# Whats the difference between social anxiety and autism?



## Whoareyou (Jun 8, 2010)

Both are incapable socially so whats the difference


----------



## BetaBoy90 (Jan 5, 2010)

Nothing much, all mental disorders are the same really. Actually to be more precise there is no such thing as a mental disorder, it's all just fake bs that the drug companies throw at us for us to buy their drugs! :um


----------



## Lasair (Jan 25, 2010)

Autism is an intellectual Disability SA has to do with mental health, though they can have very similar traits they are very different.

I don't have all the right information or wording at hand to go into detail!


----------



## donavan (Jun 23, 2010)

Whoareyou said:


> Both are incapable socially so whats the difference


whatever you do dont listen to a word betaboy90 says

autism is more of a disability. social anxiety is a fear , thats a massive difference


----------



## odd_one_out (Aug 22, 2006)

jhanniffy said:


> Autism is an intellectual Disability


Although intellectual disability can occur with autism you get people with the entire range of IQs. It's not an intellectual disability. It's a developmental disorder.


----------



## Star Zero (Jun 1, 2010)

Whoareyou said:


> Both are incapable socially so whats the difference


We are capable socially.

I don't know what you're talking about.


----------



## Lasair (Jan 25, 2010)

odd_one_out said:


> Although intellectual disability can occur with autism, you get people with the entire range of IQs. It's not an intellectual disability; it's a developmental disorder.


I know autism comes at many different levels , a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with Aspergers only a few weeks ago. I've read up a fair bit on Autism, as I am hoping to do Intellectual Disability nursing in September, and it comes under ID's. That what it is here in Ireland anyway and I am sorry if I have offended you.


----------



## odd_one_out (Aug 22, 2006)

^ No offense taken. Yes. Here learning disability services cover it in part as do mental health services. There's a huge service gap many fall through because often neither applies to them. It's developmental and service providers still cannot get their heads around that so will only provide services if you meet their learning disability or mental health criteria.


----------



## donavan (Jun 23, 2010)

Star Zero said:


> We are capable socially.
> 
> I don't know what you're talking about.


good answer and that sums it up


----------



## nork123 (Oct 22, 2009)

social anxiety is something you can recover from, autism is something your stuck with for life. If your just comparing symptoms you could say whats the difference with psychosis, schitzophrenia, bipolar, post traumatic stress, nervous break down etc etc. The more you read symptoms for all these conditions the more labels you could give to yourself but at the end of the day its not healthy to label your self under these titles and will only make it worse imo


----------



## iAmCodeMonkey (May 23, 2010)

Whoareyou said:


> Both are incapable socially so whats the difference


Incapable socially?

Who in the hell gave you that mis-information?

SA is a mental health issue. Period.

Autism is a developmental disorder, which may, or may not, cause development problems in social functioning.


----------



## nickyole (Oct 7, 2009)

BetaBoy90 said:


> Nothing much, all mental disorders are the same really. Actually to be more precise there is no such thing as a mental disorder, it's all just fake bs that the drug companies throw at us for us to buy their drugs! :um


What?! I don't agree much with taking drugs either but mental disorders ARE real...Sometimes they're phobias, sometimes they're caused by traumatic experiences, and sometimes there is something physically wrong with the brain...Anyhow, I agree with the others...Austim is a developmental disorder (something is wrong with the part of the brain that controls social skills and communication), SA is more like a phobia. SA can be cured with counseling and cognative-behavioural therapy, autism cannot.


----------



## rubyruby (Jun 17, 2009)

Autism is an extreme of continuum (a link between two things) that runs through society.
by Stuart Shanker, Professor of Philosophy&Psychology York University

I was listening to this professor being interviewed yesterday and he believes social anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism are all related. He used the term "self regulation" all the time. In other words people with these problems can't regulate their emotions. He has written several research papers and works with autistic children.

I have to go now but I find his comments very interesting.


----------



## kleewyck (Aug 13, 2010)

Autism is heavily dependent on sensory and processing issues. It is a different way of functioning and interacting with the world. A lot of people on the Autistic Spectrum also have Social Anxiety.

The definition of "_autism_" is undergoing a renaissance at the moment both in the autistic community and amongst academics. The general consensus is _"it's not what you think._"

There is a growing interest by people who are autistic, or on the autistic spectrum, to use the term "_neurodiverse_" to denote a neurological, genetic and developmental, difference in the wiring of how their brains and bodies function. This is intimately involved with a large movement to move Autism out of the realm of "disorders" and into the mind-space that it is a way of being, like one's sexual orientation.


