While face masks have become a new normal in our lives, recent studies suggest that they might help in releasing social anxiety.
People May Find Themselves More Anxious Post Pandemic
The study was conducted by the researchers at the University of Waterloo. They said that social anxiety can be characterised by negative self-perception and fear about one’s appearance or behaviour. It could mean that the person suffering from the same might feel that they don’t comply with the social expectations and norms.
Social anxiety affects at least 13 percent of the population.
David Moscovitch, Professor of clinical psychology at the varsity’s Department of Psychology said that it is possible that people who haven’t struggled with social anxiety before the pandemic might find themselves anxious after the pandemic.
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The study is published in the journal Anxiety, Stress and Coping, the researchers have reviewed extensive literature addressing three factors that they believed might contribute to social anxiety associated with facemasks.
This could be hypersensitivity to social norms, bias in the detection of social and emotional facial cues, and propensity for self-concealment as a form of safety behaviour.
Sidney Saint who is a lead author of the study and an undergraduate psychology student at Waterloo said that people wearing face masks might be influenced by their perception of social norms and expectations.
Facemasks Assist in Self-Concealment
The study further suggests that people who suffer from social anxiety may also have difficulty in detecting ambiguous social cues and are likely to interpret them negatively. Furthermore, facemasks may help assist people with self-concealment. It may motivate them to use facemasks beyond the pandemic spread protection.
“Due to their self-concealing function, masks may be difficult for some people to discard even when mask-wearing is no longer required by public health mandates,” Saint said.
