Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Social Anxiety Test

Do you ever notice that you often give yourself tests on some things that don't make sense? As an example, when you are having some types of behavior that you might consider weird, do you see yourself trying them over and over to see if you will still do them?

To people who don't do this activity it might sound crazy, but if you have ever given yourself a social anxiety test you know what I am talking about.

If you think that you might have social anxiety than there are several questions to ask yourself that will help you determine if this is true.

Here is a short social anxiety test for you:

- Do you hate going out in public for fear that someone will laugh at you?
- Do you turn down dates because you're afraid you'll do something stupid on the date that will make your date hate you?
- Do you hate to eat or drink in public because you think someone will see you and criticize you?
- Do you avoid speaking up at work because you are afraid your ideas will be laughed at?

If you answer yes, to any of these questions then you have just passed a social anxiety test. These are all symptoms of social anxiety that are important to note. However, there is help. I discovered very natural ways to deal with my own social anxiety test and I am passing them on to others.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What is a hypochondriac?

I was talking to my friends the other day and we were talking about how each of us felt like a hypochondriac at some time in our life, while we were dealing with our social anxiety. The problem was that we all had an idea of what a hypochondriac was, but we didn't have a real definition. So we asked ourselves, what is a hypochondriac?

For some people being a hypochondriac means that they are always taking some type of medication thinking that they are sick or dying. This is not a behavior that is good for someone especially when they are usually not sick.

I know what it is like though, because my doctors missed the fact that I was a hypochondriac because they were only looking at my social anxiety. They wanted to change that and I had to finally ask them what is a hypochondriac? I knew that I was dealing with this problem but didn't know what to do.

Today, I am helping other people answer the question what is a hypochondriac for themselves.

Hypochondria can make you feel crazy. I remember that every time there was a change in my skin or my body of any kind I was running to the doctor thinking that something was terribly wrong and I was going to die. I was torturing myself for no reason.

Do these symptoms sound familiar? If so, then you too, are answering the question what is a hypochondriac.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Social Anxiety Symptoms

I was hiding away my life. I didn’t want to talk to people and I certainly didn't want to interact with anyone. I didn't know I was suffering from social anxiety symptoms until I started researching what was happening to me.

I was mostly afraid that I would get out in public and I would embarrass myself so bad that I would never be able to come out again. I thought everyone was paying so much attention to me that my every move was going to be looked at until they found a way to laugh at me. My social anxiety symptoms were really getting worse.

I can tell you, that although these are social anxiety symptoms, they were stopping me from living my life. They were creating problems that I didn't know I was having. I also found there were a lot of situations that would trigger my anxiety.

Do you have problems in these situations?

- Your friends gently tease you and you want to die.
- You hate being the center of attention on your birthday. You would rather people just forget about it.
- You don't like to talk to your professor because you are afraid they will tell you that you are doing something wrong.

If so it is time to do something about them. You do not always have to go to a doctor for a drug, to help you because there are many ways to stop social anxiety symptoms naturally.

One important one is staying away from caffeine or avoiding alcohol can definitely help you.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

OCD And Anxiety

Believe it or not anxiety is a big problem when you have OCD because it can come up at anytime. It really doesn't matter what is going on at the time. Usually people with ocd and anxiety have ideas and thoughts that keep coming to them that they cannot get out of their heads.

When someone is thinking about ocd and anxiety it usually is about some type of risk or harm that may come to them or to someone else. Most treatments will mean that a person will have to be put on drugs that can include antidepressants or some form of exposure therapy.

According to statistics about 95% of people with ocd and anxiety have a tendency to go through some type of ritual. This seems to be true because I have this problem and many of my friends do too. We talk about it all the time. One of my rituals was to check the doors to make sure they were locked when I left. I wasn’t satisfied until I had checked them at leave 8 times.

My boyfriend used to get really upset with me because I couldn't turn away from this pattern until it was complete. I know how frustrating that can be for people so I decided to do something about it for my self. My problem began to subside I started to use my own techniques.

If you want to find out what I did to help my ocd and anxiety you can follow the link.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Social Anxiety Phobia

You know some social situations can really make a person paranoid! At least that is what I used to think. I was amazed at how many people suffer from social anxiety phobia who I know personally. My life has been a lot better since I figured out my own techniques.

Social anxiety phobia is something that about 7% of the entire population suffers from at any given year. It is the fear of going out into social situations because people may laugh or talk about you.

Social anxiety phobia is no picnic because it can hit you when you least expect it and it seems like other things. A lot of people thought I was just shy because I was fine at home talking on the phone but as soon as I was out in public my social anxiety phobia would kick in.

At one point I decided to do research into my problem because it was stopping me from living my life. I found out that there were so many things that would trigger my social anxiety phobia. Simple things like saying something in front of a group or being introduced to new people would make me feel insecure and awkward in the situation.

Eventually I found my own way to deal with my social anxiety phobia because it was making things very difficult in my life. I have found so many ways to help others with social anxiety disorder that I want to share them here on my blog.