I think Social Anxiety is a joke.

[allergic2kryptonit]

And it's on me!! What is this problem that's ruined a good portion of my life?? Is it low self esteem gone wild?? Or a brain deficit?? (I feel like I've got control over my moods when I'm on an SSRI) What is it except for lack of emotional control?? Same as depression, right??

What do you think started your social anxiety??

For me, I think it's a combination of low self esteem, some traumatic experiences, and early humiliation in school (I just remembered a specific incident from second grade today)...

 

[yay]

same here.

 

[sickofbeinglonely]

Social Anxiety is a joke and not a particularly funny one.

 

[ozkr]

For me, I think it's a combination of low self esteem, some traumatic experiences, and early humiliation in school (I just remembered a specific incident from second grade today)...

the perfect ingredients for a unfunny joke where we are the punchline.

 

[Jack-B]

Socail anxiety is hilarious, really, see the contradiction for just a second and you will wet yourself.

Everyone wants to experience happiness and be free to speak their minds and so on, yet a big part of not being able to speak our minds or to have the freedom to be ourself totally comes from our own mistaken awareness of 'what others think'.

Currently, 'what others think' is quite important for most of us, if we check carefully however we will see that others thoughts are polluted with misery, pain, worries, fear, negativity yet unknowingly we see this as desirable. Its like we need approval from others, we feel they have perfect opinion so we become scared of giving our own. We behave in ways which concrete this deluded view, we want to be seen in a certain way a certain light and become perfectionists in creating the situations where we wish to be percieved a certain way. This leads to friction and a general non acceptance of things, taking our plans and interests too seriously.

If we can enter that space of knowing this clearly, we can laugh at ourself for being so silly, why? because we are mistaken in what we believe to make us happy, others thoughts are not a direct cause of our happiness.

Every time we are anxious in this way, yes the joke is on us, until we realize it, then we are really laughing because we wont be fooled by it ever again, ha!

Jack

 

[renegade]

When I first read this thread title I thought you said that SA is a joke as in SA doesn't exist, it's fiction :lol:

Well then I got really mad and logged in to shout out my worthless 2 cents to the one who said that......bu then I read the rest of the phrase: SA is a joke on ppl.

You got away now, but I'll cache you :wink:

Oh, and to be ontopic now, my SA was caused mainly by the enviroment I grew in and a little genetic. I'm sure of that cause now I've adapted to my enviroment preety well and the anxiety is not as extreme as it was.

Now I can say I moved from SP to SA, I mean the phisical simptoms rarely appear, it may be the Zoloft, I dunno, cause I quit it for some days and I felt the same. I think it's about adaptation, changing character a little here and there, saying what ppl want to hear instead of what you think, of course this excludes the situation where you know you are right or you have to stand out for yourself.

Enough blabbering.

 

[savage_beagle]

you are what you think.

Jack B is correct, in my opinion. We get so wrapped up in our mind..in our thoughts. These are not great thoughts..but lots of little negative beliefs about ourselves. The main belief--''i am not good enough'', which if you belive to be true, will show in your lack of self esteem. Same with the thoughts of '' i dont deserve the best for myself (fear of success). Nothing will ever change without first changing the negative thoughts about ourselves, expecting success and seeing yourself as a successful person, one who doesnt crumple from criticism or minor setbacks. I think that a person who has discipline to feed his/her mind a constant stream of positive thinking and positive action, will be the person who builds up his/her self esteem, confidence and ambition to succeeed . One thing i tried ( among many), was saying to myself ''ok...that is who i once was, but now i am not. I moved on...i matured and i am confident in this area. This is the new version of me.''. Its a way of saying to yourself that you are tired of being a certain way and you are done with that particular way, i am not that person anymore and thats that.

 

[Emma]

I think social phobia is a joke, and a curse.
I often wonder what my life would be like if I didn't have it.....I think I could have been happy maybe, I could have a had a different job, I would still have my boyfriend....and I would still be able to look at his handsome face (I keep mentioning that don't I? sorry about that) I'm still in mourning for him .
Anyway back to the topic, Do you also wonder if social phobia is some sort of punishment that has been dished out to you for some reason? I do.
I hate social phobia

 

[maggie]

I think social phobia is a joke, and a curse.
I often wonder what my life would be like if I didn't have it.....I think I could have been happy maybe, I could have a had a different job, I would still have my boyfriend....and I would still be able to look at his handsome face (I keep mentioning that don't I? sorry about that) I'm still in mourning for him .
Anyway back to the topic, Do you also wonder if social phobia is some sort of punishment that has been dished out to you for some reason? I do.
I hate social phobia

hiya Emma...i hate social phobia too..and i feel as you do..that it has held me back from virtually every aspect of my life...but i don't feel that it is a punishment...cause..what on earth could we have done to be born with this?..i think, in my case, that my childhood played a huge role..and that genetics could also be a small factor..but mainly my upbringing...i guess it's just our crap to deal with :roll: