Question

[InDeepshit]

This is a question for everyone who has had social phobia for a while, has your life improved at all in your opinion?
I've had it for at least seven years and its become worse these last four years...

 

[AsHLeY]

Well, that sucks that you feel as if you've gotten worse the last few years.
I think my social anxiety started around 12 years old. I'm 21 now, so I've had it for quite a while. I believe I've improved a lot since I got a job. Don't get me wrong, I felt so sick with anxiety my first day that I almost didn't go. Once I finally made myself walk in the door, it wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be. It's just a different environment than school where everyone has their cliques & you are constantly trying to fit in somewhere. People just seem easier to get along with when you're working together and not worried about the trivial things that don't matter (ie: the superficial highschool days.)
I think that you can definitely become less anxious in certain situations if you make yourself face the fear initially ~ certain situations will become routine and you'll maybe start to feel more comfortable in those situations....hopefully.

 

[AnxiousOne]

I feel as though my SA has progressively got worse over the years. I am also 21 years old and have had SA for as long as I can remember. I wasn't diagnosed until my early teens though. There was however certain times in my life when I feel I improved but not for long and it just ended up getting bad again. I agree that you can become less anxious in some situations if you make yourself face the fear. But that doesn't go for just any situation. Over the years I have tried facing certain fears repeatedly and it never really got better. I was extremely anxious beforehand and throughout the whole experience.

 

[alex29]

Im a lot less shy in public and I can hold conversations with new people most of the time. in the past I was a social disaster.

but I also keep a lot more inside and overanalyze things more now that Im older

so I am a lot less shy but more introverted, if that makes sense!

 

[Meow]

It got worse since I was diagnosed when I was 15 til this year (i'm 23 now) and I do feel things aren't AS bad, but still pretty bad. I'm going thru one of those bad phases right now but in general I feel it might have improved a little actually.

 

[IceLad]

I'm 28 now, and have had social anxiety for well over a decade.

Since doing CBT, I have become so much more aware of where I'm going wrong in my thinking. I'm by no means cured (and I might never be fully), but when I think of all the behaviours/ situations I used to be scared of and which I can do now, I know I'm slowly moving in the right direction.

 

[Doomed2Die]

Without a doubt if I did not have SA I would be probally working or in university. That said the amount of truly fundemental questions I have been asking and exploring is enriching to say the least.

Hmm, without SA though I would be a wholly different person, it affects us and our lives change around it no matter what we do. It can effect us with experience and combat hardening over time in things social but also reduce us to mumbling socially inept introverts, not really reduce either but... develop. Much like any huge change in life effects anyone I imagine.