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Social Anxiety

Discussion in 'General Support and Advice' started by poopledum, Dec 31, 2015.

  1. poopledum

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    Just wondering how many people on here suffer from some degree of social anxiety? And, if so, how much does it affect your day-to-day life, and can you identify anything in particular which caused it?
     
    #1 poopledum, Dec 31, 2015
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2015
  2. peachygogh

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    I have severe anxiety of all kids, and social anxiety is high on the list. Unfortunatley, it affects me in awful ways everyday. I get really shaky, and aware of everything when I'm in public, or someone comes near me. When I'm in crowded places, I get extremely paranoid, and sometimes feel super dirty and have a need to shower (its weird, Idk) I have no idea what caused any of my anxiety though :frowning2:
     
  3. lastking

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    I have social anxiety. I get really nervous when I meet new people and would always fear of getting rejected. I feel like a lot of it started in middle and high school because I didn't have many friends and was bullied several times. I have improved on my social anxiety though I still get social anxiety with certain situations, like going to clubs and parties.
     
  4. loveislove01

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    A lot- but only around teenagers. And it really affects me. I go blank, I can't speak, and I come back and get so upset and isolate myself from humanity
     
  5. eMei

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    I always feel like people are watching me if I'm out by myself, or sitting on the bus by myself. As I'm getting older I'm becoming a lot more aware and paranoid about it which makes me look really awkward when I first talk to someone and I hate it. It's like a curse.
     
  6. DangerousDan

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    I suppose to a degree, I tend to get really nervous before any social situations and end up going blank and saying nothing when I encounter them. This makes for a lot of awkward silences and so makes me even more flustered and unable to speak - very embarrassing. Thus I try to avoid social events if possible.

    I also get really nervous if I have to give a presentation or read in front of a small group of people, it got to the point where I would come in late to school so that I could avoid giving these class presentations. Eventually I realised that it was never as bad as I feared and so now I swallow the fear and do what needs to be done.

    If I had to guess at where these issues stemmed from I would say it was from that fact that I was bullied a lot in school at a young age, by the people that were supposedly my friends. After that point I became a lot more distant from everyone and since then have always found it difficult to talk and connect with other people.

    Rather ironically the people that bullied me, for being a science nerd, ultimately made go and read a lot more into various scientific fields. Now I have offers from uni's such as Kings College to study Biochemistry with them next year. :grin:
     
  7. Billy the kid

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    Yes I suffer from social anxiety. What causes it? We'll one thing is being paranoid about someone questioning if I'm gay, Also thinking I'm not good looking, being afraid that I am not intelligent enough for the crowd. All low self esteem issues and confidence issues. I have a close knit group of friends that I am comfortable with, once I go outside the group and strangers are brought into the picture is when I get the social anxiety. When I am put into an uncomfortable scenario It usually ends up just fine though. I was bullied when I was younger, I think that is a big factor.

    If social anxiety is affecting you I encourage you to try and overcome it. Seek help, counseling, medication or even discussing it with a good friend. Have a great New Years!!!
     
  8. Kinky

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    Many of you are of teenage age. Anyone who's in their 20s and has bad social anxiety issues like me? :frowning2:
     
  9. sunshine360

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    I have social anxiety but it's getting better I guess?
     
  10. lastking

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    I'm in my mid-20's.
     
  11. Kinky

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    Comrade!
     
  12. poopledum

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    Yep people can sense those with 'anxious' personalities and take advantage of that I've found.

    I'm glad you've pushed through your SA to get a place at such a good uni. I'm also in London so maybe I'll see you around :slight_smile:

    ---------- Post added 2nd Jan 2016 at 03:59 PM ----------

    It's good that you have friends that you trust. I'm still working on finding some, which is tricky with this anxiety. But I'm working on it. Hope you had a good New Year too :slight_smile:

    ---------- Post added 2nd Jan 2016 at 04:00 PM ----------

    Early 20s here. You're definitely not the only one.
     
  13. Ravi-VIXX777

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    I used to have pretty bad social anxiety. If I recall, most of it stems from being fat, gay, and considered ugly when I was younger, so my self-esteem was really low.

    I lost about 40 pounds, and go to the gym because I like that 'high' feeling when I'm done. In college, I made attempts to make friends despite my fear.

    My biggest tip for anyone is to stop caring about what others think of you. Most people are too concernred about themselves to really care. Do things that interest you that involves other people; that's the easiest way to make friends.
     
  14. Trevan

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    I'm 25 and suffer from social anxiety, it made me "fail" at my first job (burnout) and I have trouble finding a new one. Prevent me to connect correctly with other people and makes me doubt about pretty much everything.

    As for the causes I can only suppose that it is a combination of the following:
    - I was very empathetic as a child
    - I've been bullied during all my scolarity by my classmates for whatever reasons
    - My father "abandoned" me and my mother as I was 6 years old and so may I fear rejection (still investigating about this part with my psychologist)
    - Any other reason I might not have identified yet.

    Cheers up every one, we will knock this dark beast out one day or another. :icon_wink
     
  15. NateC7

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    I'm 21 and I have social anxiety. I just worry about what people think of me usually after I do something. I have a tendency to apologize a lot and I worry about forgetting to do something a lot. I have these worries on a daily basis.
     
  16. Jax12

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    It gets better with time, you learn how to control it as you grow older. I can honestly say that 2 years ago, I was so conscious about how people thought of me. Now I could care less.
     
  17. Jared

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    I have pretty bad social anxiety, I hate making phone calls and being alone with people who I'm not familiar/comfortable with. It makes it really hard for me to meet people, since I can start sweating and shaking for no reason when meeting someone new. It also makes my one on one meetings with my boss and department head at work a special kind of hell, I'm always worried I'm going to say something stupid and get fired which is totally irrational. I spend so long after these meeting over thinking everything.

    I'm pretty sure most of my anxiety stems from the abuse I went through growing up. My dad was always screami at me and telling me I'm not good enough and my mom would guilt trip me into basically being her therapist so I had nobody and internalized everything :frowning2:
     
  18. whynot

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    i get really anxious about going to work.. i usually have difficulty in breathing and shaky hands..

    and now thinking about going back to work since the holidays ended.. makes me really restless.. i know it is totally irrational but i can't help it..
     
  19. ConnectedToWall

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    My social anxiety started way back in elementary school, but I would only have it in certain situations. I wonder if social anxiety is more common among the LGBTQ community because most of us have internalized homophobia?
    Recently, my social anxiety has affected me by causing me to be too nervous to join LGBTQ club. I don't want to be rejected... :tears::bang:
     
  20. lemur4

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    I have really bad social anxiety. senior year in high school is when it began to emerge, but i was always an anxious kid. i think college made it worse. I'm now at the point where i can't hang out with any friends, I'm scared to death of school, and i don't know what its like to relax.