Social Phobia

I’m scared of people, I fear that they are out to get me.
I have isolated myself from all my family and all but two of my friends. I have a job but it’s hard to stay calm when others are around.
I feel like I have to put on a mask, to play normal. When I tell them my true feelings they laugh or look at me as if I’m from another planet. #alien

My thought is how important inner self talk is in the recovery process of anxiety, panic attacks, social phobia, etc. It takes some practice, some time, but not as much time as it takes to get to where our illness has immobilized us in some way. It involves paying close attention to what anxiety is negatively trying to have you BELIEVE as TRUE,. And at that Moment your positive inner coach is going to say things like " that statement is NOT TRUE, or " I will be fine" or " These feelings WILL NOT hurt me" etc. Etc.. be stern when you say these positive affirmations to yourself. You can make up your own affirmations that you feel are easy to say, as long as you are consistent every day. You are not fighting against your negative thoughts, you are just becoming the " Pilot" of your thought plane and not just a passenger. Your becoming the " Conductor" of your symphony of thoughts and not just a good listener any longer. YOUR taking back CONTROL of your train of thoughts, NOT with agression, but by re- directing them. It works! You have nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain. 🙂

I've never had the luxury to just be able to drop my guard down and relax. My life has been a huge perpetual battle,. Starting out as a child in 1976 I didn't realize how much inner strength I would NEED to accumulate over the decades for what was to come. At this time my father was a narcissistic alcoholic who physically and verbally abused me and my brothers because of his anger regarding his own life disappointments. They were very depressing years, filled with isolation and a daily fear that waxed and wained depending on his mood. In the blizzard of 1978 I was nine years old, my brother eleven,. I'll never forget that my father had sent us to the store for a pack of Lucky Strikes cigarettes while his snow covered car sat safely in front of the house. This is a small example of who my father was,. I believe a sociopath. Fast-forward into my teenage years,.introverted, fearful, Ptsd, and social phobic. My social phobia grew into agoraphobia and home confinement. I grew suicidal and desperate for a cure,. I had NO CHOICE but to teach myself how to overcome the intense fear, anxiety and deep depression if I was to continue living,. Period. With tons of reading self-help books ( no smart phones yet) and newspaper articles, tears and pure mental anguish I eventually overcame my agoraphobia and depression. Fast - forward to 2017 I had been married for 17 years to a narcissistic wife who tried extremely hard to degrade me and punish me ( she didn't realize the pure Hell I had to endure prior to her) I filed for divorce. Ended up losing EVERYTHING and EVERYONE due to a huge family dispute,. I remarried to my soulmate, we became homeless to escape her narcissistic brother and here we are in 2022!! After getting off the street, renting a room in a basement and always on foot., Still Struggling just for the basics at 52 years old. John 15:18 Jesus says, " Just remember, when the unbelieving world hates you, they hated me first." I have a theory that Most of us are handed a "metaphorical" but unjust Life- Sentence without a reason as to WHY, in our prison we call LIFE and it's a huge struggle to survive this prison to the end of our sentence,. Our everlasting Peace we could not find here can only be found when we leave this place. I hope that someone can draw inspiration to go on from My Story.

What is this thing called hope? Yes, this is a serious question. What frame of reference do you use to explain something to someone who has never know or seen hope? We liken the situation to finding a single Waldo in a swarm of people who all look slightly like Waldo. But none ARE Waldo.

We are, at this point, 47 days into our 2 new Antidepressants, 21 days into our Antipsychotic and no change other than we sleep an added 1 to 2 hours a night. We are grateful for that. Our meds are increased every 2 weeks. I, since none of the other want to attend at this time, do video chat with at least 3 Doctors every week. The all tell me that hope will help us in this wait and see pattern we currently find ourselves stuck within.

We believe that everything in our universe has a counter balance. Night has Day. These are concrete, provable, repeatable facts available to establish what distinguishes Night from Day. Where "Hope" along with, it's 1st cousins the other emotions and "feeling" are all abstract concepts not grounded by facts.

What reference points does one use when trying to describe abstract concept of "hope" to one who has never seen or experienced it in their lifetime. How would you describe colours to a person who has never seen them? We have as little insight into what "hope" or any of the "emotions" are, at this point. What is this thing called "Hope" and where do we find it?

