To think social anxiety is one of the worst mental health problems you can have and is very misunderstood.

[Ginandchoc]

I have social anxiety- chronic.

I have friends who have OCD / anxiety and I find people have so much more empathy for those mental health issues. With the few people I've shared that I have social anxiety a few have said you've always been like that / you just need to speak/ your problem is you're too quiet etc

Im not saying social anxiety is more worse than another mental health problem but I think the profound negative impact it can have on someone's life is really not acknowledged seriously.

It's had a massive impact on my life- it's effects permeate into all areas of my life and has moulded my life into what it is today. I have forever been in low paid entry level jobs because I don't do well in interviews or I fear there is too much interaction in higher paid jobs. This has resulted in me never really earning much and constantly being skint.

It's a really shit thing to have. I'm not just quiet/ rude/ stuck up/ boring. I'm dying inside.

I'm sure it often goes undiagnosed. People with anxieties often use a prop like drugs or booze to make them relaxed and feel more interesting which can lead to other problems.

A severe mental illness is one that destroys the person you were to such an extent that you need to be institutionalised permanently with 24 hour care for your own protection and that of others, most of the time you are uncertain what is real, you have various types of hallucinations and clinical paranoia, and the "real you" is only glimpsed occasionally... IME of working with people with schizophrenia.

I had to call the police on my brother and get him sectioned when the voices told him that my father was evil and needed to be killed. He's lost his family, his wife, multiple jobs and his home because of his schizophrenia. He will almost certainly end his life prematurely either in an institution or as a homeless bum. He was one of the most intelligent, kindest people I ever knew but schizophrenia got him.

So no, I don't think social anxiety is the worst mental help problem. Get over yourself.

I have social anxiety, and it's miserable. The worse anxiety I have is health anxiety, there is no escape and I am constantly on alert.

It probably attracts less sympathy/empathy/understanding than other mental health problems but it absolutely isn't the worst mental health problem you can have.

My sister has a psychotic mental health problem. She's unpredictably violent, has terrifying hallucinations and is suicidal most of the time. The mental health team don't have the resources to even pretend they care about her wellbeing so it's left to us to make sure she's looked after and we're far from being the experts.

Chronic social anxiety doesn't come close to being the worst in my experience sorry.

I also appreciate that my sister is doing OK in the grand scheme of things. She hasn't been sectioned yet and is still capable of decent relationships with those she loves. There are people in far worse predicaments with their mental health.

I don't think you'll find this thread very helpful OP, people are pretty bigoted when it comes to mental health conditions for any invisible health issue(on here and in real life) are there is a lack of awareness. Obviously you are not 'making excuses' and the daft comments that infer the doctor would be medicating of it were really bad show just that, and demonstrate that peoples experience of mental illness and the availability of it is limited and relatively grim, especially if you feel unable to socialise to access it or have nobody to advocate for you. I suffer with a life limiting invisible illness and regularly still get told it's 'not as bad as cancer' (my pain management consultant actually agrees otherwise, not that it matters) and get told I probably need s bit of fresh air or a holiday most weeks. Whilst it is invisible, it is genetic and provable via testing. My life expectancy is significantly reduced. I no longer bother telling anyone because their opinions on how I will get better with a positive attitude or that I need to hound the doctor more ( there is quite literally no treatment or cure ) are draining and hurtful but mostly borne of ignorance and lack of experience of being chronically I'll or having had to seek specialist help on the NHS.

It's very very disabling and I agree with you that it's very life limiting. Alarming lack of awareness from those that actually think it's appropriate to put one illness against another when it is relative.

A very good friend has social anxiety and she cannot leave the house barely at all if she needs to be doing something that involves speaking to another person, takes medication that leaves her with side effects, has lost the majority if not all of her friendships and her relationship with no hope of currently having another though she wants children. I went over recently to find she wasn't eating well and had no food at home because she couldn't face interacting with the shop cashier and have seen her in tears over having to make a phone call, seen her get dressed up countless times to go out for birthdays etc and then break down en route and have to go home because she can't cope with the anxiety associated with people looking at her or wanting to speak with her.

NHS care for her diagnosed condition is next to nothing, on a good day or in places she is comfortable she is herself, attentive, very intelligent (one of the smartest people I know), articulate and kind. It has robbed her of everything and is not a lesser version of mental health disorder.

The suffering associated with mental health is horrendous and I'm very sorry for your situation OP.

Anxiety kicks my ass and ruins my life far more than my treatment resistant major depression does, however neither have had me hospitalised like my birth related PTSD and subsequent post natal psychosis did (also related to PTSD from abusive childhood).

They all restrict my life in a variety of ways. I’ve long accepted that there are things I simply cannot do and cannot have. It’s upsetting. It devastates me that I cannot function like a “normal” person, whatever that is.

I take a fuck load of medications, see a psychiatrist, see my GP regularly too, and am permanently in therapy.

I haven’t been given the best deck of cards in life but I try my best to play the Hell out of the ones I’ve got.

NHS care for her diagnosed condition is next to nothing

I think you'll find that's true of a lot of mental health issues these days, even for stuff like schizophrenia. There's countless examples of people who have tried to harm themselves who have been sent home from A&E or released from a section because there's not a bed for them. Which is part of the reason some people have been so hard on the OP I think. That lack of awareness that there are far more worse situations to be in.
Yes, social anxiety is limiting, and being unable to interact with people or leave the house must be incredibly frustrating, but it's not quite the same as the type of scenario @Brittany2019 described, or even close, is it?

No, it's not the worst. Or the least understood by a long stretch.

But it doesn't have to be the worst to still be really shit.

