Prevalent Frequency of Emotional and Physical Symptoms in Social Anxiety using Zero Shot Classification: An Observational Study (2024)

Abstract: Social anxiety represents a prevalent challenge in modern society, affecting individuals across personal and professional spheres. Left unaddressed, this condition can yield substantial negative consequences, impacting social interactions and performance. Further understanding its diverse physical and emotional symptoms becomes pivotal for comprehensive diagnosis and tailored therapeutic interventions. This study analyze prev lance and frequency of social anxiety symptoms taken from Mayo Clinic, exploring diverse human experiences from utilizing a large Reddit dataset dedicated to this issue. Leveraging these platforms, the research aims to extract insights and examine a spectrum of physical and emotional symptoms linked to social anxiety disorder. Upholding ethical considerations, the study maintains strict user anonymity within the dataset. By employing a novel approach, the research utilizes BART-based multi-label zero-shot classification to identify and measure symptom prevalence and significance in the form of probability score for each symptom under consideration. Results uncover distinctive patterns: “Trembling” emerges as a prevalent physical symptom, while emotional symptoms like “Fear of being judged negatively” exhibit high frequencies. These findings offer insights into the multifaceted nature of social anxiety, aiding clinical practices and interventions tailored to its diverse expressions.

## introduction social anxiety is prevalent in our society, posing a significant and widespread difficulty for individuals. the impact is deep and goes beyond limits, affecting both personal and professional aspects. if not addressed, this illness can have a significant impact, leading to a series of negative consequences. going beyond just being shy, its enduring nature can result in significant repercussions @xcite , spanning from limited social contacts to compromised performance in several areas of life. the consistent existence of this phenomenon in the lives of many emphasises the importance of understanding its complexities and identifying its various forms in order to provide appropriate intervention and assistance. social anxiety is a mental health problem that can have long-term consequences @xcite . the long-lasting character of the phenomenon emphasises the crucial importance of thoroughly analysing its physical and emotional symptoms, in order to fully comprehend its frequency and influence on the individuals afflicted @xcite . understanding these symptoms not only helps to make the diagnosis clear but also facilitates the development of customised therapies, enabling prompt and accurate assistance for individuals struggling with this incapacitating condition. in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of this complex subject, this study undertakes an investigative exploration into the realm of symptoms associated with social anxiety. this study aims to extract insights by analysing the diverse range of human experiences reported on reddit subreddits dedicated to this issue. these platforms provide an unedited view of the real-life experiences of people dealing with the intricacies of social anxiety, including a large amount of text data that is suitable for research. by utilising this highly important resource, the research seeks to examine and define the intricate range of physical and emotional symptoms linked to social anxiety disorder. we strictly ensured that ethical and privacy consideration during our analysis, does not reveal any reddit user identity in the study. this work utilises a new method by applying a multi-class zero-shot classification strategy assisted by bart (bidirectional and auto-regressive transformers). this framework utilises nlp and deep learning to identify and measure common symptoms, leading to a better understanding of the complex nature of social anxiety with respect to different emotional and physical symptoms. bart zero shot classification has already been used for such studies e.g. in @xcite . this research aims to provide which symptoms are more frequent than the others comparatively using deep context provided by the bart language model. this study can further be used to inform clinical practices, interventions, and support mechanisms specifically designed to address the various ways in which social anxiety is expressed. ## social anxiety symptoms this study considers the following common symptoms facing by common people during social anxiety disorder in order to analysis their prevalence frequency in reddit social anxiety dataset. ## method in this methodology section, we'll first outline the reddit dataset chosen for the study on social anxiety disorder. this dataset forms the core of our investigation. next, we introduce and examine the emotional and physical symptoms associated with social anxiety disorder, employing a zero-shot classification approach. this method allows us to explore a wide array of symptoms without requiring specific training data. finally, we provide a detailed explanation of bart (bidirectional and auto-regressive transformers) and its utilization in a multi-label zero-shot classification setup. this methodology enables us to calculate the average probability of each social anxiety symptom within the dataset, offering a comprehensive insight into their prevalence and significance within the scope of this research. ## results and