Josephine Tripier Lorio

A potential benefit of social anxiety is increased empathy. A study published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders found that there was a positive association between social anxiety and affective empathy. Affective empathy can be defined as sharing the same emotion as someone else, such as experiencing personal distress when seeing another person's difficult situation or feeling joy when seeing another person experience something positive.

Anxiety Is your teenager showing signs of social anxiety? Recent evidence suggests that social anxiety is a growing concern among young people. Studies have found that over one-third (36%) of individuals aged 16-29 meet the criteria for social anxiety disorder (SAD), with many of them not recognising their difficulties. In addition, rates of social anxiety have increased by 20% over the past decade, with the highest rates among those aged 18-26.

Anxiety Social anxiety can be a debilitating condition that affects many aspects of life, including relationships, work and personal well-being. However, one effective tool for managing social anxiety is building self-compassion. What is self-compassion? Self-compassion involves treating oneself with kindness, understanding, and a recognition of one's common humanity, rather than criticising or judging oneself harshly.