----------



## Edwin (Jun 19, 2008)

kleewyck said:


> Autism is heavily dependent on sensory and processing issues. It is a different way of functioning and interacting with the world. A lot of people on the Autistic Spectrum also have Social Anxiety.
> 
> The definition of "_autism_" is undergoing a renaissance at the moment both in the autistic community and amongst academics. The general consensus is _"it's not what you think._"
> 
> There is a growing interest by people who are autistic, or on the autistic spectrum, to use the term "_neurodiverse_" to denote a neurological, genetic and developmental, difference in the wiring of how their brains and bodies function. This is intimately involved with a large movement to move Autism out of the realm of "disorders" and into the mind-space that it is a way of being, like one's sexual orientation.


This is silly. It is an disorder, and we're better off finding a cure for it. Whatever society thinks of it, people with autism can hardly take care of themselves.


----------



## kleewyck (Aug 13, 2010)

Edwin said:


> This is silly. It is an disorder, and we're better off finding a cure for it. Whatever society thinks of it, people with autism can hardly take care of themselves.


Please better inform yourself.


----------



## Mc Borg (Jan 4, 2008)

jhanniffy said:


> Autism is an intellectual Disability SA has to do with mental health, though they can have very similar traits they are very different.







It kind of makes you wonder if our SA has anything to do with over-stimulation.


----------



## kleewyck (Aug 13, 2010)

Mc Borg said:


> It kind of makes you wonder if our SA has anything to do with over-stimulation.


*Asperger's theory does about-face. *
http://www.thestar.com/article/633688

Hypersensitivity and Sensory processing are also common autistic "co-morbids". A high percentage of people on the spectrum are also synesthetic.


----------



## littlemisshy (Aug 10, 2010)

Its very interesting that someone came up with thread.

My oldest son has aspergers syndrome which is actually 'high functioning autism'. One of the traits of autism is 'social awkardness' , they have problems picking up 'social cues' ie: they don't understand when someone is annoyed with them and will keep on saying/doing whatever they are doing. They don't understand sarcasm and take things literally (ie: when you say to them 'Hop into the car' some of them will actually 'hop') . They have issues establishing and maintaining friendships as other people think they are 'odd'. A lot of autistic children/adults are loners and actually like the idea of a friend but cant go about making one.

So really autism is similiar to social anxiety in the 'social awkwardness' part at least. 

But keep in mind that there are many levels of autism, not all kids/adults with autism are 'Rainman'!


----------



## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

rubyruby said:


> Autism is an extreme of continuum (a link between two things) that runs through society.
> by Stuart Shanker, Professor of Philosophy&Psychology York University
> 
> I was listening to this professor being interviewed yesterday and he believes social anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism are all related. He used the term "self regulation" all the time. In other words people with these problems can't regulate their emotions. He has written several research papers and works with autistic children.
> ...


What papers has he done on this (found some but needed a subscription to see)?

A while back I tried to find some research that looked to establish a link between autism and ADHD, but I couldn't come up with some good, solid papers on this. I've speculated that there could be some connection -- from my own experience, as well as anecdotal and correlational studies, it seems that the two disorders have many symptoms in common (as well as the fact that many autistics have ADHD), except that they seem to be much milder in ADHD. Or that, perhaps, some of the common symptoms could be coming from some third, unknown disorder. But I and many others with ADHD have experienced sensory hypersensitivity, stereotyped behavior/movements, clumsiness, and restricted/compulsive behavior. I have read some accounts by high-function autistics such as Temple Grandin's section in Oliver Sacks' book Anthropologist on Mars and found some of my own experiences to be incredibly similar, just with weaker forms of these symptoms.


----------



## foodie (Apr 27, 2010)

littlemisshy said:


> Its very interesting that someone came up with thread.
> 
> My oldest son has aspergers syndrome which is actually 'high functioning autism'. One of the traits of autism is 'social awkardness' , they have problems picking up 'social cues' ie: they don't understand when someone is annoyed with them and will keep on saying/doing whatever they are doing. They don't understand sarcasm and take things literally (ie: when you say to them 'Hop into the car' some of them will actually 'hop') . They have issues establishing and maintaining friendships as other people think they are 'odd'. A lot of autistic children/adults are loners and actually like the idea of a friend but cant go about making one.
> 
> ...


I was actually reading on this topic today (more so aspergers("higher functioning form of autism") vs. social anxiety) before I this thread popped up and found this answer to be really helpful.


----------



## hahahaha (Mar 21, 2012)

Both seem to have the same traits.


----------



## Owl-99 (Mar 7, 2012)

Its like comparing apples to oranges.


----------



## meyaj (Sep 5, 2009)

Especially in early childhood, autistics tend to lack what's called Theory of Mind - the concept that others are thinking beings no different from themselves.

SA is almost exclusively diagnosed at a much later age. There's too many differences in adulthood for me to really get into, nor are neither fully understood.

As some have touched on, ADHD is actually the far more related disorder. I was evaluated by a top psychiatrist (former neuroscientist) for autism spectrum or another developmental disorder and ended up with a strong ADHD-I Dx, and was explained at length many of the similarities (behavioral, cognitive, and even neurologically).


----------

