Social Anxiety Things
May 2013
49 posts
The fact that someone's social anxiety is so severe that they can't seek help, says they really need help. Yes, it's very hard to step out of that but you'll need to tell someone close to you so they can talk for you. Or you'll never get better, and probably worse. It's the bitter truth but its the truth guys.
To the girl telling us to seek real help; do you even know the meaning of social anxiety? If I could get help then I would. I can't tell people I have social anxiety, because of my social anxiety. And I don't even know where to go for help. I've been trying for a year and a half. And if you're not going to give advice, or even come online, why don't you give the blog over?? No offence, just a general question.
1. I’m a boy.
2. Of course I know the meaning of social anxiety, and I understand fully that it’s not the easiest thing to go out and see a professional BECAUSE of your anxiety, but what I’m saying is: I can’t do what a professional can. I’m here volunteering to give advice and do my thing, but I’m in no way a medical professional so I can’t DO what they can.
On top of that, you can’t spend your entire life looking for help in a blog, if your anxiety is that bad, you’re going to need to take action no matter how terrifying it is. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you guys and tell you ‘oh just be patient you’ll be fine~’ because you HAVE to take action to get better. You have to face your fears. I know it’s terrifying, I know you aren’t gonna want to do that, because I was there too, but because of exposure therapy and just getting my ass outside and going places, I’ve recovered so much from where I used to be with my social anxiety.
3. I’m not handing the blog over to anyone else because hey, it’s a blog. If someone else wants to start up a blog on giving people advice, they’re more than welcome to. There’s nothing special about this blog aside from the 80,000 followers it has. If you’re good at what you do, people will come to you and starting off with 50 followers wont matter.
This isn’t some business that’s being run into the ground that so desperately needs saving that I’d give it away. It’s a blog run by a sixteen year old talking about social anxiety and helping people whenever he can.
P.S I handle a lot of messages privately because, what do you know, a lot of people aren’t comfortable with me posting their messages publicly and it’s just easier to respond privately, period.
(please post this for the anon) (I am a college senior studying social work;l have no credentials yet but I think what I have to say is important.) many school counselors are only licenced therapist they are very intuitive. My point is that I had a friend who was told by a counselor at school that she might have panic disorder. she ignored it because "hes only a school worker." A week later she tried to kill herself during a panic attack. It would really behoove you to see a doctor and get help.
tw: suicide
Does anyone else feel like they are having heart attacks when they are having anxiety? I usually get pains in my left arm and sometimes my chest and it freaks me out..! Any advice?
I used to sorta have stuff like that, not to an extreme but yeah. My only advice is really just to try and breath and focus on your breathing. If that doesn’t help, drinking water can help (though don’t drink too much, sometimes it makes it worse! u_u) and yeah.
Relax your body, if it’s feeling tense or sore, tighten the bit that hurts (i.e, if your arm is hurting, clench it) and then release it. This personally helps for me, I go from my feet and up, so, clench feet, relax, clench calves, relax, clench knees, relax… etc).
Hm… What else.
Writing can help, or just scribbling on a piece of paper.
Hope some of this helps, friend.
I know this is kind of redundant, but for all these anons complaining about how you are supposed to help them, seek some REAL help. The Internet, or one person taking pieces of social anxiety and putting them on a white background isn't going to solve any of your problems. I say that in the most respectful way to both parties.
Exactly…
Like I try to encourage, I’m nothing special, I’m not a medical professional or anything, heck, I started this blog when I was neck deep in my social anxiety, just barely starting to recover. It started off as just some pretty pictures on blank backgrounds because I was bored August of ’11, then somehow it turned into all of this. I never meant for it to be an advice blog, it just sorta happened over the months.
I can only do so much, I can offer my shoulder and some kind words but I can’t walk anyone every step of recovery, that’s not what I’m here for.
As fancy and professional as I try to make some of this look and sound, I’m a sixteen year old boy from New Zealand, I’m barely making it through school and I don’t have a job. This is just a blog on Tumblr, I’m not a licensed medical professional in anyway. Please don’t forget that.
Random question, do I have panic disorder if the psychologist at my school diagnosed me with it? I don't self diagnose, but i don't know if it counts if the school psychologist did it or if it had to be with a higher up psychiatrist, etc.
