Posted by sar on April 8, 2001, at 17:09:12
In reply to Re: I am so alone » PhoenixGirl, posted by ShelliR on April 8, 2001, at 16:37:53
Dear PhoenixGirl,
Hi. I'm right with all of the previous posts--there's some great advice-- but I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents because I'm the same age as you and have also felt depression since age 12 or so. I was diagnosed with sp at 19.
I'm curious to know about your living situation and if you work or not. A couple of things that have helped me were living in a dorm-style situation (are you in college?) and getting jobs that required me to interact with people (waitressing and working at a coffeeshop). Drawing myself away from theory and into actual practice (like what Adams is talking about) has been hard on me, but I don't think anything else would have so successfully helped me learn to make small talk, smile more easily, joke with people, and trust them more--I used to have this terrible feeling that everyone hated me upon meeting me and it (along with sp) kept me from opening up to them. Social anxiety is still a thorn in my side (I've tried therapy, Paxil, and Effexor) but it seems like I have more friends and aquaintances now that I (after lots of exhausting real-life on-my-own practice) have improved the way I interact with people. Oh--another thing--when I moved into the dormstyle situation (at age 19)I felt so scared and shy that I could hardly talk at all, and what I ended up doing was *a lot* of observing and listening, kinda like an informal study on how people converse.
I don't know if you can relate to any of this but I hope it helped in some way...please post and let us know how you're doing.
irie,
sar
poster:sar
thread:5563
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010404/msgs/5571.html