Social Anxiety

I have social anxiety among other issues.I do understand where you are coming from.My therapist wants to try and reverse this problem she says by roll playing and trying to make light of it.Show me how silly my thoughts and anxieties are and by doing this take baby steps into the real world.I do not agree with her and I have told her so.Now we are into learning about cognitive distortions,I do find this helpful.I do not find my anxiety in social situations as cut and dry as therapists do,they think I am panicking over some thing I think will happen in any given situation.I do not know if this is the same with your husband but I find my problem to be more in the way I percieve myself,and I will decide what other people are thinking and saying about me in my own mind and these thoughts become facts for me. I suggest your husband decide what it is that is preventing him from feeling socially acceptable,what HIS reason for being uncomfortable is.Then maybe he can get some self help books,and research it on the web maybe help himself.I think anyone with this issue suffers more because others don't understand how overwhelming it is to walk into a store with more then two people in it,how uncomfortable we feel in these situations.I get so tense that I can only leave my house for a couple of hours at a time to do anything,then I have a NEED to get back home.I am sore and my teeth hurt from clenching them,and "sucking" it up then I need to go to sleep.I call this my shut down time it is the only way to relax again. Good luck to your husband it is a very difficult thing to over come,I have not succeeded yet though I will keep trying. Jas

I used to have a similar problem. Sometimes when I finally ran out of food and HAD to go to the grocery store, I would get there and have to sit and catch my breath. By the time I drove there, I would be sweating and shaking. I would have to force myself out of the car. Sometimes I was walking down the aisle and tears would just automatically start flowing. Sometimes my heart would beat so hard my shirt would go up and down. I never understood this, or why it was happening. It wasn't only the grocery store, but that is what i remember most. I had a job at a ski area where I dealt with hundreds of people and the funny thing is, I only had problems on the way to work, once I got there I was fine. But it usually took an hour or two to get the lump out of my throat. I don't know how to describe that feeling. But it was one of my symptoms. Now I work at an outdoor concert venue in the summer. It is a job I love, and I have to deal with sometimes thousands of people, but I'm so busy I don't have time? for any problems. So I'll never understand how this works. Sometimes I think everything is OK, but then out of the blue, its like I'm frozen and can't get out of the car or house. Anyway, good luck with your hubby!! #:)

I know someone who, when she is around to many people, gets extremely scarred and starts having trouble breathing. It is pretty crazy as sometimes she will just start to get really anxious and scared and she needs to get away from people and not use much energy to recover. The main problem is that alot of people tend to flock around to try to help, but in reality they can do nothing but make it worst. Its gotta suck to be anxious socialy...