Shyness/Social Anxiety

Dionysus · #1 05-10-2004, 05:03 PM

Who has this? Or, has had it in the past?

What do you think caused it?

If you no longer battled this problem, what made you overcome it?

I had this issue on and off all of my life. I can write a book on what I think caused it, lol, being around evil people who like to betray to be more exact. What helps me to overcome shyness is to rehearse what I'm going to say in social situations/events. My senior year in high school and my sophomore year in college, I was put on Paxil help my social anxiety.

norcalchick · #2 05-10-2004, 05:27 PM

i've been seeing commercials for social anxiety and wonder if i have it also. i definitely get shy when i'm around new people or in new places. i get some/most of the symptoms that the commercial shows. i think it also stems from some self esteem issues that i have. i always think that people stare at me or are judging me all the time. i don't want that to sound conceited at all. i have to remind myself that people aren't staring at me and even if they were, they won't remember me. i think my self esteem issues come from (this is going to sound stupid...) not being liked by many guys when i was younger. i think i'm alright looking. i'm not ugly, and people do tell me i'm pretty. i'm trying to work on it and i have a wonderful boyfriend who thinks i'm beautiful. i'm always going over what i say in my head to make sure it sounds alright, because i don't want people to think badly of me. i'm going to look into some of the medications and all of that in a bit.

Tippiechick · #3 05-10-2004, 07:03 PM

I battle social anxiety everyday when not on Zoloft. I HATE going out in public. I send my husband to run most errands... I feel like everyone's eyes are on me at all times. I think they are judging every imperfection possible. My heart starts beating out of control and I start to have a panic attack.

Zoloft has helped me. But, I haven't taken it while pregnant. I know I have reverted back to my past behavior. When I do take Zoloft, I am a social butterfly and love going out. I am at my most successful when on Zoloft.

Edited because I can't spell today.

adpialumcsuc · #4 05-10-2004, 08:19 PM

I believe that I had something like this while in High school. I was deathly afraid of being in public, including school. I would end up making myself sick just thinking about it. My Sophmore year in High school I got a job working at a camp. This was very hard for me because I had to me in contact with many people. Multiple times people would ask others if I was deaf because I would shut down and not respond to anything. This all turned around my senior year in High school when I had this teacher that for 3 months had me in tears because of things he said about me. I guess I finally realized that I needed to stick up for myself and be more vocal about things. This must have increased my self confidence a lot because ever since then I have been a social butterfly. I never saw that incident as my breaking point my parents sure did.

ThetaPrincess24 · #5 05-11-2004, 11:20 AM

I used to have this. I had a shrink for a while.........but i had other issues too with depression and anorexia, but in addition to therapy, I took classes where I would have to do presentations frequently in class, and made myself get involved in things where I would have to be around people all the time. In time I just got used to it, so it no longer phases me. Sometimes when I meet new people, i do have to force myself to introduce myself and talk and take the initiative, but it's not near as bad as it once was. I'm no longer quiet lil mary.

sugar and spice · #6 05-11-2004, 04:45 PM

I have generalized anxiety disorder too, not social, but it does manifest itself in certain social situations. It's funny because it's not all the time -- like I love sorority rush because I love getting to know so many new people, and people have told me that they envy how comfortable I am at parties or meeting new people. But I can't call the pizza delivery man to save my life, I hate talking to my professors outside of class, and I hate applying for jobs.

Sometimes it gets really bad, but there are other times when it's entirely manageable.

Lady Pi Phi · #7 05-11-2004, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tippiechick
I battle social anxiety everyday when not on Zoloft. I HATE going out in public. I send my husband to run most errands... I feel like everyone's eyes are on me at all times. I think they are judging every imperfection possible. My heart starts beating out of control and I start to have a panic attack.

Zoloft has helped me. But, I haven't taken it while pregnant. I know I have reverted back to my past behavior. When I do take Zoloft, I am a social butterfly and love going out. I am at my most successful when on Zoloft.

Edited because I can't spell today.

I am very much like this. Sometimes go outside terrifies me.
Because of it, I often stay home and lounge around in sweats because I am scared to go out.

Norcal chick. It's not conceit when you think everyone is staring at you. It's because you think they are judging you, when you'd rather blend in with the crowd and be unnoticable.

I hate riding the subway because often I will have panic attacks. I have panic attacks in the middle of the night for no reason. Sometimes I think it's a low blood sugar but after having some juice or something and it still doesn't go away I know it's a panic attack. I had one the other night for no reason.

I used to be on Prozac and Celexa (I switched to Prozac because the celexa wasn't helping), but I stopped taking prozac because it made me gain weight. I won't take anything that makes me gain weight since weight is a major issue of mine.