Has anyone here been diagnosed with this? After reading up on it for a few weeks now I am 99.9% sure that I have suffered from it most of my life. If you have what did you find the nest treatment was? CBT or medication? Or nothing?

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this, I'm planning to go to my doctor next week and am feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing.

PS this website is great for any sufferers - SAUK Discussion Board - Powered by vBulletin

Yes, I was diagnosed a couple years back. I found pushing myself into situations was the best recovery. I always thought it would be millions of times worse that it was. With anxiety you have to wade right through the shit.

__________________
"Hey Ram, doesn't this cafeteria have a no-fags-allowed rule?"

Don't be nervous - although I'd be wary of going in to your doctor and telling him/her that you think you have social anxiety. In my experience at least, telling a GP what you think is wrong with you just makes them disregard you. Your doctor might be different. make sure they refer you to a specialist and tell them your thoughts.

I've had pretty bad mental problems all my life and was diagnosed with depression when I was 15. i was put into therapy and on medication, and it really worked. Probably the medication worked better than the therapy, really. Anyway, I was taken off the medication and was fine for 2 years but then relapsed and was diagnosed (about three years ago) with Social Anxiety Disorder and Bipolar Disorder.... which is a shitty combination. My (new) therapist was really lame, offered me no therapy and just put me on the medication which had worked for me in the past. This time though I was really bad at remembering to take them and would get horrible side effects when I did. So I gave up and haven't sought treatment since.

I'm not telling you this to dishearten you - I'm telling you so that you know that your doctors will help you, and to really take seriously their efforts to help. Persevere with things - if CBT isn't working, try medication, and if the first type doesn't work, try another. You most definitely can recover, and it's really scary to go and ask for help, I know. But it's worth it, and a really brave thing to do.

__________________

There's no reason for you to be nervous. If you get diagnosed, you get diagnosed. You may have dealt with this for most of your life, so you wont be any less prepared if you do get diagnosed. The only thing that will change is that you'll know the reason for your behavior and the help that is available to you. So it only looks like things can get better from hereon in, right? If you're nervous about talking to the doctor, think of the appointment in terms of something that will be over soon. Like, when you go in, think of something that needs to be done at home, or picture yourself when the appointment's over. This will help you to take it in your stride, so you may relax with the doctor. And it is to be taken in your stride because nothing bad can come of it. Your doctor deals with this sort of thing every day and is used to people opening up about personal issues. He/she is just another person, and you are just another client, irrespective of how you behave and how insignificant or severe your situation is. Good luck.

YES! it's so fucking stupid. vets would give their eye teeth for animals to be able to tell them what was wrong with them, and doctors just waste their patient's own understanding of themselves because of who know why? insecurity? arrogance?

/rant over

__________________
marzipan marzipan marzipan marzipan