Social Anxiety Disorder -
Is It All In My Head?



Social Anxiety Disorder? Not me. I have an incredible array of friends. Lifelong friends. I went to parties and events in junior high and high school. I was involved in sports all through my school years. That is why it is hard to imagine that I suffer from this particular disorder. But I do.

Social Anxiety Disorder is a feeling of being afraid to be around a group of people at a social gathering or event. I personally feel that everyone is looking at me and making judgements about my appearance or my career and on and on. I am not good enough, I tell myself. What may be even more shocking is that I am a teacher and a business owner. I have no trouble when I am asked to do public speaking or to be in front of a group. That is because I am in control of the situation. Put in a social setting however, and things change. I am very quiet. I am not sure what to say or how to start a conversation. I get flustered and hot. I would rather not be there, so I usually make up some excuse as to why I have to go and leave. For people dealing with this disorder, life becomes a tangled mess of emotions. We want to be social and have interactions with peer groups, but when those situations present themselves the disorder takes over and we either do not attend or we leave early.

Unfortunately, a lot of people see this type of behavior as me being stand-offish, or that I feel that I am better than them. Nothing could be further from the truth. People who suffer from this condition(and believe me, we do suffer) would love nothing more then to stay and be engaging and have a good time. We just are not sure how.

Some of this is tied to feelings of inadequacy and low self esteem or self worth. For me it is also coupled with dysthymic disorder, which is a low grade, ever-present, depression. I am dealing with these conditions and I am seeing improvement. If you are reading this and feel that you too suffer from these disorders, please understand that you are not alone. I would strongly encourage you to do some further reading and research and to talk to a mental health professional who is trained in Behavior Modification techniques. We really have to untrain our brain and then retrain it with positive self talk and positive habits.

Social Anxiety Disorder can be controlled. It can be done and there is help available. You just have to take the first step.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me at marklowe@mypersonalimprovement.com

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