How did you know what you had was SA?

[Chrysta]

How did you figure out what it was that you had?


One time I was watching TV and I saw a Zoloft commercial. And the little ball was blushing and sweating and was in a corner looking at a group of people. And the comentary was saying something about being nervous. That's when I figured it out. And when I finally told my mom about it, I said I think I have SAD and she joked and said "Don't we all" cause we are a pretty anti-social family. And then I started crying and and she realized that I was serious.

Also one time she was reading symptoms on the computer and she saw blushing and laughed at it. And I asked was she was laughing and she realized that was a problem for me too. I was too embarassed to tell her about the blushing so she didn't know about it at the point.



P.S... Here is my photobucket album.. feel free to have a look :wink:

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/MyLittleHeartShapedBox/

 

[black_mamba]

I read a post on a student forum about anxiety, so I spoke to the girl who posted it (online of course) and she mentioned this forum, so here I am. I knew I had a distinct 'problem' all along, but I had no idea it had a name! :lol:

 

[boodizm]

I always thought I was alone with what I had, I kind of just tried to kid myself that nothing was wrong even though it clearly was. It was such an obscure problem I thought that I would'nt be able to find a community like this that dealt with it and I despaired that I would have to deal with it alone.
My sa has improved to a large extent since those times but i'm still very glad that I tried searching for a message board like this anyway. It was definitely like some weight was taken off my shoulders just from reading through what others had wrote on my first visit and i'm very thankful for it.

 

[Reholla]

in High school i knew there was something different...something about me was changing. I would consider myself a naturally social person. Even at my worst stage of SA when i couldnt have conversations on the phone and hated going to the grocery store, i deep down still WANTED to do social things with my friends. So i was like why am i feeling like this when I love being around people usually?

Giving presentations in HS was a nightmare. Every english and history class...plus the whole class devoted to my worst nightmare...SPEECH. My friends would always try to tell me, "Oh dont worry I get nervous too..." But i knew my nervousness was different. It wasnt a feeling i could just shake off.

So in highschool I could kinda tell something was up. And finally my senior year when I took an elective psychology class, I heard about anxiety disorders. Even then, it took me a while to realize i had it. When i heard about it for the first time in that class I remember thinking, "thats really familar..." But having any kind of disorder was so foreign to me, subconciously i never even considered that a possibility for me.

Then just googling articles, and forums like this. I would really recomend reading any books you can. I read Lucinda Bassett's "From Panic to Power" And its helped greatly. If you have time go here www.anxietycentre.com

 

[GIOLANDA]

I always knew that sth was wrong,but I didn't know what it was,I thought I was just shy. However,I had many things that I couldn't explain. But when I started studying psychology,we had a lesson about phobias and I had to learn about sth called social phobia. I read it and I was shocked to realize that I had all the symptoms written there,it was like describing myself!