alter_ego
Well-known member
How do people here think their social phobia started? For me, I think it was a mixture of things but there is one very clear memory that stands out.
I was the youngest, about two, and we were moving house and, being two and curious, I picked up something sharp and then accidentally cut my older sister's leg. I remember my much older siblings glaring down at me in what I perceived as anger and disgust (I suppose it was just annoyance). But whether that was the catalyst, I don't know, because there was another incident when I was even younger.
My Mum told me one day she left me outside a shop in my pram and when she came out a large crowd of people had gathered round (presumably because I'd woken up and begun crying) and I was bawling my eyes out and very, very distressed. I guess that's pretty natural for a baby, when they go through "stranger danger" phase but, who knows, maybe my social phobia was already there and the people gathering round trying to help were actually making thngs worse? Or did they create it...?
Back in the days when I was a kid you got smacked sometimes and I remember a couple of occasions when I got stroppy my Mum would say things like "I don't care who's looking, I'll smack you if you talk to me like that" (which made me die inside, convinced everyone was looking!)
There were other things, like my parents, especially my Dad, were over protective so I wasn't allowed to play out much and never really got used to other kids and we also moved house several times so I never really settled in schools.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth, what do other people think kicked off their own phobia?
I was the youngest, about two, and we were moving house and, being two and curious, I picked up something sharp and then accidentally cut my older sister's leg. I remember my much older siblings glaring down at me in what I perceived as anger and disgust (I suppose it was just annoyance). But whether that was the catalyst, I don't know, because there was another incident when I was even younger.
My Mum told me one day she left me outside a shop in my pram and when she came out a large crowd of people had gathered round (presumably because I'd woken up and begun crying) and I was bawling my eyes out and very, very distressed. I guess that's pretty natural for a baby, when they go through "stranger danger" phase but, who knows, maybe my social phobia was already there and the people gathering round trying to help were actually making thngs worse? Or did they create it...?
Back in the days when I was a kid you got smacked sometimes and I remember a couple of occasions when I got stroppy my Mum would say things like "I don't care who's looking, I'll smack you if you talk to me like that" (which made me die inside, convinced everyone was looking!)
There were other things, like my parents, especially my Dad, were over protective so I wasn't allowed to play out much and never really got used to other kids and we also moved house several times so I never really settled in schools.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth, what do other people think kicked off their own phobia?
