What is the difference between shyness and social anxiety ? Can anybody explain. I just had anxiety due to a thought that I may have social anxiety disorder. This happened because since I was a kid I was shy of doing certain things like speaking in front of whole class etc. And I am always shy in front of girls. I don't know why but when I talk to girls I feel shy. So I googled it and social anxiety disorder came . So I know that if a person even searches about chest pain google says it is cancer. So I don't know theater I have social anxiety disorder or it is just shyness. Please help.

pureolife

Date posted: 5y

How would the answer to this affect you? What sort of implications are scaring you about this?

harshit

Date posted: 5y

Ocd alone is f*cking my life another disorder will ruin my life.

pureolife

Date posted: 5y

@harshit It sounds like the stigma of and associations you have with the word “disorder” are what’s most disturbing about this. The affect (ie that you struggle to socialize sometimes) isn’t really the problem then. Diagnosis and titles are important for treatment. That’s why we try to package certain symptoms into titles. Shyness vs social anxiety would likely be “treated” similarly. It seems like black and white thinking here is making one title intolerable when there’s actually a lot more room for nuance and overlap and things aren’t so drastic or dire. Catastrophic thinking is likely to blame. It’s okay to be shy. It’s okay to have social anxiety. It’s okay to have OCD. Use these broad terms to help you overcome symptoms that prevent you from living life how you want to and by the values you find important. That’s all you can do. Also: a new/secondary diagnosis wouldn’t “f*ck” you over more.It would just be more information to work with.

harshit

Date posted: 5y

@pureolife Well what are my options if I have social anxiety . I mean how can one manage it. I didn't had any problem with being shy my whole life. You are right. If I say it like social anxiety it doesn't feel so scary. But saying it like social anxiety disorder chills my spine. I have a obsession about mental disorders. Whenever I see any mental disorder I start to obsess that I may have it. I know I don't but don't know why brain tells that you may develop . Can you please help me in diagnosing it? Please its a humble request .

pureolife

Date posted: 5y

@harshit I cannot help you diagnose it because I’m not a psychiatrist. And because you have OCD with obsessions related to disorders, I think this is actually a compulsion for reassurance. I would highly suggest you lean into uncertainty here and stop trying to find an answer. Maybe you have it, or maybe you don’t. You don’t/can’t know this on your own. Let the uncertainty of this just be and leave on its own without further compulsions. Whatever the answer, this is the perfect opportunity to practice response prevention and better manage your OCD.

harshit

Date posted: 5y

@pureolife Thank you !! I really appreciate your help ❤.

sillybilly

Date posted: 5y

I was very shy and very quiet growing up.. I wouldn’t say I have social anxiety because I don’t get anxious or panicky when speaking at all. Just nervous. Everybody gets nervous before speaking in front of the class.

harshit

Date posted: 5y

Yes it happens with me. So should I let the thoughts flow or do I have social anxiety .

sillybilly

Date posted: 5y

@harshit Let the thoughts flow. But it is also good to work on your social skills, that’s very important in life.

harshit

Date posted: 5y

@sillybilly Thank you I will definitely work on it. I also think that what people think about it. Now I will think that lat them think . They are wrapped up in their life and have no time to think about me. I didn't have any problem socially by the way.

elro.elephant

Date posted: 24w

Can someone give me advice?

I’m not too sure where to begin so some stuff may be a bit scattered. I’d like to start with the fact that I’m not sure if I just have anxiety or if it is actually OCD. I’ve been dealing with these intrusive thoughts for as long as I can remember. TRIGGER WARNING NEXT PARAGRAPH Stuff like “what if my teacher just raped me in the middle of class” or “what if I pulled all my veins at.” Those are some of the more graphic and violent things but I do get lesser things like “what if I imagined that whole conversation” when I know for a fact I did experience that exact memory/conversation. I don’t like these thoughts and I don’t ever want to think them. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. I’m only 16 and I want to be sure about this stuff before I ask my parents to get me diagnosed.

ntr

Date posted: 24w

Advice

Hello, im a 21ye old male. All of my life i was always atrscted to girls, even if it was only a hug by a girl i liked i got a boner. I always fantasised about doing fun stuff (not onyl sex) with my gf. Had a gf for almost two years. Two months ago i fell into severe anxiety about my sexuality changing. It happened to me 2 years ago bit then i had my gf and i did not need to worry if i will find a girl i love or will i be able to because i already had her. The toughts were realy intense but they faded and for 2 years i did not experience any doubts or fears about it. Then it happened again in december. For 2-3 weeks i was realy down...constant toughts about doing things with men i never wanted to do, fear that i liked someone, fear of denial...but them bc of getting back with my girlfriend it was okay for three weeks almosf. Then we broke up again and after a few days i had the worst days of my life. I felt like i actually changed, i did not know what to do. Then after a week I went out with a girl and when she laid on me when we wafched a show I got aroused like i always did with my ex. I felt such relief and i could handle my fears and anxiety for almost a month. Then a week ago the fear returned and i am again in a very bad spot, i dont know what else to do, i have no girl that i love, i am afraid i will never be able to experience those same feelings and moment that i had with my ex and then again the toughts of being in denial came back. I dont know what to do. My psychiatrist said i dont have ocd but onyl simptoms and that my anxiety is the proboem. Any one experienced something similar? Thanks

Sexual Orientation OCD

moon0270

Date posted: 20w

Google

At the beginning of this year, I experienced false memories for the first time about watching bad stuff online, which I have never done in my life. I then turned to hours upon hours of googling and researching about it and reading articles about it. I'd sometimes google the same articles or topics multiple times a day. I then also remembered that I watched a clip once from Big Mouth (not knowing they were teens at the time). I became so afraid that I was being watched by the authorities or my ISP simply for doing research that I impulsively deleted my Google activity and became extremely paranoid that I was a bad person and a criminal, even though I'd never ever had these types of thoughts before. Then felt bad afterwards because I was like omg what if i am bad because what if it seems like I'm trying to hide a crime. I just really hate myself rn. I know we shouldn't ask for reassurance, but I'm more just pondering this, does this make me a bad person? Is there anyone else who has experienced something similar? Does this mean I still have OCD? or am I truly just only worried about how other people see me? Even while typing this, I'm asking myself, what does this all mean.

Be a part of the largest OCD Community

Share your thoughts so the Community can respond

Related posts

Be a part of the largest OCD Community

Be a part of the largest OCD Community