ADHD DSM-5 Criteria in Pictures | Neurodivergent Insights

DSM in Pictures: Social Anxiety

A visual guide to the DSM-5 criteria, made to share with your clients

Diagnosis can feel mysterious and confusing. This resource is meant to help demystify what goes into the diagnosis of Social Anxiety.

DSM in Pictures: Social Anxiety Disorder walks through the diagnostic criteria visually, one criterion at a time. It translates the clinical language of the DSM-5 into images and plain explanations, so you can see how social anxiety is defined, what each criterion is pointing at, and where the threshold actually sits.

You can use it to make sense of your own experience, to understand a diagnosis you have received, or to better understand someone you love.

What it is

A visual, image-forward guide to the DSM-5 criteria for social anxiety disorder, created by Dr. Megan Anna Neff, a clinical psychologist. It uses the direct language of the DSM for educational accuracy, while gently naming where that language is pathologizing and does not tell the whole story.

What’s inside

Criteria A and B explained visually: fear of social situations and fear of being negatively evaluated, with concrete everyday examples
Criteria C and D: how consistently the fear shows up, and the avoidance or endurance that follows
Criterion E with an important qualifier: fear that is out of proportion to the actual threat, and a note that for people with marginalized identities, the fear may be justified rather than disproportionate
Criterion F and G: the six-month duration, and the clinically significant distress that separates a diagnosis from ordinary, normal social nervousness
Criteria H, I, and J: ruling out substances, other conditions, and a differential note that social anxiety should not be better explained by autism

Who it’s for

Anyone who wants a clear way to understand social anxiety and what goes into the diagnosis. Whether you are exploring your own experience, sitting with a diagnosis you have received, or supporting someone you care about.

It is especially useful if you process visually, if you are trying to understand whether what you feel meets threshold, or if you are sorting out where social anxiety ends and your Autistic social experience begins.

What the Personal License is For

This is the Personal Edition, for your own use. You can read it on screen, print a copy for yourself, and return to it whenever it is helpful.

It is not licensed for professional use with clients or for redistribution. If you are a clinician or coach who wants to share this with the people you work with, the Clinical Edition is built for that.