Hello I'm new too

[immetoo]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this site and am grateful to have found it. For many years I've thought myself to be alone with the level of social phobia/anxiety I've got.
I'm not young ,34, so I feel I must do something about it before it now I know it's actually got a name !
Well done all you younger people trying to actively do something about it , it's really awful because so often when you do open up and let people know they can disrespect you even more. I could write a book of all the nasty experiences I've had living with social phobia and anxiety. It can be a cruel and insensitive world to people like us but it's also important for us to not act like victims and take the beast by the balls, so to speak as often as we can :wink: Love to correspond with some other heart felt ones about chronic social phobia.

 

[LittleMissMuffet]

Hi Metoo

I also just discovered this site a few days ago. I've sort of been aware of having social anxiety for a few years but only a few months ago, went to seek a diagnosis/help for it. That step was difficult and is still sometimes difficult now. On the one hand I find it a relief to be diagnosed and offered step-by-step techniques to solving something I have struggled to get past probably ever since I was a child. But, I also find that there is a negative aspect to the label of 'social phobia' in that it sounds fairly bad. Especially the 'social' part. Perhaps it is merely my over-sensitivity towards others opinions (!), but I even pick-up on some negativity sometimes from my therapist.

You are sort of treated like the label that they give you. So I guess that I have to be the strong one who believes in my self -and not care about others' fears.

I've always had a degree of anxiety in social situations -but this fluctutates depending upon the situation. And for most of my life I have either pretended that it would go away with a change of place/time, or I have otherwise gotten-round it. BUt I'm 28 now and it has gotten stronger in a way. Now it has interfered with my work as well as my social life. Both have considerably degenerated in the last few years and it seems that the problem is bigger and more inescapable now.