#SexualAbuse #SexualAssault #Childhoodneglect #DomesticAbuse #DID #raynauds #Fibromyalgia #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #RheumatoidArthritis #DegenerativeDiscDisease #Hypertension #Trichiasis #irritableboweldisease #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #AnxietyDisorders #PanicAttacks #Agoraphobia #Insomnia #Rosacea #Claustrophobia #heartmurmur #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Allergies #Dyslexia #OCD #Trichotillomania #cleithrophobia , #IntrusiveThoughts #SuicidalIdeation #haphephobia #EatingDisorder #MajorDepressiveDisorder #SocialPhobia #Acrophobia #Psychosis #DissociativeDisorder #audiohallucinations #visualhallucinations #intervert #raynauds

Greetings, Mighty Community! It has taken me a looong time to make my first post, so long, in fact, that I can hardly believe I'm really writing it right now.

I created my Mighty profile a while ago, and I've gotten a lot out of reading articles and posts. All that time, though, I've so wanted to reach out to others here, but have let perfectionism, lack of motivation (courtesy of depression), and formidable social phobia get in my way, time and time again.

For a good chunk of my life I've struggled with CPTSD, OCD, generalized anxiety, and the aforementioned crippling depression and social anxiety. It's been a very long and painful road, one that winds around and around and seems to get tangled up in painful detours more often than not.

So, regardless of how imperfect my negative self-talk tells me this post is, it's a relief to at least have written it!

Looking forward to connecting with you lovely folks here!

#Depression #worse than cancer
I am a medical doctor,56 year old dad, father of two beautiful daughter and husband of a gorgeous wife. struggling with depression for 25 years . Married to my wife in the darkest and deepest‌ depression in hope that marriage can heal my depression. 4 years living and working without any medication with the push of my wife 21 years under medical and psychotherapy treatment struggling with social phobia and anxiety and depression migrating to canada science 7 years ago and unemployed for 7 years . Never be able to support my kids emotianally dying for to be able to communicate with my kids like a father hug them and give them support all the time afraid from one day my children go through this horrible pain that I feel. Attempted suicide seven times in the hope that my wife leave me and raise my children because I wasn´t able to witnessed my childre suffer from the pain of lonliness and failure all the time. Tolerate others and laugh to hide your depression.And now after last suicide they know about my depression and suicides and my wife is not able to support me anymore. I am tired of living. All the time tomorrow was worse than yesterday I take all antidepressant and antipsychotics and had done ECT .I can´t support my kids emotionally and financially I see their future are like me, lonely and sad I wish I killed myself before marriage because this curse never leave me. I wish to die right now because living as a disable father or person is not worthed. I can´t help my kids and at the same time I can´t kill myself because it makes their condition worse. Staying alive also reach them to the same result only later I don´t know what to do. I am tired of medications, councelling and all of these nonsense I only want peace to rest for ever , stops this battle once for all.

Hello I am 55 years old doctor who had amazing life for 26 years then when I started my job I did minor surgeries and my anxiety began and after 3 years I went to severe deep depression when I thought that with marriage I can heal my wounded soul. But after marriage with a kind and gorgeous wife I continued my life for 4 years without taking any medication but after 4 years I started medication and at the end I took 25 pills everyday.Iong story short I worked 17 years with force of my wife until I went to Canada and unemloyed for 7 years. With 2 beautiful daughters who struggle with mental health. After attempting 7 suicides, 12 years psychotherapy and trying ECT and all the antidepressants that can you imagine. Still I can´t work I have social phobia and diagnosis of dependent personality disorder.Never be able to communicate with my daughters and never be able to support them emotionally and recently financially. I am tired of 25 years struggling with depression. Hide myself behind a happy face never enjoyed from my job or my life. I am tired from this dam depression which never be healed and I should watch that my kids suffer from the same pain that I suffered 25 years. I don´t know what to do I asked my wife million times to leave me even before having children and after that to save herself and my daughters from me and I can die in peace but she didn´t accept . Now I am tired of fighting 24/7 with no hope for cure or even some healing.Really this life does´t worth to live I wish I knew that this curse doesn´t have any relieve and I didn´t waste my time my wifes golden years and destroying my amazing daughters future.

