First of all I'd like to thank Nicola for this new addition to the forums, I got quite excited when I seen it (I obviously lead a vibrant life) [:P]. Hopefully it can give me (as well as others) a better insight into SA, which is partly the reason for this topic. If you want to waste a few minutes of your day, then feel free to read on...

I was reading through the other topics here and felt compelled to reply to all of them, each one had issues that I was familiar with. But I didn't want to repeat myself in each one, so I decided to start a new one instead (I guess the problem with this is that I may be asking others to repeat themselves who have already posted. If so, I apologise).

After suffering from anxiety for about 8 years and educating myself on what exactly it is, how to control it, etc, I feel I have a reasonably good understanding of the whole 'anxiety thing'. But sometimes I find social anxiety to be a far cry from my other anxieties. For example, even though I would only consider myself to have suffered from anxiety for the past 8 years, I feel my SA goes as long back as I can remember. Looking at the other posts here, others seem a little confused with it too, so what I wanted to do with this topic is get a few people's opinions, their experiences of SA, and what it means to them. Kind of like SA Anonymous . I think it would be a good start to the Social Anxiety thread in the forums if we start off by trying to understand a little about SA in general itself.

'HI my name's mico, I've been a....'

No, seriously. The honest truth is that I have never been officially diagnosed with SA, I'm my own doctor (typical bloke, huh?), I diagnose and treat myself, which is why I would like to gain a better understanding. One of the most confusing things for me, is how is my SA different from my other anxieties? Do I even have SA? Should SA cause panic attacks, it never used to? What I do remember, is from as long as I can remember, I've been very shy. Someone asked in another thread here; where do you cross the line? It's a good question. Where exactly do you cross the line? Unfortuanately, from what I've learned about myself and from anxiety is that usually things arn't black and white, all the same though, I would like to get things a little clearer if possible. All this time of suffering from SA/shyness, I never had one panic attack or any physical symptoms of anxiety until eight years ago. Even so, I would still consider my 'condition' (not sure if I like that word, but anyway...) to be quite severe. I can't go out into any public place and feel comfortable. If there are people about, then I'm being watched! I'm probably not being watched, but that is how I feel, and even if I was, why should I care (That's a rhetorical question )?

Not only do I reguarly feel like I'm being watched, but I also feel like I'm being judged, especially when I speak, which in turn makes me speak less. I guess these are just regular symptoms of shyness though, and the actually boundaries of shyness and SA are still unclear. What does strike a chord with me, is that given the scenario that I was the only person in the world, then I don't feel I would suffer from anxiety. Although many people are maybe the same in that respect. I think one of my biggest fears is the fear of people. Agorophobia isn't usually diagnosed as a fear of wide open spaces as many people believe the term to be, it is usually diagnosed when you fear going places, of which usually involve a certain amount of people. Incidentally, the original Greek meaning of 'Agoro' is 'market place' (a phobia of the market place). Which is usually what Agorophobics fear the most, shopping centres, etc.

Don't ask me where I'm going with this, I've lost myself [:P]! I'm just thinking out loud here (again! sorry [B)] I did have something to say when I started this, but I forgot exactly what it was now).

Anyway, back to the story/informative post/gibberish/complete waste of my dinner break! (select as appropriate )...

All I'm toy