Age

[Alice_d]

Hi everyone

Out of curiosity, at what age did you realize you had SAD? And do you remember what triggered it?

x

 

[Lonely_Writer]

I was officially diagnosed just last year--at the humble age of 23. You know, I've always had the sneaking suspicion that I wasn't like most people. It's only just now occurred to me how much social anxiety has factored into my life. Denial is a powerful thing, I suppose.

 

[Starry]

When I was 16 I was looking up about shyness on the internet and started reading about social phobia, instantly I realised it applied to me perfectly... However, I suffered with what I thought was "just" shyness all of my life: Nothing triggered it as such, although being bullied at school certainly didn't help.

 

[Aron]

I was 24 when I found out that there was a name for what I suffer from, and there are others that feel like that too.

 

[Hellhound]

I've had it since I was a kid, but I realized what it was around 2008 when I started to research.

 

[spider04]

2009 When I made this account.

 

[IntheLabyrinth]

When I was 16. I am pretty sure I always had some generalized anxiety though. I think both my mother and grandma have generalized anxiety based on what I know about it. I was diagnosed with hyperventilation when I was 11. I don't think my pediatrician knew much about anxiety.

 

[EscapeArtist]

Always was shy but that didn't get in the way, I wasn't even aware of it. Quit comfortable up until 11, moved at 11 to another country, suddenly had no friends and felt like an outcast so became depressed and low energy.

At about 15 after my parent's divorce/family split caused me to feel like I didn't belong anywhere and that my safe zone (family) was breaking apart, I became majorly depressed and from that cut off the 2 good friends i had at that time. Was a loner, mostly depression not anxiety

Then the anxiety started to factor in when the depression became so bad that I feel I didn't know where people were coming from when they spoke and acted so energetic and in the moment. I stopped going to school because I didn't feel like I belonged there having 0 friends at all, and it felt weird to not be noticed all day for years at school, so became afraid of all the strangers and the stiffness that comes with it, couldn't relax at class to focus on my school work with all the people around.

Then started the fear of leaving the house to go to school, turned into dropping out, which is when I looked up my issues and was led to SPWorld. Realized the issue

So I began to realize changes at 11, but fully found out the name at 15-16, short answer.

 

[chris11]

Well, I knew that I was a bit different in that repsect when I was in preschool and kindergarten. I would be invited to people's birthday party, and i would typically go off and hide somewhere, like the persoson's bed, and pretend to sleep to avoid social interaction. I didn't really become aware of what it was until it escalated to the point where I was having panic attacks on a multidaily basic (i.e in in late middle school up to first year university).

During grade 11, I skipped at least 2 times a week, either preteding to be sick, or just going home immedtly after arriving to school. During that time, I could still do music, and so I would play music for 12-14 hours/day. Then, I got really depressed and couldn't do anything at all for 2 years.

 

[itisgoingtobefine]

I think I felt it my entire life, but in 2011 I was doing a search for why I couldn't keep friends. It lead me to a social anxiety site. After reading some of the forums I realized I was relating to what others were saying!

 

[Earthcircle]

I think I've always had it. I certainly don't ever recall a time when I wasn't nervous and when people didn't sort of freak me out. Even when I was 7, I definitely had it. I turn 48 on Tuesday, and am as much of a loser as ever. Funny that the psychotherapy and meds didn't cure me. Oops! You're not supposed to say "cure." Okay. It's funny that the psychotherapy and meds didn't help advance my journey down the path toward wellness.

 

[AdamE]

I was diagnosed in 2011, when seeking help for depression. I've always been pretty shy and withdrawn, but I think what really triggered my social anxiety was being constantly bullied and belittled throughout upper secondary school.

 

[aNOTfox]

I was always shy, but it only started impacting on my life when I was 14. Thats also when I discovered the term, as I was researching extreme shyness because I thought that was all I had.

 

[SoScared]

I had always worried and not fitted in with my family. I used to get this tension across my forehead accompanied by an unpleasant feeling off doom and brain fog. It was not a nice feeling at all. Especially for a 6-7 year old it was quite disturbing. I called it fuh…then one day when I had fuh I was sat on my bed and started playing with the word.

Fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh etc and then finally the word came out FEAR. After that revelation I decided that I did not need to worry all the time but, I now know that the seed had been sown.

 

[chibiXphantom]

i havent been diagnosed. ive always been shy, but i think i noticed i was a bit more than shy when i was about 12 and just went into high school.
everything seemed to be changing around me, with school, family, friends. my friends all left me and found new friends that were cooler than i was. people started making fun of me, calling me a freak. i started to fear being around people. my shyness and fear of being around people just has continued to get worse since

 

[Earthcircle]

I had always worried and not fitted in with my family. I used to get this tension across my forehead accompanied by an unpleasant feeling off doom and brain fog. It was not a nice feeling at all. Especially for a 6-7 year old it was quite disturbing. I called it fuh…then one day when I had fuh I was sat on my bed and started playing with the word.

Fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh etc and then finally the word came out FEAR. After that revelation I decided that I did not need to worry all the time but, I now know that the seed had been sown.

That was interesting. I might as well change my name to Johnny Fear.

 

[SilentAndShy]

I'm 26 and I knew of SA's existence last year. I knew I was shy but never attributed it to anything like social anxiety, didn't know that term really existed as I felt it would be put under low esteem or something. I'm not officially diagnosed by a doctor but I do suffer from SA. Hopefully, all of us, can get help to get that anxiety eroded.

 

[knr9311]

I was diagnosed when I was fifteen. I had no idea what it was about. Now that I know more, I realize that I had symptoms from the time I was in preschool.