Unsure if this is social anxiety

[jenzie]

I've always had anxiety problems since childhood, but the past five years have been hell. I have always found making friends difficult and and found it easier to hide away rather then face situations. Some days I am able to go out, although feel very tense and anxious, other days I develop headaches and illness as excuses to going out.

I am now getting so lonely without a single friend, although I have a loving family, I am fed up with my life and want to change my life around and face up to my fears.

I find it impossible to meet up with anyone for a coffee, invite guests over, and now I'm even getting extremely anxious if my family visit. I am terrified that I will be unwell and have to call the meeting off and let people down, or be ill when guests are around.

Is this social phobia?

[shoe]

jenzie, it could be social anxiety, it sure sounds like you have some of the symptoms. You might want to confer with a therapist or look at some anxiety books, and there's some good online resources to check out as well.

In our Resources section, you can look at the mental health screening links, here's a direct link to that post:
http://www.mentalhealthdiscussion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=113

Those aren't totally accurate and wont replace an official diagnosis but can give you a clue as to where you may need help.

[gnggingar]

I thought I might have had social anxiety also but realized that it was much more of generalized/social mix. It sounds as if your anxiety is getting pretty bad if you feel that way about family now too. You should talk to your doctor and maybe consider trying Lexapro. I just started taking it about 6 days ago and immediately my anxiety has disappeared and my overall mood is much happier. I didnt want to take meds but fought anxiety for over 5 years with books, seeing a therapist etc but it would just never go away. I think that some people just have a bit of chemical imbalances that cause things like this and finding a good medicine for you should be considered. I can tell you that I am for sure much happier than I was one week ago.

[tokajosi]

Hi,

I think you do have social phobia.You're not alone,millions of people suffer from this problem worldwide. Social anxiety disorder also referred to clinically as social phobia, is a psychiatric anxiety disorder involving overwhelming anxiety and excessive self-consciousness in everyday social situations.

People experiencing social anxiety often have a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being watched and judged by others and being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions. Often the triggering social stimulus is a perceived or actual scrutiny by others. Their fear may be so severe that it significantly impairs their work, school, social life, and other activities. While many people experiencing social anxiety recognize that their fear of being around people may be excessive or unreasonable, they encounter considerable difficulty overcoming it. This differs from shyness, in that the person is functionally debilitated and avoids such anxiety provoking situations by all means.

It's very hard to enjoy life with that condition, and many people just don't understand what you're going trough.Even many doctors have no idea at all, just guessing and prescribing something what causses even more problems like many different side affects.

Don't give up! The good news is that there is help to over come even completly cure yourself, with proven natural and alternetive ways,but they only work if you follow and stick to the plan.

I don't know if you have already found some help,if yes or not, you may stiil want to look up my site. I know that it would help you a great deal in understanding why you have this and how to cure yourself, find it at the left corner on the bottom of this page. I wish you the best, and hope I was able to help you out. :)