To those who suffer from anxiety but force themselves to keep going - especially Social Anxiety sufferers who aren't shy

[GloGlo]

I have namechanged for this but am looking for other people's experiences.

I have suffered from Social Anxiety my whole life (as long as I remember). I only found this out earlier this year (beforehand, I had believed it was agoraphobia). I saw a counsellor who immediately identified that everything I had been suffering from had a Social Anxiety (SA) background.

This came as a huge surprise to me as I had always associated SA with shyness but once I understood the true definition, I realised my anxiety is stemming from a fear of being noticed and judged in certain situations.

I have never let my anxiety rule my life but it does dominate my thoughts and I have carried on going regardless (work etc.) because I've had to.

But if you have SA, have you ever managed to overcome it? I have looked at support boards but a lot of them are quite depressing so I wondered if anyone had experience of SA on here.

Hi GloGlo,
I suffered from something like this briefly after I had my DD. What helped me? Like you I carried on regardless. During the worst of it I just had to continuously reasoned with myself, you know, logic over emotion. I remember I had a few sessions of CBT but didn't find it helpful. Psychotherapy might be helpful. Look up The Brahma Kumaris...they have centres for POSITIVE thinking.

I feel you need to find out what started it in the first place. Knowing might set you free.

Hi flake, that's interesting because mine only started affecting me after I had dd. Looking back, I can see it was always there but not physically affecting me (if that makes sense) until after she was born.

I will look into the positive thinking centres.

I've had SA for most of my life, the only way I've got through it is to accept who I am and my limitations.

I realised I was going through with social situations for social reasons ie for other people. I hated them and the way they made me feel, so why keep doing it?

I do certain things for my DCs, like having friends over, going to school functions etc, but as for myself, luckily I'm a loner rather than lonely, so I'm much happier with just my DC and DH.