Im considerin tellin maybe 1 or 2 friends that i have social anxiety disorder.im wonderin how has this affected other people did it make things better or worse.feel free to write bout ur experiences keepin it secret also.iv kept it to myself for 3years now and it hasnt helped,most friends prob know theres sumtin wrong with me but prob think im just wierd which isnt true because without sa i would lead jst as normal a life as any1
Did tellin people u had social anxiety change things
- Thread starter Badbuz
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scarletlee
Well-known member
For years i didn't tell anyone but just recently i decided to be more open about it. I just got sick of coming up with excuses to get out of doing things that i was uncomfortable with. So far it has worked out for me and even made me feel better about having SA. I don't know if this would work for everyone but i have just reached a point in my life where i feel that i don't want to be ashamed of having SA anymore. It is just apart of who i am and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere fast so i need to learn how to deal with it being in my life. A girl i know recently asked me if i was interested in doing any study or courses to help me find a job i liked so i told her " i can't study at the moment because i have this thing called social anxiety and i am too scared to be in a classroom" i said it just like that..it kind of just came out.. actually it felt strangely liberating. Then she said " oh.. actually that explains a lot about you" and i didn't take offense to that either. I'm trying to accept this part of me and i hope this will in turn help me deal with issues i have, like classrooms, who knows maybe oneday i'll be able to go back to school.. maybe. Anyway i think we need to lose the shame we feel by having this.. not everyone understands, infact sometimes it feels like no one does but we all have nothing to feel ashamed about 
DillJenkins
Well-known member
I went aboot 10 years or so without telling anyone. This was a bad mistake. I eventually told my friends about it first, before my parents.
My friends were very supportive and it made them understand my behavior much better. My parents were fairly supportive and as the years have passed they understand the disorder much better. My mom understands it best because she has the social anxiety.
I think you should tell people close to you. For me, it felt like I was keeping this giant secret that pervades every aspect of my life and I couldnt be genuine with people close to me. I would always have to make excuses rather than telling them im anxious.
My friends were very supportive and it made them understand my behavior much better. My parents were fairly supportive and as the years have passed they understand the disorder much better. My mom understands it best because she has the social anxiety.
I think you should tell people close to you. For me, it felt like I was keeping this giant secret that pervades every aspect of my life and I couldnt be genuine with people close to me. I would always have to make excuses rather than telling them im anxious.
divethruhaze
Well-known member
hmm, good thing you asked that, i was wondering that too...
from what i read from the posts above i think i'll tell some friends...
from what i read from the posts above i think i'll tell some friends...
PennyLane
Well-known member
I've told my mum, my dad, my best friend and my ex (who is a great friend). I think thye find it hard to understand...my ex seems to be the best at it. In fact since I told him he has said that he is willing to do anything it takes to help...like slowly introducing me to new people but with him there to help. He reckons we can beat it together which is really reassuring!!
The only thing that worries me in telling people is that it might diminish opportunities, like maybe people wont ask me to do things if they know im scared or perhaps I'l stop pushing myself because i'll be like oh well people know I dont need to try and talk.
At the moment I have to push myself as most people don't know.
The only thing that worries me in telling people is that it might diminish opportunities, like maybe people wont ask me to do things if they know im scared or perhaps I'l stop pushing myself because i'll be like oh well people know I dont need to try and talk.
At the moment I have to push myself as most people don't know.
That's the sick irony of social phobia, you become so weird but it isn't really you. I wonder what would happen if one morning when we woke up, our social phobia was cured completely, and all of the normal people were sociophobes instead. Ha! Then they would understand what its like to be okay one month, and three months later, to be crippled by anxiety.
IJustWantMyLifeBack
Well-known member
I have told may family and 3 friends and they do not really understand as it's not well known or think it's not a serious issue.. was interesting because sometimes I think you have to be sick to be ill..
PennyLane
Well-known member
I think this too.
EgoZero
Well-known member
Well I told both of my parents. It was really hard for me to do, but I did. They kinda understood and all, but I don't know it didn't change things for me. For real I felt even worse afterwards, because I'm just kind of person who doesn't want to show off weak even if I am so. So telling about my SA made me feel somehow really weak and it didn't made useful change for me.
PennyLane
Well-known member
Hey, did he tell you why he thought it was a good idea?