Newbie here

[goldenswan]

For the past four months my social anxiety has gotten so bad that I fear leaving the house and it is really affecting my family relationships. I dont really tell them how i feel so most of the time I just put on a front, but inside i feel terrible. I feel sick with nerves with upcoming social events, I want to go because they are my family and it is therefore important to me but I will feel so uncomfortable and Im dreading it

I wish I had someone could talk to who feels the way i do and understands how I feel..

[feelincrazy]

LOTS of us feel that way or have felt that way, goldenswan. Everyone here also has different opinions on what works best to treat anxiety. I've had SAD for nearly 20 years. I was prescribed antidepressants a few times through that period, but it never really felt like the right answer to me. Others here swear by them, though. For me, the best improvements came when I decided to look at the disorder logically, instead of looking at it emotionally. The things that it tells me to fear are not really threatening. My brain has created a neural pathway that does not function logically, and has connected fear to situations that I really should not be afraid of. I am a good person and I have no good reason to feel like I'm inferior to other people. When I feel that way, it's just my brain hijacking reality. So when it starts, with the negative thoughts, the obsessive review of events before or after they've happened, I put the brakes on. I say to myself, those thoughts are ridiculous, and then I dismiss them and start to immediately think of something else that does not involve me. It works well for me. I don't have much anxiety anymore on a regular basis, though I still have trouble with public speaking. But I don't have to go over what I'm going to say to the convenience store clerk when I'm standing in line to buy something! And I don't have to think about family get togethers with dread. I used to, but not anymore. Try taking some of the pressure off of the situation. What is the WORST thing that could happen if your anxiety makes you act weird? People will think you're weird? Are you weird? Probably not. You're probably pretty normal. You just have to find a way to make that your stronger belief and realize that your fear of looking weird is unjustified.