Does your anxiety effect your social life ?

[Rom]

Does you anxiety effect your social life, does it make you lonely and isolated without any or little people around you in your case ?

I find this to be true in my case its a no win saturation im fairly isolated so i become depressed but i cant socialize much because of the anxiety.Its like a never ending circle the longer you stay like this the harder it is to change and that causes pressure which then makes it even more difficult to get other it.How can anyone change if anxiety governs there every emotion and motion and if they try to make things better for themselves it ends up making things worse.

I don't mean to go on moaning and groaning but couldn't think of any other way to get my point across.

[xlouloux]

hi rom
yes my socail life is completely out of the window!! i try and get out as much as i can but its nothing like it used to be. i have been looking into an anxiety group in my area that meet up every other week. my family live nowhere near me so the only way i get to talk lately is on here or on the phone. i feel im missing out on human contact. it seems with my anxiety that no matter how many people i have around me i feel alone and empty anyway. its a neverending circle for me but im hoping as time goes by that it will change. i think a lot of it has to do with the self confidence i have lost. i hope you feel better soon x x louise

[Dollie]

Hi, I so know what you mean, My anxiety is getting worse not better and my social life is dissappearing into nothing. I go to work but find by the end of the day i'm so exhausted trying to keep my anxiety from affecting my job that I have no chance of having a social life. It takes me all night to get myself straight and if I don't sleep or I have a bad night too then it makes it even worse for the next day.

I try to remain positive but we all know its not easy and Im worried the next thing with be depression, if im not there already.

I don't know of any anxiety groups were I live but I really wish there was one. I keep looking out for something.

Anyway you take care and hope you feel better xxx

[NotResponding]

yep i agree, it makes me isolate myself alot. and i think that also, that the longer it stays the worse it is to stop.
it dosnt govern every emotion and motion, when im on my own it dosn't, but that's it - it only controls me when around people.

[mikewales]

Same situation here - I think its probably one of the commonest 'side effects' of anxiety because we feel safer being at home and not going out to new or unfamiliar places.

I have been trying to gradually push myself and extend a bit - went to the supermarket yesterday for the first time in ages rather than ordering home delivery, have arranged to meet with a therapist today, and tomorrow will need to go to the garden centre to get some stuff.

Just moving a little bit outside of my normal surroundings, but not too far, so I can take it in small steps and each time I go out, try and get a bit further from home for a bit longer.

Hopefully once I feel more comfortable being away from home for periods of time, I can then move on to socialising with other people, maybe just a close friend going out to a quiet pub for an hour or so and build on it from there.

There are still some goals, such as going a very long way from home, having a whole day out, going on holiday that seem miles away, but fingers crossed each week I can move a bit closer to them until they are achievable.

[mummy4]

majorly effects mine.......a friend asked me out to go to our local town last night but i said no 'incase' i had a panic attack!

[Anxious_gal]

yeah it does. I do have to force my self to go out but some times Its too hard and I have to stay home....
I have managed to keep my main friends.
But it's hard trying to maintain friends when the main meeting place is a flipping pub!
Least when summer comes I can make more day plans with them

[hopefulgyrl]

wow i can so relate..... i don't have friends except for my sister....its hard to discuss social anxiety with someone who don't know about it. i live with my parents,no job because of my social anxiety...wishing n hoping to find a way to make money.....

[simona57]

i quite agree with mikewales Just moving a little bit outside of my normal surroundings, but not too far, so I can take it in small steps and each time I go out, try and get a bit further from home for a bit longer.And the anxiety is making my social life worse.