Dyingtoleave

Dyingtoleave

Member
Apr 11, 2022
16
For almost 6 months the only people that I've socialized with are 2 friends and my fiance. But over the last 2 weeks of quarantine and 2 weeks of post quarantine because of my anxiety I've stopped talking to my friends and rarely leave my house and get food delivered. When I do leave I just go to my fiance and we go on a date but everywhere I go I get anxious about people's intentions and whenever someone laughs nearby i think immediately that its because their laughing at me. at this point i'm scared of going outside. Does anyone have any idea or tip to re-socialize myself and stop overthinking ? do I have some sort of psychosis ?
 
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yabuki77

yabuki77

And then, all that remains is pure white ash.
Apr 29, 2022
27
You probably don't have psychosis, it's possible that you're in the early stages of it but its more likely that its just social anxiety. I used to think the same thing every now and then, and if you were in psychosis you wouldn't realize it at all. Try to start talking to your friends again! If you're scared of going outside then try to do stuff with your fiance and/or friends at their house or yours so you don't have to deal with other people, but if you want to get over your anxiety you'll have to go out of your comfort zone.
 
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d33per

d33per

Member
Apr 30, 2022
10
I agree. Does not sound like psychosis. You are just frightened and overburdened, it seems, at the moment.
And yes, yabuki77 is right, socializing means to get out a little tiny bit of your comfort zone, but it's worth it almost always.
The stuff about people laughing about you is just you being terrified of being downgraded for no reason. We all have that more or less, except the sociopaths among us. You need more real interaction with people again. It's as simple and as difficult as that.
 
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whatevs

whatevs

Mining for copium in the weirdest places.
Jan 15, 2022
2,914
You have friends? I'm out of my depth in this conversation.
 
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onlyanimalsaregood

onlyanimalsaregood

Unlovable šŸ’” Rest in peace CommitSudoku šŸ¤
Mar 11, 2022
1,329
I understand you. I also didn't leave the house for two months and when I went back to work it made a huge impression on me to be surrounded by people and to see people. After a month it still makes an impression, but not as much. My advice is to give it time. It will get better. Also, I use to go talk on my cell phone with someone to abstract myself from where I am and this way it doesn't make such an impression. Maybe you can also find a distraction mechanism.
 
Cathy Ames

Cathy Ames

Cautionary Tale
Mar 11, 2022
2,106
Since I don't know the specifics of your situation, maybe I'm projecting, but I'm thinking there are (at least) three different smaller pieces to this problem, and it might be helpfully to work on each one of them separately. My initial thought is that the smaller pieces might look like this:

1) "leaving the house"
2) interacting with people
3) getting overstimulated in public (you might describe this third one in different terms or say it doesn't exist at all or is something completely different than this--see if you can come up with a #3 that is related to what you are feeling when you are on your dates).

So for example, for #1, the first step is just to go out the door, stand there for a minute or two, then go back inside. Gradually add time and distance from the house. Like walk down to the corner and back and add additional distance a little at a time. Or walk to your car and back. Then add getting into the car and getting out again. Then add getting into the car and driving around. Then add making a pickup order, driving to the store and picking it up and going home. Etc.

For #2, you could call a friend and talk to them on the phone (or facetime or skype or zoom) at first. Like do it every day. Then maybe arrange to have them come to your house for coffee. First just one person at a time and then two. IDK.

Possibly after you work on those first two, the third one (related to being in public) will already be easier. Otherwise, work on that a little bit at a time. Like make a pickup order, but leave early. When you get there, go inside and buy one item that is close to the cash register, then leave and get your pickup order. Gradually extend how long you are in the store (by buying additional items and/or items further from the cash register, for example), so you will eventually be able to shop in the store instead of doing a pickup. Once you can handle that, going to a restaurant might be easier.

Again, I don't really know the specifics of your situation, but perhaps you can look at this and use it as a springboard to come up with specific things that apply to you. I really do have the impression that the best thing to do is work on smaller pieces of the problem.

Also? I don't think you are having psychosis. I think this is just a thing that can happen after there's been a pandemic if a person has already been having some problems.

P.S. If any of this is resonating for you, it might be helpful to try to assemble a little bit of a "support group" (perhaps here) with other people who need to extend their comfort zones in some way. Basically some (at least two) people just checking in with each other to say, "Hey, I did leave the house today!" (or whatever). Or you might see if one of your IRL friends would support you (in a distanced way) with check-ins. That can be very helpful.
 
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