Social Anxiety

[Jonathan Wallcroft]

I'm a new person on here but I suffer from really bad social anxiety I find it really hard to start conversations with people in person but I like using Facebook messenger to get myself comfortable, but the trouble is my friends keep seeing and not answering things I write-they say it's because they don't know what to say but I find it really hard to deal with when I'm ignored and then it becomes even harder to go and see them in person because I have no idea how they reacted to what I said. I keep having panic attacks when I get ignored and I have no idea how to control them or dealing with the waits in between when I send a message does anyone have any advice?

[sal85]

Hi Jonathan

I'm also new to this forum. I'm sure there are plenty of people on this site that can give you great advise. My anxiety is still pretty new to me but always find having someone to talk to when I panic helps me calm down. If you find yourself starting to panic and you want to talk to someone you can send me a message and I'll try and reply as soon I can.

[Jonathan Wallcroft]

Yeah exactly it just makes me really anxious when I try to talk to people and they don't reply liketoday

[sal85]

So where are you from.

[NixonRulz]

I'm a new person on here but I suffer from really bad social anxiety I find it really hard to start conversations with people in person but I like using Facebook messenger to get myself comfortable, but the trouble is my friends keep seeing and not answering things I write-they say it's because they don't know what to say but I find it really hard to deal with when I'm ignored and then it becomes even harder to go and see them in person because I have no idea how they reacted to what I said. I keep having panic attacks when I get ignored and I have no idea how to control them or dealing with the waits in between when I send a message does anyone have any advice?

Sounds like messenger is more trouble than its worth

How about a few phone calls between people before seeing them. Its a smart phone but believe it or not, it can make a call

I think people will increasingly feel like you since there is no emotion in words and thats how young people communicate now. Lord knows my kids do

Make it a little more personal by actually taking to them where you all can hear the emotion and once you see them, you will have a better sense of how they feel

[Jonathan Wallcroft]

So where are you from.

Keynsham-Bristol-England, you? :)

[sal85]

I'm from Queensland Australia. What's the weather like over there at the moment.

[Nikkers]

Hi Jonathon :) It's hard to have a conversation via text sometimes, especially if it's just shooting off quick text on facebook or a phone. Nixon was so right when he said it's hard to convey emotion in words and things can so easily be misconstrued and sometimes your left saying to yourself "was that person being funny or are they unhappy with me?" "Did I do something to upset them, that text felt angry" "why haven't they replied yet?" when really it was probably a perfectly normal text that if said in person wouldn't even raise an eyebrow. I used to play a game called World of Warcraft which has a text based chat and people were constantly misinterpreting each others messages. Forums like this are much better, you can take you time to write, go over it if you need to and type a whole page if you want.

Nixon, my son is the same, always has his head in his phone texting like a madman. I've had the same phone for 6 years and never text, then again I have social anxiety and no friends, ha! :lol: Maybe if I had a cluster of friends I would have my nose in a phone too but I would like to think I wouldn't.

Sal85, I'm from Aus too, nice to see a fellow Aussie in here :)

[sal85]

Hi Nikkers
What part of Aus are you from if you don't mind me asking.

[AmberGbenga]

Straya... <3

[Nikkers]

Haha Straya, love it! :) I'm from Melbourne, sal.

Amber I think I read in another thread that you were also from QLD?

[AmberGbenga]

Indeed I am :)