Hello, I'm new to this forum and I have this problem that's not actually about me but my boyfriend. We go to high school together, different classes, he's 16 and one year younger than me. He suffers from social anxiety and simply cannot start a conversation to anyone except me, probably because we know each other since babies cause our moms are good friends. This might sound stupid but I think that because of his social anxiety, he's obsessing over fictional characters like from books, movies, anime, etc. and sees them as his friends. When we are together he talks about them all the time and how he feels them as real and as his friends. I'm starting to worry because this is not healthy. I want to tell my mom but if I do, she will tell his mom and he'll probably get mad at me. He used to visit a psychologist who actually diagnosed with with social anxiety two years ago but then he stopped going. Now I can tell, he's not very good, he doesn't talk to people, he just talks to me and when he does, it's all about stupid fictional characters that are so perfect to him. What should I do? Do you think him being antisocial might be connected to this? I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, I just don't know what to do anymore.
Reply With Quote
Do you ever get chance to talk to his mum on your own? It may be that getting attached to things like fictional characters is something your boyfriend has done from a very early age, and isn't strictly connected to social anxiety... or it could be a consolation for not having many friends. There are other conditions where people have poor social skills, and who do attach to clothes/objects/characters almost obsessively, but this is more on the autistic scale than purely an anxiety issue..
I accept him the way he is but I'm afraid that this could be something serious, cause he sees those characters as friends instead of real life people :/
