I'm doing all right these days in the main. I'm near my third listen of Dr Richards cd set. Here's the link if your interested. http://www.socialanxietyinstitute.org/
But I'm finding it hard to find people I can really relate to. I'm putting myself out there and managing to have superficial chats with a variety of people but I'm just not connecting with anyone on a deeper level. I wonder if this is just down to me or am I just not meeting the right people. Am I being too picky or not giving...

I was hoping that the SA would be a thing of the past by now but here I am again. It's been a topsy turvy couple of years. Ended up getting sectioned again in Spring of 2009. That was fun (not). Then after I was released went into another long bout of depression, well over 12 months. Ah the wonders of Bi-polar.

Things not diddling too badly now though. It's not that I haven't made any inroads in getting over SA. I'm doing stuff now that I wouldn't have dreamed about in the past,...

Well it's been a while. Hope everyone is keeping well.

The following is a list of material I put together for my SA group. SA can be overcome but from personal experience, and I've still got a long way to go, it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. Some days you just don't want to be bothered, and it's okay to give yourself some slack now and again, but you really do need to keep at it. As the saying goes "it's use it or lose it." Combatting SA takes self discipline, dedication and the cultivation of an open mind. But not so open that...

The following was a talk I gave to my SA group. The source material was a tape from the Attacking Anxiety and Depression series from the Midwest Center by Lucinda Bassett, the book "What To Say When You Talk To Yourself" by Dr Shad Helmstetter and my own experiences.
The concept of Unconditional Self Acceptance is an idea from Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). Albert Ellis talks about this concept at length in his book "The Myth of Self Esteem".

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