Anyone not worked for years due to severe sa?

[kashameets]

You are not alone, i am 37 and i have only ever worked for 6 months when i was 28.
I suffer from social phobia and agoraphobia but i can go out to most places if someone i trust goes with me and stays with me..... i get ESA because of this and was placed in the support group of ESA so i do not have to go on courses or work voluntary.....i never even had to have the medical as i provided enough evidence by letters from my GP and psychiatrist so not all people who suffer from mental health problems have to have the medical or will be given a hard time

I use to hate people asking what i did for a living and it would cause me great anxiety worrying that they would think i was a scrounger when id say i don't work One day i was with a friend in a pub and this man who was quite snobby was asking everyone what they did and when he got to me i thought well i am not pretending anymore so when he asked me 'and what do you do' i replied 'nothing cos im mental' and then smiled i felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and now he was the one feeling anxious and awkward needless to say he didn't ask anymore about it and just said '' oh '''

[Lysanthe]

I've not worked for seven years now because of social anxiety and agoraphobia, I'm 34 now. I made several attempts to go to University when I was younger but just couldn't cope with it. I wish there were jobs for people like me, but I haven't found anything I could do and I've been searching for years now. I absolutely hate feeling like such a scrounger - it makes you want to withdraw from society even more because of the fear of being judged so badly.

I've got my ESA medical coming up soon and am absolutely terrified. In an ideal world they'd help find something I could do but I'm not so sure that it exists at the moment. Seriously don't know what I'm going to do if they decide I'm fit for work Good luck to anyone else in the same boat!