Am I crazy?

L

Liberty

Banned
Ever since I developed Social Phobia about 2 years ago people tell me to my face that I'm crazy. People I hardly know. Even a friend I knew before I had SP came to visit me and later he said I was crazy too.

Firstly, I understand the word "crazy" has a certain connotation to the general populace but isn't really taken seriously in the world of professional psychology. I could understand that anyone with a mental illness from depression to schizophrenia could be considered "crazy" by "normal" people so maybe that's all it is. But it is really starting to get on my nerves. Just today again a person I had just met a week prior and spoken only a few words to tried to start up a conversation with me and then says I'm crazy 4 or 5 times.

I really don't know what to say to it anymore. Does anyone else with SP get this?
 
Harleyq

Harleyq

Well-known member
...does your SP cause you to act differently than before? I don't mean just that it inhibits your social skills, but does the anxiety make you blurt out things that some would consider strange?

My friend on campus says I'm very dark and morbid and I think for the first week or so we started talking, he thought I literally was a druggie - we'd joke about it but it was always uncomfortable, as though I could sense part of him really meant it when he accused me of being "on something" - same thing as crazy, if you ask me. Once I also got stopped by a police officer for speeding (I was on the verge of a panic attack while I was driving at the time) and my anxious-erratic behavior prompted him to search my car for drugs and he was so sure of it that he kept telling me over and over "You KNOW you're going to be in way more trouble if I actually find something, right?" Didn't help that I had a lot of money stashed in my car cause I would hoard my waitress tips in there and then he saw the cuts on my arm from when I self-injured. I could tell that after he was finished he probably still didn't believe me because his words were hesitant and unsure when he said he would let me go.
 
philly2bits

philly2bits

Well-known member
When it comes to the people I talk to, "crazy" means can mean alot of different things. Some people use it for funny in a strange way, others use it to mean odd or unusual. I've been called crazy before. In the context of the conversation I didn't mind since I know what the person really meant. I've never been called crazy with any malicious intent.
 
L

Liberty

Banned
Harleyq said:
...does your SP cause you to act differently than before? I don't mean just that it inhibits your social skills, but does the anxiety make you blurt out things that some would consider strange?

My friend on campus says I'm very dark and morbid and I think for the first week or so we started talking, he thought I literally was a druggie - we'd joke about it but it was always uncomfortable, as though I could sense part of him really meant it when he accused me of being "on something" - same thing as crazy, if you ask me. Once I also got stopped by a police officer for speeding (I was on the verge of a panic attack while I was driving at the time) and my anxious-erratic behavior prompted him to search my car for drugs and he was so sure of it that he kept telling me over and over "You KNOW you're going to be in way more trouble if I actually find something, right?" Didn't help that I had a lot of money stashed in my car cause I would hoard my waitress tips in there and then he saw the cuts on my arm from when I self-injured. I could tell that after he was finished he probably still didn't believe me because his words were hesitant and unsure when he said he would let me go.
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lol, now that's the sort of thing that would happen to me too. Just pisses me off how dense people are.

I definitely act differently since I developed SP. In any situation with other people around I am very aware of their presence and wish to escape basically. Anxiety or fear causes this I think. It's like being in the presence of danger. Of course other people don't know about this or realize it so they think I'm just crazy. I've been attending therapy with several different therapists and they pretty much think there is nothing wrong with me so I'm pretty confused and don't really know what to do.
 
Harleyq

Harleyq

Well-known member
Liberty said:
lol, now that's the sort of thing that would happen to me too. Just pisses me off how dense people are.

I definitely act differently since I developed SP. In any situation with other people around I am very aware of their presence and wish to escape basically. Anxiety or fear causes this I think. It's like being in the presence of danger. Of course other people don't know about this or realize it so they think I'm just crazy. I've been attending therapy with several different therapists and they pretty much think there is nothing wrong with me so I'm pretty confused and don't really know what to do.
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Yep, mine too. At least until we start talking for a while. With my first therapist, I finally got so frustrated that I blurted out "I think it might be social anxiety" He goes "Yes, that sounds about right" :rolleyes:

You might have to do the same thing and tell them point blank.
 
Phobologist

Phobologist

1
I agree wtih HarlyQ. You're not crazy, but you are technicaly mentaly ill. Just tell them you have a disorder and that crazy refers to people who are schizophrenic or suffering paranoid delusions.
 
Richey

Richey

Well-known member
but really..who wants to be normal, its so boring to think that everyone has to talk a certain way or project a certain attitude. i think that crazy is perhaps just another way of saying you're unique and unpredictable. who's to say that those who act like sheep and conform to fit in arn't the crazy ones.
 
L

Liberty

Banned
Richey said:
but really..who wants to be normal, its so boring to think that everyone has to talk a certain way or project a certain attitude. i think that crazy is perhaps just another way of saying you're unique and unpredictable. who's to say that those who act like sheep and conform to fit in arn't the crazy ones.
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Well said. I like that definition. It makes sense because usually when people inform me that I'm crazy it is followed immediately by, "you might kill people"

What a nice thing to say right? I'm pretty insecure so it makes me wonder if I really might kill people. Whatever that means. I haven't killed anyone yet, or even hurt anyone so even being extremely insecure I'm pretty sure they just have no clue what they're talking about.

I don't have any desire to hurt anyone. The only desire I've had for the past 20 years or so that has gone unfulfilled is to be loved and accepted, and to have someone else to love. SP makes that even more difficult though, and add the fact that I cannot bring myself to trust women enough to let my guard down a tiny bit even before I had SP.
 
P

PrettyBoy

Well-known member
Don't think I've ever been called crazy in a serious way before. I have been called weird but I was defended by another person saying "He's not weird he just thinks before he speaks" and I think they were his honest words the lad who defended me that is. So it was nice to hear that this 'normal' person didn't think I was weird but obviously some people do but you know what I don't even care anymore I know I'm not really weird I just come across that way. You may come across as crazy to these certain people but doesn't mean you are matey ;)
 
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