Do I have a disorder or am I just shy?
Hello :)
I struggle with social anxiety. I am terrified of being rejected or made fun (its one of my worse fears). I don't like leaving my house and I don't like being the center of attention unless I know the people around me will continue to like me in spite of being awkward or making a mistake. I struggle at lunch to throw away my food or to walk down the hallways of my school because I feel like people are staring at me and judging me, waiting for me to make a mistake and embarrass myself. There are other things too, but this is what I feel comfortable sharing right now. My therapist and psychologist know that I am anxious in social situations but they don't know the full extent of it. I want to bring it up to them because I want to know if I have social anxiety disorder, avoidant personality disorder, or if I am just shy. The reason I hesitate is that I'm afraid I will be judged for thinking this was. I don't want to be labeled as the dramatic teen girl who self-diagnoses. Another reason why I hesitate is that there are certain things I do that I feel contradict myself. For example, this post. Is me opening up on this site proof that I am being dramatic? Is the fact I do debate proof that I am as anxious as I think I am? I don't know :(
TLDR: I can't tell if I have a disorder or am shy but am too afraid to ask for help.
@PurpleSnail
Actually! This is a disorder. Its social anxiety! Or maybe you may also be suffering a extreme phobia. Example it might be a little bit of agoraphobia. ( I would know, I have done extensive reading on anxiety and some disorders and I too have extreme anxiety!) would you like to know some more things about anxiety and maybe ways to cope with this social anxiety?
@PurpleSnail Hello Beautiful! It seemed to me that you lack SELF CONFIDENCE a lot. If you want people to treat you the way you want, treat yourself that way. Stop being judgemental to yourself. Stop hiding, stop running. Be there. Everywhere you want. Do what you want. You are just hallucinating that people might judge you and you are not good enough. It's not the case. Stop running, Start facing. Be confident. Focus on your talents, try to find out things you are good at. Make a list of those things and try to add new things to that list by improving yourself. Write good things about you, every day. Read them and add more things daily like "I'm good at writing, playing, singing, etc. Once you start developing self-confidence and focus on yourself, you will start seeing a whole different change. The term 'social anxiety' or some other related terms will fade away from your life forever.
Take Care! :)
