New here and curious about social anxiety

[oreily]

To preface, I don't really know what this social anxiety phobia thing is all about, I've read the posts on here and it sounds perilously close to just regular anxiety with different triggers mainly I guess social interactions. Most of my family have some kind of anxiety and take medication for it, but it somehow skipped me and that makes me curious about it. Just a little background, and maybe where I empathize with you lot a bit, I'm not really a social person, prefer the "few best friends" to the "casual many friends". I find most people to vapid, vain, materialistic, hypocritical, conceited, and deceitful, hence my lack of association with people.

Anyway, pardon my insensitivity but.... what's all the fuss about?

 

[spearhunter]

If your not a social person and you dont understand SA, then your maybe just a shy person.
But to truly understand SA you have to have it. i was trying to make my mom,dad,sister understand my problem,and they really dont understand.

 

[coyote]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

 

[dottie]

at first your post offended me. but then i reread it and maybe you do want a serious explanation...

i can't speak for everyone here but for me... social anxiety emerges from biological and environmental components. biological- obviously a genetic predisposition passed down. (if you study biology, you will understand this can skip generations at random) environmental- being neglected, emotionally/physically abused as a kid. it molds someones belief system... of their world perception... of their self and the way people may view them. this perception is usually distorted. anxiety is stimulated by even just the presence of other people (let alone interaction, communication, or relationships on a deeper level).

maybe you have visited the animal shelter before and noticed a dog that shies away with its tail between its legs when people get nearby. you can imagine this dog's trust in people has been broken by some sort of abuse it endured. anyway, that same shying away with the tail between its legs... it is the same feeling. sometimes it is so debilitating that you cannot function in society. you have to come across balanced/articulate enough to hold a job... things like nervous ticks, lack of eye contact, stuttering can inhibit ones potential. it has nothing to do with intelligence, talents, or anything else.

anyway, i hope this sheds some light. let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Xervello]

I think of social anxiety like an invisible wall the person suffering from it has to maneuver around. It doesn't prevent one from socializing completely, but it does make it that much more difficult to do. For those that are introverts, it's generally the personality that's the obstacle. So one could argue that SADs not only have their personality issues to contend with, but also this other mental and/or physiological one.

 

[oreily]

So is it basically just an extreme introvert? How do you deal in society? I mean, like I said, I empathize a bit because I would much rather stay home than go out and deal with people, I would love a people-less world but I accept that part of living in society and enjoying the benefits of a society involve interacting, dealing with, and acquiescing to people. My question here is, first, do you guys deal with people in a necessary manner or take every possible opportunity to avoid people? If the latter, how do you survive in this society?

 

[ukmale]

or like me on the very extreme end of S.A is house bound where I can't even go 300yrs down my dead quiet street at 3am to the post box ... I think this might be something other than S.A but 2 or 3 days in a row once or every other week I can't even get out of BED ... Back to S.A I'm sat down stairs eating lunch phone rings goes to answer machine a call that I don't really like miss hear it someone coming over to see me I start to shake and can't eat the rest of my lunch .. scared to do anything outside of my own home even cutting the grass ... As its all do to self confidence if keep thinking your a dick every thinks ur a dick every one is laughing at you