationships. If a girl is fairly pretty a guy will come along and help pull her out of her shell. Guys just end up as incels...

[Arsinal]

I think guys are more likely to be on the internet talking about it. I've heard men are more likely to *suffer* due to shyness/SA because they're expected to be the initiators in relationships. If a girl is fairly pretty a guy will come along and help pull her out of her shell. Guys just end up as incels...

i have to agree

[Amber Fyre]

^ Not to get into the whole "debate about whether males or females suffer more" AGAIN but a shy/sa girl will not just be "pulled out of her shell" is she's pretty or if a guy likes her. It's not as simple as that I'm afraid.
There is a lot more to SA than just relationship difficulties. And relationships do not solve all problems.

[W!llow]

In my family it seems fairly equal. My Grandad has severe SA and has done most of his life. Although his might be mixed with agorophobia. He wont go into supermarkets, eat with family for a meal, even go into his local little shop if he can avoid it. My aunty (his daughter), has improved quite a lot but also has SA, anxiety and occasional panic attacks. My uncle is Schizophrenic (sorry don't know how to spell it) and it effects him socially too. My brother has a degree of SA I would say and possibly agorophobia at times. My mum is introverted and not a great one for socialising but seems to cope. And lil old me!

W!llow.x

[paulthequiet]

I wonder if more men seeking help for SA is due to anxiety being less accepted in males in general. And so they are more likely to see it as a problem and seek help. Like if your anxious about something your told to "be a man" or "stop being a big girl". Bad stereotypes I know but they do exist.

[emgee]

Research certainly seems to suggest that more females than males suffer with SA but, as others have said, that may be misleading.

Maybe Men, or some men, experience SA in a different way to women, not that they suffer any more or less. There is another so-called condition known as Love-Shyness. Now, this is supposedly a male-only thing and I can certainly relate to some aspects of it. It's still SA, just more specific. There's a Wikipedia article and a Support site if anyone's interested.
http://www.love-shy.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...oldid=55123499