ICD 10 Code for Social Anxiety

2022-02-16

With the ICD (International Classification of Disease), healthcare professionals from doctors to researchers can better diagnose and study the prevalence and incidence of various diseases and any related conditions. With the ICD 10 code for social anxiety, the system includes the tenth revision that has updated signs and symptoms to look for as well as circumstances and any abnormal findings.

If you or someone you know has concerns or thoughts about having a social anxiety disorder, a doctor will use the ICD 10 code to diagnose your condition. Before you get to that point, let’s learn more about this disorder, how it’s diagnosed, and how you can learn to treat and manage it.

Quick Rundown

There’s much to discuss regarding social anxiety and coding it. For those of you in a hurry, here are some quick Q&As to nail down some of the basics:

Coding social anxiety is currently done by the ICD 10 criteria, but there is an ICD 11 available for view online.

What is the ICD-10 code for specific phobia?

For specified phobia, the ICD-10 code is F40.298.

What is the ICD-10 code for depression with anxiety?

For depression with anxiety, the ICD-10 code used is typically F41.8.

Yes, social anxiety is a real diagnosis. To be more specific, you can be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.

Social anxiety disorder is a condition in which common social interactions can cause significant feelings of anxiousness, nervousness, and fear. It’s an issue in which these feelings can interfere with your daily life, making it difficult to do things like going to school or work, walking in a store, or hanging out with family and friends.

It’s not to be confused with generalized anxiety disorder in which you feel consistent worrying or stress at any given time, not just in response to a social situation.

Symptoms

Social anxiety stands apart from general shyness due to just how constant and powerful the feelings may be.

Some symptoms include:

Intense fear in social situations
Fear of others noticing your nervousness
Anxiety due to anticipating a social interaction
Intense fear of interacting with strangers
Avoidance of certain situations that puts you in the center of attention

These feelings can become so overwhelming that they prevent you from interacting at all. This can become a problem in your daily routine when it comes to going out of the house.

There are also some physical symptoms to watch out for that can occur in response to the emotional ones listed above:

Sweating
Rapid heartrate
Feeling dizzy, lightheaded
Blushing
Muscle tension
Tremors
Nausea, upset stomach
Trouble breathing, catching your breath

Risk Factors and Onset

There can be some risk factors that can increase your chances of having social anxiety. This includes a family history of anxiety or having an appearance such as a disability that can raise feelings of self-consciousness.

Negative experiences can serve as risk factors too such as bullying or public humiliation. Some people who were more mild-tempered or shy as children run the risk of having social anxiety into adulthood too.

As for when it begins, social anxiety can typically be tracked to childhood around 13 years of age or so. Even if it isn’t diagnosed, there can be signs found in childhood and adolescent years.

Prevalence

Social anxiety isn’t something that’s unheard of. It’s known that about 6.8% of the population in the U.S. has social anxiety. This is spread rather equally between women and men.

Social phobia and social anxiety are often used interchangeably. However, social phobia used to just refer to a feeling of extreme fear performing an act in public including eating out, shopping, or even going to the gym.

There are also two types of social phobia: specific and generalized.

At the same time, this is also used to define social anxiety. So, even though the two terms had separate uses back in the day, they are two in the same in today’s medical world.

When diagnosing social anxiety, doctors will go through a physical and mental exam to ensure that you are coming away with the right diagnosis to begin the proper treatment.

This includes going over your medical history as well as seeing if another condition or medication could be causing your symptoms.

They’ll want a list of symptoms too as well as when they occur. You’ll more than likely feel out a questionnaire to help the doctor better understand your concerns.

There is the ICD 10 code for social anxiety that helps nail down a criteria to get a better understanding of more specific about your condition.

Do note that although many use the DSM-5 for diagnosing, there are some ICD 10 code discrepancies discovered that are worth pointing out to ensure the right diagnosis.

In the ICD 10 code for social anxiety, there are a few different categories you can fall under depending on your specific symptoms and concerns.

There is F40.1 for social phobias that cover the general idea of social anxiety.

There is also F93.2 for social anxiety disorder of children. This is the type of childhood emotional disorder where feelings of extreme nervousness or anxiety in social situations begin to impact their daily lives. It’s more of an issue with social functioning that can cause lingering problems into adulthood.

Additionally, there’s the F94.9 category which is childhood disorder of social functioning.

Kids and adults alike can fall under the F43.22 for adjustment disorder with anxiety.

Diagnostic Criteria

The diagnostic criteria as found in the ICD 10 code for social anxiety includes the following:

Avoiding phobic situations must be a prominent issue
The symptoms including behavioral and psychological have to be primary manifestations of anxiety rather than any other condition
Anxiety must be restricted to social situations

Social anxiety isn’t something that simply goes away on its own. Rather, you have to go through various treatment and discover different coping methods to learn to manage your symptoms and live a healthier life.

When discovering ways to treat the condition, it’s important to acknowledge that there may be a comorbidity issue. This is common with social anxiety to blend with other conditions such as depression, other anxiety conditions, and substance use and abuse.

Social anxiety can lead to harmful self-treatment such as an increase alcohol intake or drug abuse to cope. This can be because the anxiety has caused bouts of depression because of an inability to properly socialize.

Stimulants are a common go-to source as people believe it makes them feel more relaxed. This includes things like cannabis.

However, this can aggravate feelings of anxiety. The likes of cocaine, hallucinogens, and alcohol can raise your feelings of anxiety, thus making you feel worse or even feel as though you need to take more of the drugs or alcohol to feel better.

In fact, there’s even an ICD 10 code known as F18.180 which is an inhalant-induced disorder for anxiety.

It’s a harmful cycle, so it’s more important than ever to find healthy coping and treatment skills.

Treatment and Coping

Commonly, doctors can recommend various talk therapies when it comes to treating social anxiety. This can help you discover the root of the issue and find less harmful coping skills if you’ve been falling into patterns as explained in the previous section.

You may also be prescribed medications such as anti-anxiety meds.

Some coping skills can include living a healthier lifestyle such as dieting, exercise, and mindful breathing techniques.

Takeaway

Diagnosing social anxiety isn’t always the easiest thing as it’s simple to fall into differential diagnosis. There are other disorders from mental ones, to neurodevelopmental ones, and even behavioral ones that can look like social anxiety. Your condition could be psychotic or a nonpsychotic mental disorder.

It’s vital to get a proper diagnosis so that you can receive the right treatment. The ICD 10 code for social anxiety is a good way to go about this as they have clear criteria and definitions to help people understand their condition and begin to heal.

PL

ICD 10 Code for Social Anxiety

Quick Rundown

What is the ICD-10 code for specific phobia?