Social Anxiety

[goodeone]

Hallo l have just joined l have been told l have social anxiety. I have read up on the subject but l am not sure my diagnosis is correct. As a child l was very quite all most invisible. At school l didnt talk much and only had one friend. When she fell out with me and l moved school I didn't make any others. I believe l am also selectively mute in certain situations. I have tried C B T but did not benefit. I don't work l am extremey isolated both parents dead. My only real companion is my dog who gets me out of the house. I personally belive l have an avoidant personality disorder but have not been able to have this confirmed. No money for private therapy and what l need is not avalible on NHS.

[Hidden]

Hello & Welcome goodeone

Reading your post does sound like Social anxiety but you feel you have something else and I was wondering could your Doctor or has your Doctor referred you to Mental Health Team so you can be assessed ?

Do you feel that having the right diagnosis would help you feel better if you think they had got it wrong , I just wondered because I fought for years to get the right label to correctly diagnosis my anxiety and the cause of it I thought it would make a huge difference and in fact it did the opposite for me made me even more confused and by doing that it has made hardly any difference as my issues regarding anxiety still need dealing with no matter what they want to label me as , but this is just my experience and I know we are all different

You have had therapy and felt it did not help but you are not in a better place either I believe from what you are saying, you need to put this to your Doctor , ask them what support you can be offered , ask to be assessed by a Mental Health Team , sometimes we do have to push and push to get the right help we need , it is not fair we have to do this but so many do , I even had to get my MP involved to get support which is a extreme but kind of worked , if you are really unhappy and getting doors shut in your face as I always saw it you could make an appointment with your MP and ask them for their support

No one will ever shut the door in your face on here there is always someone to talk to and we do understand how these feelings and difficulties we have can get in the way of life so I hope you will feel a little comfort knowing you have like minded people to talk with now you have found these Communities

Take Care x

[Sam_Walker]

Welcome I am new as well and also have social anxiety. It’s too bad you’re struggling and are having such a hard time finding support! Everything lulu-1 mentioned is very helpful. It does sound like you have social anxiety, as you mentioned being selectively mute, shy as a child, etc, which I also suffered from. I was mute until sixth grade (with the exception of family and a few friends) and was extremely shy. My therapist told me that the longer you are mute, the more likely it is that you will develop a mental illness, so that might bring some insight. I’m sure you have already done this, but if you believe you have other mental illnesses, you can look up professional quizzes online and see what your results are, or simply google the symptoms. There are also different kinds of therapy, so if CBT didn’t work, you could try something else. I’m sorry to hear you have suffered so much, but you will find kind, supportive people on here who suffer as you do! Good luck and best wishes

[Hidden in reply to Sam_Walker]

Hello Sam_Walker

Just saw your supportive reply and as you are new to the Community I wanted to say a big Welcome and hope to get to talk to you more at some stage

Take Care x

[Sam_Walker in reply to Hidden]

Hi lulu-1 and kittykat28 😊🙂 Thanks! I’d like that too. It’s nice to know there are so many supportive people here.

[Hidden in reply to Sam_Walker]

Oh you are welcome ~ look forward to seeing you on here. Enjoy your weekend 🙂

[Hidden in reply to Sam_Walker]

Hi Sam ~ what brilliant advice ~ good to meet you!! Everything you say is on the ball .Hope to see more of you on here 🙂

[Hidden]

Hi there ~ as I child I was always classed as " nervous " if ever I had to change teachers etc it would make my physically ill. Even when I started work ~ I had real problems adjusting and took me a long time to settle .

You should be able to access talking therapies through NHS ~ firstly it is usually over the phone to assess your needs. I had this a few years ago ~ when I was really poorly with Anxiety.

It's lovely you have your dog for a companion ~ to get you out of your house. Anxiety can be such a lonely illness ~ sometimes not to be talked about ~ but we have a right to say we are suffering.

You have done great coming on here ~ saying how you are feeling ~ so that is a big positive for you. Keep talking on here and you will make friends 🙂xx

[designguy]

Hello goodone, I had social anxiety for years. I was shy and bullied as a kid and it developed from there. You might possibly be an introvert which some mistake for being shy and having social anxiety. Social anxiety disorder is learned maladaptive behavior resulting from some kind of childhood trauma. It could have been a one-time event or ongoing events. If you are an introvert, educate yourself about it and how to make it work for you.

The best way to recover is to work with a therapist that specifically treats social anxiety disorder to help you learn all about it, why and how you developed it and provide you with the tools and training for your recovery. If there isn't a therapist available in your area, there are some good online programs like, the socialanxietyinstitute.org and the overcomingsocialanxiety.com. The overcomingsocialanxiety.com program is very affordable.

Recovery is definitely possible and so worth the effort.

[Hollick]

😥