Hey everyone, some of you might remember me as Dreamer but I asked ages ago for my account to be deleted and this is the only account I can log onto so ignore the display name!!!! From the age of about 12/13 there were a few traumatic events happening in my life and Social Phobia hit me hard, I was always a very very shy girl but I was diagnosed after I took a second overdose when I was 13. I also was diagnosed with Depression (in my opinion if you have Social Phobia the two illnesses pretty much go hand in hand!).
To cut a long story short, I was basically housebound for 3 years until I was 16 and had to be hometutored. I had two Phsychlogists which for me didn't help all that much, the first was a male and I felt kind of intimidated by him and it just made things worse, the second was female and she did help me simplify the thoughts in my head but she wasn't exactly a miracle cure. My hometutor, Pam, was surprisingly the biggest help for me. Instead of just coming round for an hour everyday to do Maths and English she would spend as much time as she could talking to me in a less official way, just like a friend and she would tell me to, for example, walk to the library on my own and back and if I found that too hard I could ring her to pick me up half way. And gradually we would add more onto it so I would be doing more myself instead of relying on her and my Mum and gradually I would be getting more comfortable with it.
I've had a few knockbacks, I was with someone for practically the whole 3 years that I was in what felt like a black hole, but it didn't work out and it was very painful to let go but I'm over it now and I have a lovely boyfriend who I've been with for four months and we love each other very much and it's given me soo much confidence to feel loved and have someone there for me in real life. I wouldn't say I'm completely 100% over Social Phobia, and I'm deffinately not over Depression, I think my Social Phobia will always be part of my life as I have knockbacks but I learn to deal with them now as much as I can.
The only advice I have for you all is take any postivie help u are offered, take gradual steps, the smaller the better and remember that only YOU can take the final step.
DONT GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To cut a long story short, I was basically housebound for 3 years until I was 16 and had to be hometutored. I had two Phsychlogists which for me didn't help all that much, the first was a male and I felt kind of intimidated by him and it just made things worse, the second was female and she did help me simplify the thoughts in my head but she wasn't exactly a miracle cure. My hometutor, Pam, was surprisingly the biggest help for me. Instead of just coming round for an hour everyday to do Maths and English she would spend as much time as she could talking to me in a less official way, just like a friend and she would tell me to, for example, walk to the library on my own and back and if I found that too hard I could ring her to pick me up half way. And gradually we would add more onto it so I would be doing more myself instead of relying on her and my Mum and gradually I would be getting more comfortable with it.
I've had a few knockbacks, I was with someone for practically the whole 3 years that I was in what felt like a black hole, but it didn't work out and it was very painful to let go but I'm over it now and I have a lovely boyfriend who I've been with for four months and we love each other very much and it's given me soo much confidence to feel loved and have someone there for me in real life. I wouldn't say I'm completely 100% over Social Phobia, and I'm deffinately not over Depression, I think my Social Phobia will always be part of my life as I have knockbacks but I learn to deal with them now as much as I can.
The only advice I have for you all is take any postivie help u are offered, take gradual steps, the smaller the better and remember that only YOU can take the final step.
DONT GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