discussion tables 1 and 2 present a comprehensive list of both physical and emotional symptoms of social anxiety utilized in this study. additionally, figures 1 and 2 display bar charts illustrating the average zero-shot classification probability scores for these symptoms. figure 1 focuses on the physical symptoms outlined in beginning with an analysis of the results concerning physical symptoms, the data reveals intriguing patterns. notably, the most prevalent physical symptom observed within social anxiety disorder emerges as "trembling," boasting significantly, average probability score of 49 percent. trembling, an outward manifestation characterized by body shaking, stands out prominently within this context, reflecting its substantial association with social anxiety experiences. following closely after trembling, the subsequent prominent physical symptom is the sensation of catching one's breath. this finding reinforces the study's validity by mirroring the reality experienced by numerous individuals worldwide grappling with social anxiety. moreover, the data highlights additional moderately prevalent symptoms, including rapid heartbeat, sweating, and muscle tension, each scoring approximately around 20 percent. this categorization positions trembling and catching breath as higher-frequency symptoms, while the trio of rapid heartbeat, sweating, and muscle tension forms the middle tier in terms of prevalence. conversely, the analysis also unveils relatively lower-frequency physical symptoms of social anxiety. symptoms such as blushing, mental blankness, and upset stomach emerge with proba-bility scores ranging from approximately 11 to 14 percent. these findings collectively delineate a gradient of symptom prevalence within the spectrum of social anxiety, showcasing the varying degrees of manifestation experienced by individuals grappling with this condition @xcite . when examining the prevalence and frequency of emotional symptoms, notable trends surface within the dataset. particularly striking is the prominence of three emotional symptoms, each registering a notably high frequency: "fear of being judged negatively," "anxiety or fear of events," and "intense fear of social situations." these three emotions exhibit probability scores ranging from 64 to 68 percent, signifying their substantial occurrence among individuals grappling with social anxiety disorder. additionally, the analysis uncovers that the fear of others noticing one's nervousness ranks as the second-highest emotional concern among respondents. following closely behind, in the third position, are two emotional states: "fear of worst consequences due to negative social experiences" and "fear of talking with strangers," each carrying a notable probability score of 33 to 35 percent. conversely, the emotional symptoms exhibiting the lowest probability scores are "avoidance of situations where attention might be drawn" and "avoidance of speaking to people due to fear of embarrassment." these findings offer nuanced insights into the varying degrees of emotional distress experienced by individuals dealing with social anxiety disorder. these intriguing discoveries @xcite , obtained through observational studies, hold significant potential for fostering a deeper understanding of social anxiety from a community perspective. moreover, they pave the way for crowd-sourced insights, potentially contributing to the development of innovative remedies and interventions aimed at alleviating the challenges posed by social anxiety. the insights gleaned from these emotional symptom prevalence patterns can serve as a valuable resource in guiding future research and therapeutic strategies aimed at addressing this prevalent mental health issue. as previously stated, the findings presented herein are derived from a comprehensive analysis of 12,277 subreddits belongs to social anxiety, each associated with distinct users. it is crucial to acknowledge the potential for bias in the information gathered from these diverse sources. however, to mitigate this concern, we have adopted a methodological approach that involves averaging the prevalent scores. this calculation entails determining the probability score for each symptom across all subreddits. in doing so, we strive to enhance the authenticity of the information, particularly in the context of crowd-sourced data. nevertheless, to further bolster the credibility and reliability of these observational results, it is imperative to seek validation through clinical verification. the integration of clinical assessments would provide a more robust foundation for the findings, ensuring a comprehensive and wellrounded evaluation of the presented information. ## limitations this study explores the experiences of individuals coping with social anxiety disorder, utilising usergenerated content from reddit. nevertheless, it is crucial to recognise the inherent limitations associated with this observational methodology. the collected data includes self-reported experiences obtained from an open platform, which may introduce biases in terms of accuracy and completeness. moreover, the absence of clinical validation or expert assessment of these symptoms could affect the precision and clinical significance of the collected information. this study solely captures experiences that are unique to the reddit platform, perhaps disregarding a wide range of opinions or individuals, which in future may be verified from the clinical point of view for the further validation of this study.