Alternative to Facebook For Anxiety Sufferers

Anxiety Social Net (ASN) is a new social network that seeks to help people with anxiety disorders who worry about being too exposed within larger public social networks such as Facebook

WEBWIRE – Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Anxiety is a widespread problem that prevents people from adequately socializing with the people around them. Excessive fears of being judged prevent people from sharing their own feelings or ideas with most people thus closing them off to the world.

When social networks started insinuating themselves into mainstream culture, perhaps one of the less talked about consequences, was the affect it had on the lives of the socially-anxious. The ambiguous, sometimes anonymous nature of social networks provided a buffer for people with social anxieties allowing them to express themselves without the fear of interpersonal confrontation.

However, as social networks like Facebook reach near-ubiquity their scope can lead to entirely new anxieties. As opposed to a one-to-one interaction in real life, when updating your status to Facebook you are broadcasting yourself to potentially hundreds of people at once. The fear of being judged by that many people in a single moment can be stifling and force people to withdraw into themselves even further.

Anxiety Social Net (ASN) was launched earlier this year as an interactive hub for people suffering from social anxiety, agoraphobia, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder or any of the other form of anxiety.

Much like Facebook, users can update their statuses, post photos and chat with each other. The common thread here is anxiety disorders and how to overcome them. The site acts as both a community forum and a health resource, encouraging users to complete diary entries and provide updates on their mental stability

The website’s home page features support groups, an online diary option and a live feed, where users can publicly update the AnxietySocialNet community on their troubles. Users can comment on each other’s updates, providing advice on how to deal with anxiety attacks or other issues.