Anxiety disorders sufferers and their entourage.?!
Question: I have agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder. I has changed my life and restricted it greatly for a long time. About a year ago I started facing it and got a bit better but personal problems held me back. I have now decided to face it as it feels like the perfect time to do so. I already have some resources to help me do that and, although it can be very discouraging on some days, I feel confident I will get better.
I would like to have some outside feedback from people who have been or are in similar situations or people who live around them. Basically, those that have been affected by anxiety disorders.
How has it affected you? What did you do or are you doing to get help or get better (or what are you doing to help if you are an entourage member)? What worked and what didn't for you? How much has it improved? What are some tips or resources you could propose me?
I know it is a long question but your answers will help and inspire me. Thank you :)
Answers: I have agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder. I has changed my life and restricted it greatly for a long time. About a year ago I started facing it and got a bit better but personal problems held me back. I have now decided to face it as it feels like the perfect time to do so. I already have some resources to help me do that and, although it can be very discouraging on some days, I feel confident I will get better.
I would like to have some outside feedback from people who have been or are in similar situations or people who live around them. Basically, those that have been affected by anxiety disorders.
How has it affected you? What did you do or are you doing to get help or get better (or what are you doing to help if you are an entourage member)? What worked and what didn't for you? How much has it improved? What are some tips or resources you could propose me?
I know it is a long question but your answers will help and inspire me. Thank you :)
I have social anxiety disorder, OCD, panic attacks, and depression. I've wasted the last two years of my life worrying, not going to college like I should have, and remaining depressed and jobless. I got involved with an emotionally abusive guy and stayed in denial about this (I guess I needed the attention) until he finally punched me one day. When he did this, a flood of realization came over me and I understood what I had to do. I haven't talked to him since, and my self-worth has been slowly getting better each passing day that I distance myself from him. I keep looking in the mirror and trying to love myself. It helps when I'm in public to remind myself of questions on Y!A, because it means there are plenty of other people in the grocery store feeling the way I'm feeling right then, or who have experienced it at some point in their lives. I think the fact that most people's self-assuredness is an act has really helped me grow, too. No one has everything together, and the less they admit to that, the worse off they probably are. You've just got to look at yourself in the mirror, realize you're as worthy as the next person, and be thankful that after all of the hard work you'll do to change, you will never let yourself be mistreated or made to feel inferior. We might take a little longer to get off the ground, but I can assure you we're going to stay in the air, if only for the major effort it takes to change.
I too have anxiety disorders that are debilitating. My anxiety has kept me from finishing my education, and keeps me back from really enjoying my life. The two things that have begun to help me have been meds and therapy. I see my therapist once a week and for the past 2 yrs I've begun to understand the root of all this and where these thoughts began. I think this has helped me with my battle. I have good days where I feel completely competent and able to take on the world where other days leave me too anxious to even leave the house. I have a 2 yr old at home so I'm trying extra hard to suck it up on those days I feel so helpless. My suggestion would be to seek a good therapist.
i have social-anxiety disorder.. but i also have a stutter! i do not know which caused which! whether its d fact that i stutter makes me anxious or whether my stuttering is a symptom of my social anxiety.. coz with my parents my speech can be perfectly alright but outside it used to get all messed up.. anyway , i recently consulted a psychiatrist and he diagnised me with social anxiety and depression! he has given me an anti-depressant(ssri) and an anti-anxiety med! i have been taking this since the last 15 days and my life has improved heaps.. i feel a lot better and the depression has just disappeared.. my social anxiety has also reduced and i have started socializing better.. the main improvement in me is with my speech.. my stutter has reduced drastically.. this has been a great thing for me :) :)
if i could improve by such excellent levels, i am sure there is hope for everyone out there! so i feel you could consult a psychiatrist and also maybe a psychologist.. they will all definitely help you out! and i feel those meds can make your life a lot better.. they actually bring out the real you!
good luck!
do feel free to contact me if you want to talk!
:) :)
You are bringing out of the "darkness" many of us who suffer from these debilitating illnesses. Thank you. We may not be able to overcome them but perhaps, we can help each other to learn to minimize their impact on our lives.
My own journey with depression and anxiety started when I was young. I thought everyone suffered from the "emotional dark cloud" that lingered for months, had intense fatigue and insomnia to name a few. I remember always having to put on a "happy face" when waking up until I got home from school. By the time I got home from school, I would be so exhausted that I would sleep through dinner until early the next morning. Of course, I think I woke up so early in the mornings or had insomnia because I slept so early but I couldn't help it. I needed to "recharge" and that was the only way I knew how back then. I would try so hard everyday to hide how I really felt so I would overcompensate by being "extra happy and energetic".
My dad is a graduate of the Dale Carnegie way of thinking. You know it....the positive mental attitude and such. Well, I think that having a dad who was compassionate yet encouraging really helped me to somehow see that there was a "silver lining to every cloud". He understood where I was coming from because his mother and sister suffered from mental illness. He was determined to help me out as best he could and he believed that encouragement, support, among other things would help and they did. I didn't want to see a psychiatrist when I was younger and he was supportive so he did all he could to let me know that I was "okay and not defective". I was a normal kid with issues that may be different but that didn't mean I was weird. He used to say that everyone has something they need to work on whether it was emotional, physical, spiritual or otherwise. It was helpful to feel that I was normal yet unique and it was this "uniqueness" that made me more astute and creative a person.
Fast forward to now. I'm a mother and wife, graduate student (I may reconsider grad. school but we'll see) and I work. I am on med's now. It helps make life easier since life is so complicated nowadays. I think my life is harder than other people because they don't have to deal with the intense emotional issues I have to and yes, it is difficult sometimes to walk outside my door. But I have to continually train myself emotionally and mentally to not let my issues control my life. I probably don't do as much as someone without my issues but I do alot. I struggle everyday but I focus on my victories: having as normal a life for my family as possible. I started with small victories like going out for one week everyday to Starbucks or somewhere public after work. I also would challenge myself to converse with coworkers and I had to research how to do that. When I would get invited to a get together I would challenge myself to go and not back out because of my anxiety, which would be going bonkers by then.
For me, a combination of meds, seeing my doctor on a regular basis, knowing myself better, and setting myself up to "win" with realistic goals have helped significantly. It all doesn't make my issues go away (I am struggling with intense anxiety as I pen this) but I know that I control my life not my disorders. I don't let myself feel bad about having these issues, I just believe that I am a good mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend because of them.
social anxiety order pity pity pity
besides that anxiety never stop it never stops it never stops it just doesnt stop there is nothing to do but live with it good days bad days
social anxiety thats another thing arent you just young and yet to identify yourself?