Anxious Living

Typology and Social Anxiety: Part 1

September 18th, 2006 by Ryan Oelke

This is part one of a series of posts on typology and social anxiety. Part 1 explores the relationship between social anxiety and typology. Part 2 explores the particular connection between introversion and social anxiety. Part 3 provides methods for exploring typology and applying it to the path of overcoming social anxiety.

Exploring typology has tremendous pontential to help a person with social anxiety for at least two reasons:

1. Typology is an inward journey, which is in contrast to the continual external focus that characterizes SAD.
2. Typology is meant to validate one’s own natural personality. Often those with SAD will resist, even fight or grow to dislike their own personality traits (not always, but it seems prevalent). This is especially true with introverts as the difference between SAD and introversion is at first difficult to notice, particularly for those who are both introverts and struggle with SAD.

Those with social anxiety constantly try to assess others reactions to their own behaviors and being. This also includes attempting to predict how others will react. A person then tries to think, do, say the things that they think will be conducive with the approval and validation of others (although this is itself a complex process of distorted thoughts and projections). What this all amounts to is the individual creating an alter ego of sorts, even multiple alter egos - one for each new situation. “Alter ego” is a perfect term because this is exactly what happens: the person does not relax into their unaltered, natural ego (or personality) but out of anxiety, or because of it, alters and changes in order to cope with each situation (perhaps there’s a better word than “cope”). At “best” a person will go numb and/or avoid some or all social interactions. In any case, the person has not looked inwardly and self-validated, but instead is playing the endless and painful game of alter ego.

Typology encourages a person to take a self-reflective perspective, to see who s/he is naturally, before anxiety kicks in. Not only that, but typology is supposed to be self-validating, finding value in all different types of personalities, not just one or two, and certainly not based on some external factor (like other people!). Typology is not without its potential pitfalls. It could be easy for person with social anxiety to start thinking, “Which personality should I be??” without even being aware they’re doing it. Also, any particular typology is still an external descriptor of personality and so it is not 100% self-originated. Nonetheless, it seems to be a positive avenue for shifting one’s focus and finding value in self.

Do you think typology and social anxiety influence each other? Is it helpful to connect the two?

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