Is this a mental illness?

[Marypoppins990]

If I need to go somewhere with lots of people I wake that morning feeling shakey, nervous etc just a very strange feeling. After the event I either feel like no one liked me or I feel I've said the wrong thing and go over it and over it in my head and imagining they think I'm this very strange person. I appear very "normal" and put together to look at.

I hope that makes sense. I also feel that way when there is nowhere I need to be so not just social situations but it increases massively in social situations.

I dont think it's a mental illness

Staratdawn Why? It is, but I’m interested in why you think it isn’t.

Another recommendation for the book Dare. Also the Happiness Trap which also teaches you to get used to diffuse emotions, recognise and label negative thinking and basically live with anxiety and be free. And yes what you're describing sounds like social anxiety. Mental health is a spectrum, symptoms might be 'mild' but useful to understand what's occurring and how to deal with it. Took me a while to understand that beating myself up after every social situation isn't necessary and was having the nice effect of making me seem weird as I second guess everything I say-when my fear is of seeming weird. oh the irony! The good news is that you can learn to live with it. All the best

Remember OP just because you think it, doesn't mean it's true 😘 I'm the worst for taking my own advice though xx

Getting healthcare on the NHS won't come back to bite you. Social anxiety is very common. Get some free CBT, it's great.

Wow that's definitely not the normal level of social anxiety I'd definitely see the GP. Not sure why that would bite you in the ads later unless you plan on getting a job where they go through your medical history or something? Life is better than this, you can get past it