Lived Experience Forum

[Phanelope]

Hi all. I have a tonne of things going on in my life lots of worries and stresses that I can mostly identify and label. There is one issue that has only really come up in the last year or so that I think is related to social anxiety but not sure.

I don't like people. I mean I like people. I have friends, I'm friendly , I'm passionate about human rights, but I don't like humanity. I think it started with Facebook. Just constantly seeing all the nasty horrible self serving violent things people do. Every time I saw some horrible news article or saw people being nasty or people disagreeing with human beings having basic human rights it caused a strong physical reaction like extreme hatred and anger or sadness where I was crying for a day and sometimes even sickness. I've closed my account because of this and it helps a bit but I still can't stand being around people. Every time I talk to people all I can think about is the horrible potential they have. Do they hurt people? Are the selfish? Do they think people like me shouldn't have fundamental human rights? It's got so bad I don't even go to work anymore (although that could be for other reasons too). I don't talk to anyone except my best friend and the people I have to talk to. I go out of my way to avoid people as much as possible. Is this just an extreme form of social anxiety?

[Ellu]

Dear Phanelope,

I don't know whether you have a form of social disorder, but I think it would be a very good idea to find out. If you can talk with a psychologist it would be very helpful to dicuss this with someone else and to receive help for your worries.Talk is a powerful tool for dealing with problems, and would also help with the worry you have about the whole situation. At lease you have good friends and are not completely isolated. Before things get out of hand, do take the step of seeing a psychologist and sorting out the reasons for your problems and working out ways of dealing with them.

When you have to deal with people you don't knnow use anxiety coping techniques - breathing slowly and regularly and trying to access that calm place within you. Don't worry, you can be helped, all you have to do is reach out for help.

Ellu

[Owlunar]

Hi @Phanelope

It's really hard to comment on whether you have an MI or not - but we can all experience Emotional Discomfort and that is perfectly normal

I also think that there are very few people in the world who do not have some kind of disorder - we are not perfect and I am not in a hurry to communicate with one person I know who thinks she is btw - imperfection as a lot of space to grow - perfection totally lacks that

Anway - I agree with @Ellu - best you see a psychologist for this - and you can get 6 susbsidised visits from Medicare - and you can talk it over with someone who is qualified to ask the right questions

But if this is stopping you from working - it does not sound good

All the best with that

Dec

[Fancy_Pants]

Hi @Phanelope

Welcome to the sane forums 

I dont feel like I can tell you if it is social anxiety and I agree with Dec that we all get emotionally uncomfortable but I do know that the definition of a disorder is when the symptoms are having an impact on your ability to function and having an impact on your quality of life both of which these thoughts seem to be doing

I also agree with Ellu's idea about seeking professional support, that sounds like the best route, you could do this via a referral from your GP to see a Psychologist in your area. (a referral will allow you to get significantly cheaper / sometimes free sessions)

if you have stopped talking to many people and stopped going to work have you missed social support? are you finding it different chatting on line? and if so would you like to join one of our chit chat pages like "just checking in" (click here) and "night shift" (click here) which goes 24/7, or any other thread that you feel comfortable contributing to 

please let us know what you decide to do? then if you do go to see a psychologist / counsellor then what happens 

[Phanelope]

Yes I seem to be able to cope talking online to people, which is the one thing I miss about Facebook. I did belong to some really great groups, but all the bad stuff definitely outweighed the good. I guess I like the fact that if something/someone annoys me I can just block them or turn off and not have to see it again.

[Former-Member]

Oh man I hate the world! It sucks. Facebook just shows me how shallow the world is. It shows stupidity and selfishness. I have to take time away from it. Like what is wrong with people?

For me personally I feel the reason I'm struggling with people is because I'm at that time in my life where I'm stubborn in my values. If a person dose not have those values I think what the hell is wrong with you? I don't talk to many new people except my close friend even though we are so different we have core values.

One thing I'm trying to do though is not judge people which is hard but because they don't have the same values dose not make them evil as me I'm not evil not having the same values. They can still be semi good people and I need to stop using my energy trying to understand them and just use that energy for good.

Hope that makes sense