Re: When did your social anxiety start?

[Macarena313]

Mine started when I was 14, before that i was a very loud child, and a little more quiet , especially with boys, when i was about 10-14.
And now i'm starting to get better (i hope so!)

I don't think you can be born with sa.. I think environment makes that, how you were treated or how you believed bad things that people were saying to you or that were happening. If you are powerful enough, you can resist negativism from environment, thats why my brother is totally outgoing and i'm much more shy.

 

[Reholla]

I don't think you can be born with sa.. I think environment makes that, how you were treated or how you believed bad things that people were saying to you or that were happening.

Id have to disagree and say the environment contributes to it in a big way, but that there are certain anxiety prone personality traits that are instilled in people. An obvious example of this is how anxiety and shyness run in families. Just like people who are perfectionists or anal. And people who are more extrverted and easy going. All of these run in families.

I never had low self esteem or lack of confidence before SA. On the other hand, I dont have much self confidence anymore but thats BECAUSE of SA. ....in other words I dont have SA b/c I was like this my whole life. You might think youve always had low self esteem, but it could be just your SA in disguise.

 

[Aramoor]

I was fine in school. Never got bullied or anything, was (reasonably) popular , had lots of friends, wasnt affraid of talking in class etc. Despite this, outside school I think I was pretty shy - calling places up, asking for help in shops that kind of thing, but I was fine around my mates, - I thought this was pretty standard and I'l grow out of it, it never bothered me really. I seem to be the oppsote now. I'm fine going into crowded places (I think because I feel so annonymous), or asking for halp in shops etc but around people who I know I cant seem to keep my head together and just start talking with sentences jumbled, and all that. Its really annoying, beacause I wouldnt really care if when I was talking to some schmuk shop assistant I came over as a jumbled mess, but when I;m like this around friends it really gets me down.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I cant specifiaccly pinpoint when SA started. It just kindof crept up on me, and before I knew it I'm where I'm at now - about to drop out of UNI, and not a clue whet I'm going to do with my life.

 

[Heartbeat]

Who knows where SA comes from, even if it manifests in very early childhood. At age 3 I believed god was a malicious and mocking giant playing with humans like toys. Who knows where that comes from? Was I mocked in the cradle, or was I congenitally predisposed to react with fear to the world?

I was a chronically shy child. I remember hiding at home rather than go with my siblings to a neighbouring child's birthday party, and hearing all the kids having fun over the fence. Nothing could persuade me to go. I also remember going to my best friend's birthday and being alone in a room while all the other kids were having fun (age about 5). Her mother tried to coax me in. I was aware I was different, even then. Full-blown SA surfaced in my mid-20s when I had to stop work because of it.

I think if people had known about SA back then and put me in a program to help with social skills it may have made a big difference, even as a teenager.

 

[Macarena313]

Id have to disagree and say the environment contributes to it in a big way, but that there are certain anxiety prone personality traits that are instilled in people. An obvious example of this is how anxiety and shyness run in families. Just like people who are perfectionists or anal. And people who are more extrverted and easy going. All of these run in families.

I never had low self esteem or lack of confidence before SA. On the other hand, I dont have much self confidence anymore but thats BECAUSE of SA. ....in other words I dont have SA b/c I was like this my whole life. You might think youve always had low self esteem, but it could be just your SA in disguise.

Maybe that was sa in disguise as you said, what i had. But then we can say that for every shy person. I mean i didn't dread talking to people or meeting them for hanging around... But later i did.
my english is bad, so excuse me if i don't completely understand what it means it runs in families? is it like we have it in our genes? But my whole family is different than me, especially my mom and dad. I think they're outgoing and they have friends...
when did your anxiety start then?
m313

 

[Reholla]

But my whole family is different than me, especially my mom and dad. I think they're outgoing and they have friends...
when did your anxiety start then?
m313

That is really different from most SAers, but not unlikely to happen. Most people Ive talked to say their parents are shy, and some even say they have anxiety disorders too. But it is not impossible at all to have it w/ out it being a genetic thing.

I honestly can't pin point the beginnings of it all. It definitely "exploded" in late high school/early college. I just went through like the worst of it a few months ago, and I avoided everything social, very unlike me. But I can trace it back to early HS, when giving presentations I would ALWAYS get nervous. And i knew other people did too. My friends would be like "Oh yeah dont worry about it I always get nervous." But I knew deep down my nervousness was far different from what they were talking about. This is when I started having panic attacks.

Even before that as a kid I would hide behind my dads pant leg when meeting people or anyone I wasnt familiar with. Everyone just thought it was cute. And I had friends. And I was happy. My childhood was actually a really good time in my life. But I remember having scary thoughts. And I went through a stage when I could sleep in my room. Even when my dad turned on the closet light. So for months I slept on the floor in my parents bedroom.

I would have never remembered this if it wasnt for my anxiety, making me trace back things from my childhood.

How did yours start Macarena?

 

[welshcatherine]

Hi, my first *PANIC* was in 1999, just after i married and bought my first house.then i slowly began to suffer with chronic anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia... Its like a roller coaster, you learn to ride it out.

 

[Macarena313]

I would have never remembered this if it wasnt for my anxiety, making me trace back things from my childhood.

How did yours start Macarena?

hi,
i was a happy and loud kid, too. Till my 6th grade, i was very talkative, not self-conscious in social events, i could talk to bigger groups of people too.
But then, about 4yrs ago, it began, i couldn't talk to boys, then to bigger groups, then i was scared to go out with my friends... so i stopped going. Which was a bad step, because now i'm not really social.
when i came to high school, things got worse. I dont know why, because i think some people in my class are very nice and kind. In my class, i have some friends, but i am constantly nervous when im with them.
I'm changing the way i think now. I hope i'll get out of it :roll:
btw, im 17 now.
how strong is your anxiety , i mean like you can't go shopping or just cant talk in front of strangers...?

 

[Macarena313]

Hi, my first *PANIC* was in 1999, just after i married and bought my first house.then i slowly began to suffer with chronic anxiety, panic attacks and agoraphobia... Its like a roller coaster, you learn to ride it out.

hey,
what's agoraphobia? :?
are you getting better now?

 

[welshcatherine]

Its a fear of crowded places/going out in public(which i had for many years and still do on bad days)...and yeah im alot better, recently joined the police force... i sit at training having attacks but i battle through.I live each day,think positive and ignore symptoms
XxXx

 

[newshyguy]

12

the turning point in my life was when back when i was like 10, and my parents split up and I moved with my father in USA.

 

[italiano]

drugs kicked it all off for me, im clean now but have these probs!!! wish neva started doing drugs, they turn round massivly and bite u in the ass!!

 

[Reholla]

yeah, my anxiety is getting better every day. I would say my case at the very worst of it got to a sevre point. I really couldnt function.
Shopping, doing anything public, going to church, social things. All of this was out of the question for a long time.

But thankfully the worst of it didnt last very long. Not being able to function kind of drove me to find answers. So knowing why I have anxiety has helped immensely.

I really think a lot of you are on the verge to recovery though! From what I can tell you guys understand why you have it, and thats a HUGE part to the piece of the "puzzle" of anxiety.

So keep working at it! I know we can all recover!! You have to believe its possible!

 

[lily]

around earlier teens which got a lot worse in mid-teens and then later certain things helped get it lower but still...

 

[italiano]

i developed anxiety/paranoia problems from my drug taking