If only

[letsendthis]

If only I could make blushing not matter to me. <----that last 6 words would cure everything!

The crazy thing is, blushing doesn't matter!? I know this! How can it possibly matter, oh ok my face goes red sometimes when im in front of people.....so! whats the worst that could happen?...they may notice it or even feel a bit awkward, WTF? no-one is going to get hurt, im not going to lose my friends or my job. In fact if I didn't care about it, I not only would blush less, but when I did blush it would be evident that it wasn't bothering me so it would not bother the person speaking to me either. So by not caring I would solve everything, that seems like a win-win situation to me, surely i can manage this! Its not like my eyes fall out in front of people...its not like I sh!t myself....................

Also I would like to say something about the whole "does social phobia cause blushing or vice Versa?" argument:

I 100% believe, for me anyway, that blushing causes social phobia. However instead of calling it social phobia I would call it 'social avoidance in fear of blushing'. if I was to talk in front of 100 people in a warm room I would blush. If i was to talk in front of the same 100 people, naked, outside while its windy and cold, I wouldn't blush (and yes I am naked)
In conclusion I am saying I do not have social phobia and never will, I do however have a fear of blushng in front of people, and that 1 stupid fear is what I must conquer!

 

[Sacrament]

Alright.

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 10 characters.

 

[letsendthis]

^^^ what? Its just my point of view

 

[Phobologist]

In conclusion I am saying I do not have social phobia and never will, I do however have a fear of blushng in front of people, and that 1 stupid fear is what I must conquer!

Generalized Social phobia is the fear of criticism, scrutiny, or rejection by others, not specificaly related to any particular social situation. Since your blushing problem can occur almost anywhere, at anytime, its a global problem and therefore reprents social phobia. Underneath the fear of criticism, is another phobia related to your blushing. You are correct that people are not the problem, its your fear of blushing. This means something to you and you need to figure out what it is to overcome your root phobia.

Hope that helps.

 

[Unregistered1111]

totally agree with OP,its the blushing that causes problems not SA.Everyday i have to go through the faze when for few hours i start blushing,while being surrounded by 10-20 people,and even so i can manage to function properly and enjoy having conversation with people because it takes my mind of the blushing,and the only thing which is killing me is that F****ing burning sensation on the face which lasts for hour or so.

 

[letsendthis]

Thanks for answer but I disagree. My 'fear of criticism' is no greater than any ‘normal’ persons. I simply have an extra characteristic that can be criticised (blushing)

I DFEFINATELY do not fear criticism, scrutiny, or rejection by others, I would hate to receive this from family and friends but I do not fear it because I know I wont receive it from them. As for strangers I couldn’t care less what they think.

I think blushers blush for lots of different reasons, and too many different degrees.

I have a fear of blushing in front of people because I don’t want the awkward situation, but imagine I had never blushed in my life, instead I had really bad acne on my back, I would fear going swimming for the same reason.

I do not have social phobia.

Thansk for reply anyway

Edit: just wanted to add this: I like to do karaoke, and I dont tend to blush because, If i did blush people would know why - "he's blushing because he is doing karaoke" so its not awkward. I just dislike the awkward ones

the only reason i signed up for socialphobiaworld was for its blushing forum, I originally tried to sign up for ESFB but it wont allow me to.

If, like I said earlier, I had an acne problem and not a blushing problem, I would have signed up to an acne related forum

 

[PunkRotten]

If you couldnt care less about what others think, why care about your blushing problem? You DO care what they think. But is this full blown SA? Maybe not, but the blushing makes you avoidant I guess.

With my SA I am ok with some things that I know others are not. My SA has a few things that really bother me, but thats about it. Some of it has to do with my appearance, and sometimes I obsess about it. This is one of the major problems I have. But I dont mind talking in front of people, I can even talk in front of a group of people. Im not even that much of a shy person. So really, SA has different effects on different people. If I blushed I wouldnt even care. If I started sweating alot I wouldnt care. But there is alot of people that worry about this. I think if you obsess about it you make it a problem in itself. " Whatever you dwell on, it will perpetuate itself "


Alot of our insecurities we are self conscious of, but I dont think others see it like we think they do.

 

[letsendthis]

Fair point

maybe I should have pointed out that I only really tend to blush at work, in front of people who aren't really friends, family or strangers.

Its strange......I didnt really plan a debate over this, just wanted to express my thoughts (1st post)