Everyone who suffers from social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, knows that they need their "safe place" where they can go to be away from the people and situations that trigger such crippling anxiety.
Social anxiety is the fear of social situations and the interaction with other people that can automatically bring on feelings of self-consciousness, judgment, evaluation, and scrutiny. Put another way, social anxiety is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, leading to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. If a person usually becomes anxious in social situations, but seems fine when they are alone, then social phobia may be the problem. When the anxiety becomes such that it significantly, or totally diminishes a person's ability to function in social settings, or the work environment, it becomes a disorder. Without effective treatment, that person is likely doomed to a life of isolation, and depression that is all too often accompanied by substance abuse.
Unfortunately, social anxiety is a condition that is difficult to understand by family and friends, and even misunderstood by many professionals who treat other phobias. But, take heart, there are mental health professionals who do understand that SAD is a very real, serious condition.
(TIMOTHY J. BRUCE, PH.D. and SY ATEZAZ SAEED, M.D. of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, Illinois, offers a very well-presented, comprehensive explanation of the disorder entitled, "Social Anxiety Disorder: A Common, Underrecognized Mental Disorder".)
Social anxiety disorder is a much more common problem than past estimates have led us to think. Millions of people all over the world suffer from this devastating and traumatic problem every day.
With that, and because I am myself afflicted, I hope I've created a safe place - a haven here, where you can come and sense a camaraderie with others with SAD, and at the same time, learn more about it. A great place to start is at the "Forum for SAD People". The link button is below. I hope you enjoy it here, but more so, I hope we can all find our way back into the mainstream of society.
Links to the Outside World...For most people who suffer from social anxiety disorder (SAD), their anxiety is cumulative, meaning that each activity or event that produces distressing anxiety is added to the amount of social anxiety that had accumulated before the most recent event. With the average person, most everyday anxiety dissapates given a little time. This, too often, isn't the case in people with SAD.
Dr. Thomas Richards' Anxiety
Network
This
Psychologist Knows His Stuff !!
Whereas I find it difficult to articulate my experience with social anxiety disorder, my Dad has generously made public domain an amazingly insightful and accurate account that he writes of my experience, based on his observations of my symptoms, mated with his own lonely experience with symptoms of SAD before there were names, medical recognition, or any known treatment to his avail.
He made it out of the abyss with his spiritual strength, and now he helps me in my quest for attention to this crippling disorder.
His good work, entitled "My Gossamer Dress", is an incredible contribution to understanding SAD, and it is all of ours to use as we will to help promote a better understanding among our family and friends, and the medical profession.
I am blessed to have someone empathetical put the 'wind beneath my wings' when my feathers often feel clipped and I feel I can go nowhere. Dad realizes my need for courage to get my foot in the 'social door', and lends me the strength and support to push it open into the world that I long to return to.
© 2002