What are the major differences between social anxiety disorder and antisocial personality disorder

You might have heard that social anxiety disorder and antisocial personality disorder are the same thing. But they’re not! That’s because social anxiety is a fear of being judged, embarrassed, or humiliated in front of others. In contrast, antisocial personality disorder is a mental illness characterized by aggression and lack of empathy for others.”

Let me be clear: there are some similarities between social anxiety and antisocial personality disorders. For example, both can cause significant distress for those who live with it every day. But the two conditions also differ in many ways. Social anxiety is feeling shy or afraid when around people, but someone with an antisocial personality may behave aggressively towards people–even if they don’t know them very well.

What are antisocial people like?

 Those with antisocial personality disorder don’t care about people, and they violate the rights of others.

They must have 3 or more of the following:

·         They don’t conform to social norms when it comes to respectful or lawful behaviour.

·         They lie repeatedly.

·         They’re impulsive and don’t plan.

·         They’re reckless, even reckless with other people’s safety.

·         They are never sorry.

They have to be at least 18 years old when diagnosed and some show symptoms of conduct disorder before 15 years old. The symptoms can’t be a result of another illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.  

The antisocial personality is the closest that DMS 5 has to a diagnosis of psychopathy. It includes other disorders such as pyromania, kleptomania, and conduct disorder. Children with conduct disorder violate age-appropriate norms outlined in society for social interactions between people; It’s thought to be a precursor to antisocial personality disorder.

The idea that the world is unfair or, in fact, cruel to them can give these people a sense of entitlement. They may rationalize their behaviour by saying life’s unfair to them, so they should be allowed to do bad things. Or they might see one of their victims as foolish and deserving of abuse … victim-blaming.

The prevalence varies depending on the population or socioeconomic status: for instance, it’s 70% among inmates but 0.02% to 3.3% in the general population. It’s much more common in males than females, attributed to “limited empathy” (a lack of feeling for another person) and more testosterone in men.

The difference between social anxiety and antisocial personality disorder is empathy. People with social anxiety disorder have empathy, and those with antisocial personality disorder can’t fathom the emotions others may feel.

Social anxiety can manifest in different ways

About 21% of a large sample population of people with social anxiety disorder said they had impulsivity and aggression issues.

Most mental disorders occur on spectrums. If you have social anxiety and perceive yourself as being frequently rejected while having a degree of antisocial personality disorder, this could be dangerous.

Combining these factors may create a perfect storm for making someone who is troubled and want to get revenge on a society they feel shuns them. Many other things contribute to this, such as testosterone. Most mass killers are male, and males have more testosterone than women, making them biologically more aggressive. Also, men usually aren’t allowed to express emotion – especially sadness – due to societal norms. Keeping your emotions bottled up will eventually lead to them exploding.

People who have killed in their workplace or mowed down a group of people with their car don’t necessarily fit into an antisocial category.

Some people can’t experience empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I was always under the impression that people were born with a built-in compass to navigate their way through ambiguous social situations. It turns out I’m not alone in this theory because most of us have a knack for seeing things from other people’s perspectives called ‘theory of mind’. We know how someone feels in any given situation because we know what it would feel like if we found ourselves in that same scenario and roughly understand how they might react or respond.

Empathy is the basis of our ability to bond and create genuine connections with others. It developed over millions of years of cohabitating and keeping the tribe together to survive the harsh, unforgiving world.

Taijin-kyofusho (TKS) is a form of social anxiety where the sufferer fears embarrassing others by their behaviour. Studies  show the temporal-parietal junction and amygdala are hyperactive in those with social anxiety. This means there’s a connectivity problem in the brain when encountering social situations that make someone with SAD more sensitive to the emotions of others and tend to misinterpret the situation negatively more often than an average person.

Studies  show social anxiety and antisocial behaviour are negatively correlated, which means the more socially anxious someone is, the less likely they are to be antisocial. Not only are they not the same disorder; they are polar opposites.

It’s ok to be less social than most people

Being judged or ridiculed based on your social life isn’t fun, but it doesn’t mean you are fundamentally flawed or need to change your entire life completely. If you are the kind of person who enjoys more alone time than most people, then be alone! You don’t owe anyone an explanation. If you fear social situations and desire a better social life, but you’re finding it hard to do, that’s ok. 

If you want to overcome social anxiety gradual exposure therapy is the best way to do it. 

Conclusion

I’ve been called antisocial before. It made me feel like a failure, as if something were wrong with me because my brain doesn’t work the same way that it does for other people. So next time someone is sitting alone at lunch, ask them how they are and be mindful of your words when talking to them – we all have our own paths in life, and sometimes those paths involve being by ourselves too much instead of not enough!

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