Crippling Social Anxiety

[M4lic3]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and I'd really love some advice from other anxiety sufferers. A while ago at a party I had my drink spiked and developed severe paranoia for the entire event. Ever since then I have have crippling social anxiety, to the point that if we are going to an evening out or an overnight camping festival I will start getting anxious days in advance. It feels like a giant hand is squeezing my chest, I can't breathe, I get stomach cramps and feel waves of nausea. Once I get to the event however I'm fine. Can anyone suggest what worked well for them besides my dosing myself every time I have to go anywhere and breathing and thinking happy thoughts doesn't work.

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I've dealt with a somewhat similar situation. I didn't suffer with mental illness at all really until I made a stupid choice and took something at a music festival a few years ago. It triggered my first panic attack, made me feel detached and crazy and I thought I was going to die. I feel the exact same anxiety and impending doom before a concert or music festival but once I get there i usually have a good time. It's completely understandable that you might not trust people in party settings considering what happened to you and unfortunately many others. I hope that your friends understand your fear and do their best to make you feel safe and take care of you because you need that sense of safety and control. I know you've heard it a million times before but you have to think of all the things that could go right instead of all the things that could go wrong. I always recommend meditation to teach yourself how to cope with how your mind and body react to anxiety. You could maybe even distract yourself by planning out more fun activities or details for the event which might help turn the negative thoughts around. What do you usually do to cope?