How do you have social phobia? What are the symptoms of social anxiety?

[shrinkingviolet]

Hi there everyone,

I'm new to the forum and I just wanted to know what are some of the symptoms of social anxiety/phobia? I have done a little research on Google and I'm pretty that's what I've been suffering from for most of my life. How did you guys know you had social anxiety?








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[Earthcircle]

I was diagnosed long ago as having it. But I've also received a long list of other diagnoses, some of which were pretty absurd. I think it can be a matter of picking and choosing what makes sense to you.

 

[BleedTheFreak]

I'm extremely fixated on myself. My facial features, facial expression, body language, voice, etc. It's hard to focus on other things (like talking to people) with all of that going on. Every time I interact with someone I go over every detail (that I can remember) later on. I say "that I can remember" because I'm so distracted with how I'm presenting myself that I tend to be very forgetful after talking to people. The level-headed person in me knows that I'm not special and that no one cares what I look like and stuff like that, but my experiences sometimes say otherwise.

 

[dannyboy65]

I have a form of it but what I have is called autism. I can't read body language to well, trouble meeting new people (not much anymore), worried about social protocols, not very good at keeping a conversation, not very talented at keeping relationships alive. I've been working hard for a year now on everything and its very difficult but I am making it through.

 

[Earthcircle]

I have a form of it but what I have is called autism. I can't read body language to well, trouble meeting new people (not much anymore), worried about social protocols, not very good at keeping a conversation, not very talented at keeping relationships alive. I've been working hard for a year now on everything and its very difficult but I am making it through.

I used to think I had this, but I tend to score above average on reading emotions from facial expressions. I take it that if one has good "theory of mind" one can't be Asperger. Is that so?

 

[lina1202]

I'm extremely fixated on myself. My facial features, facial expression, body language, voice, etc. It's hard to focus on other things (like talking to people) with all of that going on. Every time I interact with someone I go over every detail (that I can remember) later on. I say "that I can remember" because I'm so distracted with how I'm presenting myself that I tend to be very forgetful after talking to people. The level-headed person in me knows that I'm not special and that no one cares what I look like and stuff like that, but my experiences sometimes say otherwise.

I can relate to this. Except that the things I am fixated on is the content of what I'm saying as well as tone of voice/body language. I'll go over what I say right after I've said it - and then usually want to smack my head against a wall after realizing how stupid it sounded. Then when someone else begins to talk to me I'm too distracted thinking of what an idiot I was and I probably end up coming across as a weirdo to the next person now talking to me because I'm only half listening.

 

[wandering_star]

i think people can read my thoughts, and sometimes i really believe it, it confuses me so much, sometimes it´s so clear that they can read it.... so it´s hard to look in the eye of people, coz many bad thoughts comes to my mind and i´m afraid people can read it...... it kills me....

 

[hoddesdon]

I was diagnosed by a number of psychologists and psychiatrists (not to mention general practitioners or family doctors)

 

[IntheLabyrinth]

I knew something was wrong because I was having horrible anticipatory anxiety (stomach aches/excessive voiding) days before going in to almost all social situations, and panic attacks (rapid heartrate, profuse sweating, some shaking, and complete brain fog) while in them. For a couple of years, I just thought I was some lone freak who was afraid of people. It wasn't until I was 18 and learned about anxiety/phobia that I realized I had social anxiety.

 

[hoddesdon]

i think people can read my thoughts, and sometimes i really believe it, it confuses me so much, sometimes it´s so clear that they can read it.... so it´s hard to look in the eye of people, coz many bad thoughts comes to my mind and i´m afraid people can read it...... it kills me....

Sometimes there are non-verbal cues that give what someone is thinking away, especially if it is fairly straightforward e.g. you don't agree with or believe someone.

 

[Goblinko]

I knew something was wrong because I was having horrible anticipatory anxiety (stomach aches/excessive voiding) days before going in to almost all social situations, and panic attacks (rapid heartrate, profuse sweating, some shaking, and complete brain fog) while in them. For a couple of years, I just thought I was some lone freak who was afraid of people. It wasn't until I was 18 and learned about anxiety/phobia that I realized I had social anxiety.

I can somewhat relate to this, since during my school times, I usually followed around my classmates that I judged to be trustable in order to avoid be all by myself and have social contact with other people from my school.

I also thought for a long time that I was an anti-social f*ck but then once I started reading books about self-esteem and doing some research on the Internet I started to learn about self-esteem issues, SA, anxiety, shyness and all the jazz.