need2talk
05-14-2007, 09:59 PM
hi all,
Im posting this tonight because I really don't know where else to turn. I have read many other people's posts about their social anxiety and I can't say that mine is much different but I just had a couple questions I wanted to ask and also I just feel like I have to get it out because I've literally only told one person about my problems (a psychologist I met with a few weeks ago).
I'm currently 20 years old and a junior in college. I have been very shy for my entire life but only since about 8th or 9th grade has real social anxiety began to show. Occurences would happen maybe a couple times a week in 9th grade, then towards the end of high school it would happen most days and now its an everyday, multiple times a day thing if im in social situations.
I get all the normal symptoms of SA. When I'm around people in basically every situation I begin to get very nervous. This has especially affected me in college, work, and obviously social situations. The main problem I have, that if i could get rid of I would basically be happy because everything else people cant really see. I blush more than anyone i've met in my life. Everytime i talk to somebody especially in confined situations such as in class my face gets bright red almost immediately. My heart also begins to beat fast, i sweat, and my voice gets very shaky but those things don't bother me nearly as much as my blushing. I need to re-iterate(SP?) that this blushing happens to me literally everyday in every social situation.
You may be wondering why I am posting this here if I have already talked to a psychologist. Its because I wasn't very impressed with her at all. She seems like a nice person but appears to kind of blow off my condition as shyness and maybe slight social anxiety. After I told her everything we began speaking about my past jobs...(I have been a server at several restaurants and a personal trainer)... the first thing she said about it was "maybe you should get a job in a stock room or something". Those were her exact words, no exaggeration. This bothered me because I would never expect a psychologist to say something like that and also because I actually like being around people and i like being in the service industry but i just can't handle it with SA. Honestly, I would classify my social anxiety as pretty bad because it has a huge negative effect on almost every aspect of my life. Before I went to see this psychologist I took it upon myself to do research on my problem and found a book called "Self Coaching." Its a book to help with anxiety and depression. All the concepts made a lot of sense to me and I can see how self-talk and thought process changing can help but it really hasn't help me much.
I Know that this was kind of long and I appreciate anybody who takes to time to read this and respond.
Does anybody have any advice for me?
Thanks again....
Im posting this tonight because I really don't know where else to turn. I have read many other people's posts about their social anxiety and I can't say that mine is much different but I just had a couple questions I wanted to ask and also I just feel like I have to get it out because I've literally only told one person about my problems (a psychologist I met with a few weeks ago).
I'm currently 20 years old and a junior in college. I have been very shy for my entire life but only since about 8th or 9th grade has real social anxiety began to show. Occurences would happen maybe a couple times a week in 9th grade, then towards the end of high school it would happen most days and now its an everyday, multiple times a day thing if im in social situations.
I get all the normal symptoms of SA. When I'm around people in basically every situation I begin to get very nervous. This has especially affected me in college, work, and obviously social situations. The main problem I have, that if i could get rid of I would basically be happy because everything else people cant really see. I blush more than anyone i've met in my life. Everytime i talk to somebody especially in confined situations such as in class my face gets bright red almost immediately. My heart also begins to beat fast, i sweat, and my voice gets very shaky but those things don't bother me nearly as much as my blushing. I need to re-iterate(SP?) that this blushing happens to me literally everyday in every social situation.
You may be wondering why I am posting this here if I have already talked to a psychologist. Its because I wasn't very impressed with her at all. She seems like a nice person but appears to kind of blow off my condition as shyness and maybe slight social anxiety. After I told her everything we began speaking about my past jobs...(I have been a server at several restaurants and a personal trainer)... the first thing she said about it was "maybe you should get a job in a stock room or something". Those were her exact words, no exaggeration. This bothered me because I would never expect a psychologist to say something like that and also because I actually like being around people and i like being in the service industry but i just can't handle it with SA. Honestly, I would classify my social anxiety as pretty bad because it has a huge negative effect on almost every aspect of my life. Before I went to see this psychologist I took it upon myself to do research on my problem and found a book called "Self Coaching." Its a book to help with anxiety and depression. All the concepts made a lot of sense to me and I can see how self-talk and thought process changing can help but it really hasn't help me much.
I Know that this was kind of long and I appreciate anybody who takes to time to read this and respond.
Does anybody have any advice for me?
Thanks again....