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 have had it for many years and it can be incredibly debilitating. If it weren’t for work and the school run forcing me to leave the house I honestly doubt I would. There have been a few periods in my life where I have just stayed inside for days at a time. Many people think I’m rude or arrogant in some way because I struggle to even smile at people in passing. I’m most comfortable in my own home but struggle when people visit, I need to mentally prepare for it so spontaneous guests are my idea of a nightmare. I overthink things too which makes me spiral sometimes.

It is an enormously difficult thing to live with and yes, it’s very misunderstood.

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

It's not really worst to best, more worse to least bad. And why distasteful? We do it with physical health, why not mental?

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

Worst can't be a top ten, either it's the worst or it isn't. That's what the worst means. It is a superlative.

It shouldn’t be done with health conditions either. There is no national ranking system is there, and it isn’t a thing we should do.

You can have 2 people with the same names condition who experience it completely and absolutely differently

*named condition

No I don't think it is.

I had GAD and agraphobia after a breakdown 7 years ago. I thought my life was over. I couldn't see my friends socially without having a panic attack before my world shrunk and it developed into agraphobia.

But I couldn't give in I had my DD who had a Dad who wasn't that interested.

It took 2 years of therapy, CBT and just forcing myself to be panicked but be ok with it before I felt more like me again. It was hard work true but I feel more sorry for people who have chronic lifetime mental health conditions.

GAD isn't a lifetime thing if you really truly want to get better. It might come and go throughout your life but people are able to return back to a more "normal" mental state. Think of all the paranoid schizophrenics that must be he'll to live with.

LOL no, would say schitzophrenia would be the worst mental condition.

I don't think you can make a blanket statement that any mental health condition is the 'worst'. I know people with schizophrenia who do well on medication, the condition is well controlled and they live a reasonably 'normal' (whatever that is) life.

On the other hand there are people with depression that is not controlled, and it impacts every aspect of their life, from getting out of bed in the morning, to feeding themselves, personal hygiene, leaving the house at all or interacting with anyone.

And yes, I have depression and anxiety. Been on medication on and off for years. Not self-diagnosed. Reasonably good at self management, but that doesn't mean I don't suddenly get panic attacks in Boots. Or while crossing the road. Or even just sitting at home sometimes.

Yes it is shitty, but you are wrong to say it is the worst. I think people struggling with periods of psychosis where they literally lose touch with reality have a very shitty time.

My social anxiety vanished when I got my Mirena coil. I thought it was a coincidence, but I googled it and apparently it’s a thing.

I selected YANBU because I agree it is misunderstood. I wouldn't say it's the worst and agree with PP's that there's no need to classify what is worse.

I have social anxiety and it’s horrible to deal with. I’m actually quite a good speaker, I’m not shy and make good conversation. But it’s the initial thought of something that eats me up, once in there it settles. I replay conversations over in my head, cringing at conversations from years ago, planning conversations before I get somewhere, I hate phone calls, I hate meetings, doctors, dentist etc. Particularly in the waiting room. My heart was racing when I visited the doctors years ago.

Weirdly I am less anxious around people I don’t know than those I do. I’d much rather go somewhere that I don’t know anyone. I feel like I have nothing to prove to them but I feel like people I know will judge me.

I don’t think it is the worst thing but it’s definitely under estimated.

Yesterday not years ago!

It’s awful but at least people don’t think of you as dangerous. I feel sorry for people with things like schizophrenia when people mistakenly assume they are dangerous to be around!

My ex has schizophrenia and was dangerous to be around.

Yes, it is quite possible to be scared of someone with BPD, when they are in one of their black and white thinking phases, where you are the worst person in the world; or people with paranoid schizophrenia, when they lose their temper!

I'd say BPD with self harming and somewhere between 25 and 45 visits to A & E for suicidal behaviour, is worse than social anxiety - when train loads of people on busy commuter lines get held up and much police time is taken up, while the person messes around on railway lines! Then all the NHS time.....

It shouldn’t be done with health conditions either. There is no national ranking system is there, and it isn’t a thing we should do.

We definitely do rank physical health conditions (I presume you meant to say physical health conditions as mental health conditions are still, by definition, health conditions). Surely some have a better general prognosis than others? Like some cancers generally have a better prognosis than others, though some people will still die even with the most treatable forms.

I also don't think it's one of the worst, although it is bloody awful. However, it is one that you are able to talk about and that people can identify with to a certain extent. Obviously, people being able to identify has its downsides - because people have felt anxious, they think they understand anxiety, and believe that a positive mental attitude can help you power through. I have a dissociative disorder and a tendency to hallucinate. The worst for me is when my reality starts to distort - that is terrifying. But, I can't talk about it with friends and colleagues - the stigma of having hallucinations is very different from the stigma of anxiety or depression.

I have severe anxiety, a lot of it is existential in nature (stemming from a life limiting genetic disorder) and causes me to have panic attacks even just sitting in bed.

It really terrifies me sometimes and I am pretty much fearful of just about everything, intrusive thoughts and torture myself over tons of scenarios that are unlikely to even ever happen.

I really do think there are much worse positions to be in though, sorry you are feeling so shit though, I get it.

Sorry I voted YABU.
I live with a crippling mental health condition which renders me unable to work and means I will spend year in therapy learning to cope with it.

Some days I can barely function.

I can understand how your would feel that your illness is the worst but it's a context.

Impossible to meaningfully compare different people's suffering.

Being human can be pretty bloody difficult.

We need to be kind and try to understand each other, whether or not we're diagnosed with anything in particular.

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

I think it is really important that limited resources go where they are most needed.

But then my schizophrenic brother in law is currently being held indefinitely in a maximum security mental health unit after stabbing two people because he didn't get the help he needed despite being known to both mental health services and police to be a danger to himself and others and despite his family having pleaded for months to have him sectioned before things got that far, so I would say that wouldn't I.

OP I am sorry you are struggling it sounds really hard. I don't think it's useful to look at mental health conditions in terms of a hierarchy though.

Get over yourself

What a horrible thing to say to someone who is clearly suffering.

@ArnoldWhatshisknickers, really sorry to hear that. Sounds awful for all involved.

Not sure it means any mental health labels should be prioritised over any others though. Bad stuff happens to people with all kinds of mental health diagnoses (and none).