Discussion Anyone else struggling with Social Anxiety/Phobia too?

[_Minsk]

hi there,
when i look into the past now days, i see how much my social anxiety has impacted my life, in a devastating negative way.. i wonder how my life would had been if i hadn't had to struggle with that thing, it basically ruined my whole life, including my school time, career and everything else which had to do with social stuff..

are here some peeps who also cant get rid of it and want to talk about how it affects you?
would be nice to find peeps to relate to,
thanks for reading

 

[S1mpleme]

I have opposite feelings, like if society have phobia to me. I don't have anxiety or any social issues, not shy and may communicate with anyone, but for some reason I'm damned to be alone forever, like if I had a sign on the back "run away from me". I remember when in conversation with a person I told that I have no friends, not even one, and I didn't expect to have such answer. Usually nobody cares or ask what's wrong with me, but the person said not to worry and I'll find some friends one day. Probably I have different point of view than many others, but I think this is wrong and weird answer. Why not offer to be a friend? Why not to invite to go somewhere? I just hate this world. Doesn't matter who you are, but you're garbage to this society.

 

[Holacanthus]

My life would have been completely different without social anxiety.

 

[pole]

affects me alot. idk why, i always feel like im just being judged or watched with whatever i do or say and it's affected me pretty bad for years.

though, it only got better this past year and my social anxiety was the lowest its ever been. reason for that is because i forced myself out of my comfort zone and forced myself to work retail, where i'd talk to people and be around people literally all the time, and interact and so it would ultimately force me to deal with my social anxiety head on and it helped and it was the best experience ever, and i totally recommend forcing urself out of this comfort zone, we sometimes have nothing to lose.

ever since i stopped working though, it's become worse again and the paranoia and anxiety is higher than ever. hope i can someday perhaps force myself out of my comfort zone again and fight my social anxiety head on again.

 

[mattwitt]

Mines so bad it took me a few months just to get the courage to just call the dentist office.

 

[SneekUponIt]

I used to have 'social anxiety disorder', but as I got older it morphed more into a phobia, like I have erected a mental wall between me and those I run into in my life. I can barely even socialize on anxiolytics anymore, and I have been responsible enough with them not to build a tolerance.

I always heard it goes the other way for a lot of people, and as they get older some of the social anxiety goes away. The thing is I've had many traumatic experiences surrounding people in my life, both street kids and authority figures who I used to naively believe were upstanding people. I have PTSD from being mugged multiple times while I was living in Youth Shelters, and drifting around after being kicked out of my parents household, because I was supposed to be a perfect kid with no mental health issues.
The Police had multiple guns pointed at my head ready to shoot me for playing with cap guns in an empty field, with the orange caps still on in daylight...I threw my fucking capgun to the ground as they requested, but they didn't stop pointing their guns, and it didn't stop me from getting slammed into the hood of their cruiser. Admittedly I was with another kid who was drunk and he was too stupid to obey their command. I still think 8 police should be able to tell that real guns don't have orange caps, and like I said I discarded mine when they commanded me to and did as they said. I've also been called a waste of tax payers money for seeking help for my suicidal thoughts surrounding my anxiety/depression and PTSD from a upstanding Psychiatrist who hollered to me at the top of my lungs that I was just seeking drugs and didn't have real anxiety disorders (I'm diagnosed with them, including PTSD, but 5 minutes with an emergency department Dr., he knew best).

This is a hair trigger discussion for me these days, as I generally don't try to interact with people IRL these days because my flashbacks can make me go off on others if they say or make the wrong gesture towards me. I used to be mild mannered and my social anxiety would make me freeze or become really shy and withdrawn, it's morphed into something far uglier these days...I might delete this post later because it is too revealing and I don't want to get doxxed.