I don't think you can compare any mental health illnesses and to say one is worse than the other . Each one is different, individuals and the way they "suffer" with them are also individual to that person.

No.i.wouldn't say it was the worst having worked in both acute and elderly mental health and worked with people who are in the throes of psychotic episodes and some people never manage to.become stable also Dementia is pretty crap too.

Dementia is pretty crap too

Dementia isn't a mental illness, it's a degenerative disorder of the brain that affects mental health.

No I totally disagree with you and I say that as someone who does have social anxiety. My ex has schizophrenia and has been sectioned a few times and no has to take medication and if he doesn’t he will be sectioned again. He is also a danger to himself and others. Not sure why you think anxiety is worse?

I don't think it's possible (or useful) to rank mental health and be like this is the worst.
But I do think it's misunderstood and I suffer incredibly bad with social anxiety, I didn't leave the house for years at one point unless for a walk in the middle of the night and while I'm a bit better now, I can go to tesco for example, it still wrecks my life on a huge scale, so I get where you are coming from.

I don't think it's the worst no, but for YOU it is and that means something. You're right, there isn't enough awareness out there for social anxiety and there needs to be more. It took me a long time to fully learn how best to support my friend who has it, I like to think I'm doing better these days. At least I hope so!

I hope you have at least one supportive friend who is at least trying to understand.

Pffft.

Bloody stupid OP. . How can something be one of the worst? It either it is or it isn't. That's what worst means.

Way to denigrate a serious issue.

Oh, and welcome to MN, Ginandchoc.

I voted YABU because I think it’s very unhelpful to compare. I spent a year working in a specialist team for people with psychotic disorders and by far, it was one of the most distressing years of my career. That said, just because another condition may be “worse” does not invalidate yours and your suffering. As a whole, mental health conditions are still stigmatised and poorly understand. We need to continue to raise awareness and be more understanding, as a society. We need to fund better mental health care and have much, much more outreach support in the community, as well as supported living environments. Employers need to be much better at recognising when an employee with MH problems need support and to be encouraged to employ people, especially on the severe end of the spectrum.

There is an issue with people conflating social anxiety with shyness which I recognise is a problem and must really impact on how you feel about yourself but please know, many of us realise it’s hard and validate your feelings.

It's completely crap and very misunderstood, as shown by the answers on here. I often can't string a sentence together. I want to go on nights out but it is usually shit for me and other people stuck with me. I am terrible at interviews. I avoid a lot of situations. I have made myself go to things in the past but I have learnt that I am usually right to avoid them. I don't want to be the way i am. Inside I am not that person. I wish I could take a tablet and be different. I am not sure if I am shy, have social anxiety, avoidant personality disorder or even autism. I could never go to the doctor to talk about this. I agree it is totally debilitating and rubbish. And I'm not going to bother talking about the comparisons because I know that wasn't what you were going for

I don't think it's the worst but it is one of the least understood by laypeople which can make it feel very isolating (which is ironic really...)

Echt one of the worst just means like it's in the worst 10 or something.

Im not saying social anxiety is more worse than another mental health problem

Your title disagrees with you, OP. I think schizophrenia, multiple-personality disorder and depression are worse. Of course, anxiety and depression are often linked.

It comes under mental.health services though Cormac the long stay elderly mental.health ward I worked on all the patients had a diagnosis of dementia .

What a stupid, self absorbed post. Educate yourself on acute mental health conditions and hope you never have to live through one of them / support someone who does.

All mental health conditions are challenging and unfortunate. Social anxiety is often self diagnosed which is naturally going to mean it's not taken as seriously. However I have no doubt that serious social anxiety must be totally debilitating and my heart goes out to anyone going through it. That doesn't change the fact that it's far from the worst mental health condition someone could have.

I am not sure if I am shy, have social anxiety, avoidant personality disorder or even autism

Being anxious around people isn't synonymous with being autistic. Autism is a developmental disorder that affects social interaction, social communication and flexibility of thinking. If being anxious in social situations is the only issue you have then you don't have autism.
There's a bit more to autism than being socially anxious.

And I'm not going to bother talking about the comparisons because I know that wasn't what you were going for

No, that's exactly what they were going for. Did you read the title of the thread for god's sake?

"I'm not saying social anxiety is more worse than another mental health problem"
Erm, it sounds like you are from your thread title.

I don't agree that it is one of the worst MH problems. If you can actually function on a daily basis and hold down a job, albeit a low paid one, then your MH issue is definitely not one of the worst.

I think some of the worst are where the MH conditions feature psychosis. That must be so frightening.

I am close to someone who has suffered a couple of psychotic breakdowns, that seemed to come from nowhere. They were so scared because they thought people were following them, to either arrest them and put them in prison or to harm them by burning their home with them in it. You could see that they were listening to 'voices'.They thought their clothing was bugged, they thought they they were communicating with CCTV cameras. They even had to ask me "Are you in on it too?"

Suffering depersonalisation is worse too. Showering, shaving, cleaning your teeth feels so alien that it is as if you are watching someone else doing it. You are not there. Everything loses its taste. Everything feels unreal and no medication seems to help. You no longer have the physical or mental energy to do anything. No more reading or watching TV as you can't concentrate. You can't perform anything but the most basic functions sleeping, going to the toilet and making coffee. You don't look after personal hygiene, your home and garden and you isolate yourself. There is no chance of holding down any job, let alone the executive role you used to.

Unless you have someone there to fight for you, to complete benefit claims and fight PIP tribunals then you're really lost.

I'm sure social anxiety can be debilitating but, no, it is definitely not one of the worst MH you can have.

What type of help do you you receive for it?

I think it’s really distasteful to rank MH conditions from worst to best

As with many MH conditions there is not enough help and support for people, all across the board