Posted by mike21 on March 25, 2002, at 19:37:59
In reply to shyness versus social phobia/agoraphobia, posted by Krazy Kat on March 25, 2002, at 18:57:12
I don't know if I would qualify as being socially phobic. Maybe more like socially apathetic. I just don't care for engaging others socially. I think it has to do with a lack of ability to experience pleasure. I've solved this with alcohol and benzodiazapines. The problem for me is that withdrawing from these substances makes me feel worse than before I started.
I think if social phobia is anything like what I experience, then self-confidence is not the problem. It is more like self-knowledge that no amount of exposure to an anxiety-provoking situation will make me enjoy it any more. And I know going into any social situation that a certain amount of acting will be required on my part, in order to do the things others find so natural. So in that respect, I am socially avoidant.
I have found an increase in my pleasure in life from exercise, mostly aerobic, presumably due to the release of endorphins. Maybe weight lifting would have the same effect.
I agree that shyness is a genetic character trait. But the word itself implies a shortcoming. (And with the availability of psychotropic medications, it might become more rare and increasingly avoided.) I am pretty comfortable with being introverted. Maybe too comfortable. I just can't help feeling that life is meant to be so much more.
Mike
poster:mike21
thread:100046
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/100119.html