Has anyone ever completely recovered from social anxiety?

[Ivycrescent]

Or just learnt to ‘cope’?

I used to be so carefree. Past few years, I overthink everything and social interactions have become an ordeal, both before, during and after.

I have coping strategies. I still live my life. But I’m not at ease like I used to be, I’m just “getting on with it”.

So has anyone actually had social anxiety go away completely?

I forgot to disable voting.
So:
YABU- My social anxiet went away

YANBU- It’s still there I just learn to live with it.

I feel like mine is worse the older i get, but i think generalised anxiety too.
I learn to live with it and dont beat myself up about the things i no longer enjoy

Mine went away. Tbh I’m not even sure how - I got older, got more settled/secure in myself, had kids, and that other stuff/overthinking just became less important in my life. So I’m afraid I don’t have any real advice just an encouraging word that for me it just sort of went away on its own.

Yes. Me. I had massive social anxiety as an older teen and pretty much didn't talk for 2 years. It continued into my 20s but I worked very, very hard on it - reading books on how to have conversations, trying things out.etc. I was much more focused on learning the skills than reducing the anxious feelings. I am now old and am not remotely socially anxious. I have no worries about going into a room of complete strangers and making small talk or standing up in front of 200 people to give a talk. But I cannot stress how hard I had to work to make these changes.

I think my social anxiety has got better, but I don’t think I’ll rid of it completely.

Ironically, at work, I can talk to anyone, as I’m playing a role. However, I overthink everything as well.

I can manage it, in fact lots of people think I'm quite confident. My DH is probably the only person who knows the real me and he supports me a lot. I'm 40 now though and have three children, which as helped because children force you out of your comfort zone and into situations where you have to interact with other people.

But it's still an issue, I don't think it will ever go away now.

Mine has improved dramatically. I think I gained confidence and experience as I got older (mid 30s) and I pushed myself out my comfort zone.

Some things I still find huge triggers but generally my anxiety is much better now.

Thanks for the replies. Thecstrange thibg with me is that I didn’t have it at all until I was 30. It kicked in when I moved to a nee place and started a new job. It’s like I didn’t know who I was any more, I started being paranoid about what first improessiin and it’s just got worse ever since.
I wish I coukd go back to being 29. I didn’t have the ball of insecurity insude me that has grown in the last few years. I can ignore it, but I wish I knew how to make it go away.