Social Anxiety

I call bullshit

 

Piss off ugly troll.

 

A couple of my friends get panic attacks, I've never had one but I do get night terrors now and again, must be rough.

 

Thanks for the advice!

I know sometimes I wear my nervousness outwardly more than other times, based on reactions I sometimes get. I'm going to try some of the advice out here and see how it goes.

 

Just avoid people at all costs. People will only let you down.

 

I like your style.

 

I'm new here so you might not pay attention man, but dude, like it was said before, CBT is just great. It did help me a lot and still does. I was going to posy a link to that mood gym site, but someone else already did... Damn... Haha definitely take a look at it man...

I believe social anxiety comes from beliefs we learned when we were little, such as 'i suck if I don't make a good impression' or wtv, just gotta find them and prove them wrong. Takes time though.

If you have self control benzos are handy tools too, for social situations where you just wanna get through, and not practice being social... Doing cbt exercises can leave you tired.

Oh and fuck antidepressants, they don't do shit. Good luck man, social anxiety sure sucks.

 

Where did guerilla or anyone mention depression? I'm not one to promote prescription drugs, but anti-depressants have done wonders for me. They have calmed both my depression and anxiety. Maybe you never found the right drug that works for you. I also believe some people have milder forms of depression and anxiety and maybe meditation or diet can work for them or even just throwing yourself out there. But, when your anxiety and depression are so severe that it interferes with your daily life and even becomes crippling, well you might benefit from and very much need prescription drugs.

 

I have been prescribed antidepressants 'for anxiety' already, words from my psychiatrist. I never found any benefit from the ones I took, though (a few SSRIs). I know I have benefited from cbt and the likes, and tbh i'm very skeptic of antidepressants. I can be wrong though. I didnt have severe anxiety that led me to panic attacks, but it surely was crippling.

I dont wann come across as an asshole though, so may be I should say 'antidepressants never did anything for my anxiety'

 

They didn't work for YOU. That doesn't mean they DO NOT work. They change the quality of life for some people.

 

idk, seems appropriate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0OVpyvey4U"]Weezer - We Are All On Drugs - YouTube

 

I'm guessing op doesn't have severe anxiety though so I guess my advice would be just to not get a fuck what other people think, drop your inhabitions

 

Studies have shown the ONLY way to get over a phobia is to expose yourself to whatever it is that sets off the hyper-anxiety reaction. The more you hide from whatever it is (in your case, social situations), the worse it gets.

 

Can you prove this?

 

I just kind of do the whole George Costanza thing and do the complete opposite of what I'm thinking or feeling. It sounds like terrible and impractical advice but with time and practice it actually works.

 

It's fairly bad at times, usually not so much of a problem with 1 on 1 conversation but usually group interactions I kind of shutdown.

 

Usually the best thing to do in group interactions is talk over the top of everybody and try to be the loudest person there. That's why group interactions are quite often painful, anxiety inducing situations that should mostly be avoided.

 

Hmmmm, I can do one on one conversation and that is what I like. My anxiety is pretty severe and I even get anxiety with just one person though. I often have people ask me, "Are you okay?"........ and while I feel comfortable around just one person, I still emit such nervous energy. I also shut down in big groups, it's just too overwhelming. My heart pounds and feels like it's going to pop out of my chest sometimes. I do get anxiety attacks.

Maybe you can try leaving the situation for a bit and work on breathing.. take deep breaths and try to relax. Take a moment.

 

I don't know about studies, but I agree by opinion. (not agreeing it being the only way, to note)

I dated a guy who had severe social anxiety. We would go to walmart at 4am to avoid people.
Most days he didn't leave the house....room even. Extremely hard to deal with and very real.

It's something that one has to face, head on. I think starting with self esteem is a major issue. If you believe in you and love yourself, than you won't fall prey to a phobia of what other's think about you.


It's a constant self talk - redirecting negative thoughts. Paying attention to every passing thought and feeling and correcting them to positive and self esteem building.
Our minds our very strong and can produce physical effects, but being worked on can retrain our thoughts.

It's not something easily dropped, in most cases, because it's part of someone's thought process, what they believe, a comfort zone and a guard against what they feel may hurt them.

I am friends with a very handsome, nice guy in the UK who had SA really bad, just didn't see himself in a positive way at all, wouldn't work or leave his room. He worked on it, just got out there even when he didn't want to, felt like quitting a lot, but has a job and is now engaged. It can get better.

 

I am working on my social anxiety and honestly I just decided to 'fake it until I make it'. So I basically just decided to pretend that I am a person that is not afraid of others and after spending a lot of time putting myself in uncomfortable situations and pretending that I wasn't anxious... I have actually started to not be anxious anymore.