Going to the Store With Social Anxiety Disorder

This article is the second in the Living with Social Anxiety series. This article will focus on the what a person experiences when shopping at store particularly large retail stores, malls or supermarkets.

Imagine going into a supermarket where there are lots of people. You start thinking to yourself that everyone is looking at you, then you question if there something with your clothing, looks, or your behavior. Very soon you start having muscle tension, your heart beats more rapidly, you begin sweating, and you may walk faster to get out of the anxiety provoking area.

You go down a store isle to check out items to buy, then someone speaks to you; you hesitate and stutter because you don’t know what to say because you think you might say something stupid or awkward. You may even decide to go down an entirely different isle all together just to avoid an isle full of people that you think are judging the way you look or behave.

People with social anxiety will avoid buying items that they feel may bring embarrassment if another person sees them holding the product. Social anxiety sufferers will tend to go to stores with less people, and if possible they will go to busy stores at later hours when there are less people. An anxiety might decide to buy an item such as alcohol, but he or she afraid of going into the direction of the product because may think another person that sees you will think that you’re a “bad person” or an alcoholic.

If this article describes you when you go into stores, then you may have social anxiety disorder. Social phobia is a treatable medical condition, and you start learning how to get treatment by checking out the articles located in our Articles section.