The majority of school counsellors aren’t in the same field as proper psychologists. Unless your school counsellor actually is a psychologist, they probably aren’t necessarily able to write it on a piece of paper and stick it to your name, but they might be onto something and I’d look at seeing someone outside of school if you want clarification and more help. School staff can only do so much, sadly. u_u
Best of luck, yo.
Honestly you do need to update more or hand the blog over. I'm sorry if this makes you mad or upset but I followed this blog because i thought it would help me and you are barely on anymore...
And I’m sorry if this makes you mad or upset, but I run the blog at my own pace, I can’t help you or anyone everyday of my life. Bare with me and please just be patient.
You literally never update and I think that's really unfair on your followers. I know you don't have a lot of time and you don't want to give up the blog but atleast get some co owners who will actually come online. For some of us this is our only source of some kind of support/help.
Just because it may be your only source of support or help doesn’t mean I’m going to server you advice on a silver platter left and right.
Help isn’t always going to be there for you when you need it, I can’t be there all the time.
I’ve had people help me with this blog in the past and if anything it made it more of a mess and more stressful.
(+ I reply to a lot of messages privately so I help people one-on-one a lot of the time.)
u_u
do you take breaks from this site? i know you have a lot of fans and all but isn't it harder on you and your disorder to always be focusing on your problems? i mean.. noticing you have a problem and getting help is a good thing. I was just wondering if this all effect you negatively? because you're trying to get better aren't you? so constantly bringing up the issue can't help? i was diagnosed with SAD, GAD and depression last summer and got help. for me moving on from everything helped the most
I only really spend time away from this site due to having a sort-of busy life. I don’t work a hundred odd part-time jobs or anything crazy, but I go to school three days a week, have to deal with running some online game servers and some other shit so I rarely find time to want to do anything else aside from chill out with my friends and play games.
Talking about my social anxiety is actually a good thing for me personally, bringing it up is fine with me and doesn’t negatively impact me. However, obviously this isn’t the same for everyone.
(My depression and general anxiety are different stories but, yeah)
Also, I hope you’re okay with me posting this publicly, I’ve gotten a few people asking about this. uou;
thank you for everything you post. It helps me feel normal again, knowing theres even tiny things I can try to help myself. I love/need this blog
uwu
but what if you *know* you have some disorder? its not bad to be self aware, right?
Bein’ self aware is rad, I fully support that! But you don’t always *know* for a fact you have something. My point is that it can be really dangerous and that’s why I’m against it. If you’ve got problems, working on them is more important than knowing what exactly you have unless you can see a professional. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with being self aware, but there is something wrong when being self aware turns into harming yourself whether you mean to or not. u_u
i really think you need to get off your high horse, acting like you're some expert on mental illness. i agree it's stupid to glamorise it but at the same time there is nothing wrong with someone just thinking they have a mental illness, surely its better than someone believing there's something fundamentally wrong with them and that they're just not normal etc. You aren't a special snowflake who gets to patronise other people.
A post from a couple hours ago.
“Phone blogging since I’m on the bus but a lot of you were asking in response to the last video about whether I thought it was okay to THINK you have a disorder like social anxiety or depression.
Yeah, I think it’s all good if you’re like, planning to see a professional to get further information or whatever and want to tell them you think you have ______ or ______, etc.
Thinking about the possibility of having something can be deluding and harmful, but if you talk it through with a psychologist it might benefit you, if that makes sense.”
Hm.
Phone blogging since I’m on the bus but a lot of you were asking in response to the last video about whether I thought it was okay to THINK you have a disorder like social anxiety or depression.
Yeah, I think it’s all good if you’re like, planning to see a professional to get further information or whatever and want to tell them you think you have ______ or ______, etc.
Thinking about the possibility of having something can be deluding and harmful, but if you talk it through with a psychologist it might benefit you, if that makes sense.
for anon; I've done exposure therapy most of my life with theater--more than half of my life, starting from when my social anxiety manifested itself. Because of this, public speaking is 'easy' for me (everything else still sucks though). Not everyone with social anxiety is in the same place, or has the same problems, for many different reasons.
