Social Anxiety Test

Dr Elaine Ryan

Written by Dr Elaine Ryan, PsychD · 20+ years treating anxiety disorders & OCD

Updated

Social anxiety is more than being shy. It can involve fear of judgement, avoiding interactions, monitoring how you come across and replaying conversations afterwards. This social anxiety test helps you recognise whether that pattern may be affecting you.

Your feedback explains what your answers suggest and highlights the parts of the cycle you report most often. It also considers the impact on everyday life, so you can choose a useful next step.

A clearer picture, one question at a time

Understand your social anxiety pattern

Think about the past month and choose what best fits your experience. Your feedback explains the pattern your answers suggest, what may keep it going, and where to start.

8 questionsAbout 3 minutesNo email needed

This self-check is for adults. The questionnaire itself does not send or save your answers. They are cleared when you reload or leave this page.

You can read the questions below. Enable JavaScript for the step-by-step questionnaire and personalised feedback.

Do you fear being judged, embarrassed, rejected or seen as inadequate in social or performance situations?

Examples include conversations, meetings, eating in public or speaking up.

Do you avoid, postpone or endure social situations with distress because of that fear?

Do not count choosing time alone because you prefer it.

Before an interaction, do you rehearse what to say or imagine things going badly?

Think about preparation that becomes repeated worry rather than useful planning.

During an interaction, do you closely monitor how you look, sound or come across?

Include watching yourself for signs of blushing, shaking or saying the wrong thing.

Do you hide symptoms, speak very little, overprepare or use other habits to prevent embarrassment?

Consider what you feel you must do to get through the interaction.

After an interaction, do you repeatedly review mistakes or look for evidence that it went badly?

Include replaying even when other people gave no sign of a problem.

Do you worry that others will notice blushing, sweating, shaking or your mind going blank?

Answer about the fear of being noticed, not whether a symptom was visible.

How much has this affected your work, study, relationships or ordinary activities?

Choose the answer that best reflects your own experience.

How to understand this self-check

Social anxiety involves fear of evaluation, rather than introversion alone. Assessment considers situations, feared outcomes, avoidance, safety behaviours and interference. Individual CBT for social anxiety helps change attention and protective habits while testing predictions in appropriate situations.

The questions are an original educational self-check, rather than a validated diagnostic instrument. Results reflect the combinations, frequency and impact you report; they do not provide a probability of diagnosis or a clinical severity score.

Read the social anxiety guide for more information.