Posted by girlygirl on May 24, 2003, at 9:10:27
I've just heard of this thing called social anxiety (I live in the UK, docs don't bother to tell you about these things - it takes more than 5 mins). And I think that's my problem. More than depression (maybe it's even the cause of my depression!).
All the way through school, university twice over and now my first job, I have been incapable of forming relationships with people or handling group situations, to the point that it gets so bad I can't cope with it anymore, get really paranoid and withdrawn and then just jack it all in and stop attending. I have never been able to have more than one friend at a time (apart from during 6th form, when I was a drug user, which solved all my problems for a while).
I now work in a job which involves A LOT of talking to people and my success relies on the relationships I build with people (I didn't realise this when I started). And I am making a BIG mess. My boss really dislikes me cos I am just not a "team player" and I am getting to the point where I am sitting in the office holding back tears and wanting to kill myself because I feel like such an outcast.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Is this social anxiety (or social phobia)? How do you treat it?
Aliceblue
poster:girlygirl
thread:228801
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030517/msgs/228801.html