I live (not suffer) with bipolar syndrome, depression, PTSD, Anxiety, and Social phobia. I also have a moderate case of Benign Familiar Tremor. My daily goal is to focus on the positives around me. I also am very disciplined on taking my meds, moving, and trying to improve my nutrition. I love my dog and cats. I am a very responsible pet owner. I also love to garden. I am just stating to learn about native plants.
I am 58 years old. I am a retired Scientist. I had to retire early (2001) due to my mental illness. This was very difficult for me because I loved what I did.
#MightyTogether

I’ve heard it said that you know when you’re a problem drinker when your drinking causes you problems, whether of the emotional, legal, financial, or several other varieties.

Similarly, I think anxiety, fears, panic, and phobias are problems only when they cause you problems.

Let me unpack that a bit.

phobias are considered to be a type of anxiety disorder or panic disorder. For example, social anxiety is sometimes defined as social phobia. Everyone has anxieties. Many people have at least one phobia. And most people can avoid these triggers with little or no effect on their daily lives. There are habits they can cultivate to avoid the things that make them anxious or phobic.

For instance, someone with acrophobia, a fear of high places, isn’t usually incapacitated by a stepladder, and can fairly easily avoid standing on cliff edges, rotating top-floor restaurants, and hotel rooms over the first or second floor. (When the anxiety/phobia extends to fear of flying, or aerophobia, the person can limit or eliminate air travel from their lives, usually without much difficulty.)

Crippling phobias, however, are generally classed as mental illnesses. My panic around bees (apiphobia) does not rise to that level; I would call it an anxiety reaction or a panic attack, not a phobia. It usually only manifests as bodily stiffening, tremors, and immobility, and pleas for anyone in the area to shoo away the offending insect. (I once took a beekeeping class to try to get over my phobia. Big mistake. Didn’t work.)

agoraphobia (fear of unfamiliar environments or ones where you feel out of control), however, can be socially and psychologically crippling. The Mayo Clinic says that agoraphobia “can severely limit your ability to socialize, work, attend important events and even manage the details of daily life, such as running errands.” (Technology has made these constrictions less onerous, what with doorstep delivery and Skype.)

Anxieties as a symptom of mental illness are harder to define. While some anxieties have triggers, others simply don’t. “Free-floating” anxiety comes on unexpectedly, like the depressions and manias of bipolar disorder. This doesn’t mean that the anxiety isn’t real. It certainly is. It just means that the anxiety has no identifiable cause such as high places or bees. It is simply (or not so simply) a panic attack, which the Cleveland Clinic says is “sudden, unreasonable feelings of fear and anxiety that cause physical symptoms like a racing heart, fast breathing, and sweating. Some people become so fearful of these attacks that they develop panic disorder, a type of anxiety disorder.” They add, “Every year, up to 11% of Americans experience a panic attack. Approximately 2% to 3% of them go on to develop panic disorder.”

Sometimes I have anxiety that is attributable to triggers, such as financial difficulties, which are relatively easy for other people to understand. Who wouldn’t be anxious when the bank account is dry and a bill is due?

Other times, free-floating anxiety or panic simply descends on me, with nothing that triggers it. It’s an awful feeling, like waiting for the other shoe to drop when there has been no first shoe. Like a cloud hovering around me with the potential for lightning bolts at any time.

The thing is, I don’t know how to get rid of my anxieties, fears, or phobias. There are desensitization procedures that are supposed to work by getting one used to the trigger gradually. (I think that was my idea behind taking the beekeeping class. One of them, anyway.) There are antianxiety medications, including antidepressants and benzos, designed to take the edge off, if not remove the anxiety. (I take antianxiety medications. I’m still afraid of bees. Not that it affects my daily life much, but I’m never likely to visit that island off Croatia that’s covered with lavender.) For phobias, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), as well as exposure therapy, has been recommended. This is usually a short-term procedure, according to the Mayo Clinic. But I have an aversion to CBT.

Still, despite my therapy and medications, I have to live with my anxiety and phobias. I’ve probably not reached the point where the anxiety causes me severe problems, like bankruptcy, though I have been known to overdraw my checking account on occasion and run my credit card up too high. These, of course, are signals that I may have a problem or am beginning to have one. It’s something to explore with my therapist, anyway. Maybe she can suggest ways I can deal with my anxieties before they turn into more significant problems.