Posted by colin wallace on March 25, 2002, at 17:22:23
In reply to Re: OSchl- Social PhobiaOl' school+ 3 beers., posted by OldSchool on March 25, 2002, at 16:08:41
I don't disagree with you here;confidence most certainly does not come out of a bottle.And for SOME people, military training is of course invaluable.Any form of confidence building, including those (primarily outdoor/physical) activities designed to instill leadership qualities would of course be preferrable to taking drugs.This encourages a specific sense of confidence and well-being.I still spend as much time as possible wandering around wintry hills (though I've outgrown the inflammable gases bit-I carry flares instead).I look back at when I personally became derailed at 15 or 16-binge drinking, delinquancy etc. I had a very real case of social phobia, an incipient genetically inherited depression for which I frantically sought (unknowingly) to self medicate.Untreated for years, it eventually led to a paralysing anxiety and chronic major depression.I lived with it, fought it,hid it, worked successfully with it, became 'educated' with it (more accurately, despite it) built and lost careers with it.I can trace it all back to the hidden beginnings of a serious social phobia.
I agree with you wholeheartedly when you infer that that the term is overused.Schoolchildren in the UK who are simply shy, are often ushered to see doctors, who are pressganged into prescribing needless meds by over zealous parents. I have seen this often.
I, unfortunately, however much I dislike admitting it, was one of those who would have benefitted immensely from some form of medication.I took my disabling anxiety/depression and flogged myself to death with it.With perhaps just a tiny bit of medical correction, friendly personal intervention early on, I would still have made it to top of the hill- but I would have done so out of a better motive force than anger/bitterness and insecurity.I would never have become suicidal.
(Incidentally, I now find it ironic that my ingrained stubborness/self-resilience and anger, which allowed me to function for so many years with serious depression, prevented me from seeking help and led to my eventual 'downfall'!!)
Ain't life funny.Keep well,
Col.
poster:colin wallace
thread:100046
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/100093.html