Anybody else here with social anxiety?

A few years ago, I went through a trauma and began to experience anxiety attacks. Seriously scary and then really annoying as they can come out of nowhere at just the wrong time...
I found through the practice of sitting meditation, nearly all of the symptoms are relieved. Try it! It's free, and you can do it anywhere! Good luck on your journey! It will get better!!

I had it for a little while but depression is my demon!

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This is definitely me through and through!

I feel for every one of you. I have flare ups of my depression every now and then and am quite accepting of it now, although it has taken me years to work through. I recognise now that I've had mild anxiety on occasions as well.

I'm not writing to tell you about me but more about my son who is now 27. His counselor told me last year that my son has severe anxiety. He was bullied a lot at school: at Intermediate school his class mates sat on his head while the others held him down (he's 6' 5" now); he retaliated against the bullies and the teacher put him out of the class; he was constantly called names. He was regularly unwell in Year 10 to the point that he was home most of the time. At one point he wouldn't go past the end of our driveway or get on a public bus. He then became angry most of the time. He left home and lived with other young people who had mental health issues in a supervised home. His grandmother died and he decided to go flatting. He got a job at a Cinema but eventually his doctor advised him not to go back because of his stress and anxiety. His anger got worse.

Eventually he came across a wonderful doctor who listened to him and referred him to the Anxiety Clinic. His doctor at the Clinic explained to him that our thinking process has about three levels before you get to where you either take flight or fight (primitive man's response), however in his case he would go straight to the last one. He was put on a combination of drugs known as Californian rocket fuel - mirtazapine and venlafaxin - and they give him a 5 minute window where he has the opportunity to think about the incident and evaluate it and then decide whether to get angry or not. He does get frustrated and pissed off but he doesn't fly off the handle or have the massive anxiety attacks he used to have. He still sees his counselor but seems to be trying to wean himself off.

I can see him being in control and well grounded within 5 years easily, maybe even a couple of years. He is presently giving up smoking which is just one step on the way to taking control of his life. I am very proud of him and think he is quite amazing.

So there is definitely hope. The trick is to find the right path towards help. Ask your doctor about an Anxiety Clinic. The one my son went to was a government funded one. Ask your psychiatrist about Californian rocket fuel - we found a forum with comments from people who had been put on it, so have a look at their comments and remember this example. My son had an upset stomach from the word go and was tempted to give up, but one person on the forum said to stick with it no matter what for at least 4 weeks. At the end of the 4th week, the side effects stopped and he hasn't look back since.

GOOD LUCK!!

Yes, losing the weight helped a little but it still freaks me out being around people. I can workout for 90 minutes and still have more energy than I do after being around people for just 30 minutes... it's draining.

Not sure if it will honestly get better without professional help, xanax has helped me in the past.

I think facing your fears is the best way to get over something that makes you anxious. The more social situations you try and face, the more you will realize that it really isn't too big a deal, and feel more comfortable with situations. It's like the weight room for me. At first I felt really awkward and out of place, but the more I went, the more comfortable I felt.

Best of luck to you!

Necropost, but yes. I've been struggling with this my entire life. Online I talk and I'm interactive. In real life, unless I know you really well, I don't talk.

Me. I used to have such extreme anxiety, I was home-schooled and rarely hung out with anyone or did anything where I had to interact with people. Then, I went WAY out of my comfort zone in college, joined all the clubs, forced myself to meet everyone on my floor, went up for jobs that forced me to interact with people...was I uncomfortable? HECK yes. But it eventually got better. MUCH better. And now I love people, and the anxiety comes less and less. It really is just practice. But sometimes I still do just need to hide in my room with my laptop and my cat, which is okay too. Because now I know when I have to be social it's not so anxiety causing as it used to be.

I was really bad with social anxiety for years. I'm getting better but sometimes some situations are overwhelming, I blush a lot when I talk to new people, sometimes I can't handle being at college because I become nervous for no reason.

I found what helped me was when I started losing weight. Exercise helps so much, its unbelievable. Uses excess energy and gives you self confidence! I find that if I don't exercise one day I start over thinking and worry more.