I know they say you should not dwell on the past especially if you have nothing but bad memories. However there are just so many small but painful events that are still there, that have shaped my life and affected my confidence at every level. I remember starting at work as a young man. Despite being in the top 10% of my school I left college after only 2 days after an SA panic attack during Maths. Sitting alone in yet another class and feeling like a freak was too much. So after long term unemployment...

My anxiety appears to go in cycles at the moment. I may have a few weeks of relative normality but then it gets quite out of control and I have periods of anxiety lasting weeks where it totally overwhelms me. I don’t think its depression in the same way as any clinical depression as I can still operate daily tasks. However any small modicum of enjoyment gets sucked right out of me so I feel deeply miserable and unhappy. Its definitely the worst anxiety I have experienced in my lifetime. I feel...

It still hurts to be out sometimes. I try to block it out and not dwell on it.You see people, couples young and old. The young are in love and happy and dreaming about their future and the older ones typically have children with them. It hurts you are not one of them and never have been. The first kiss, the first date, starting a family and a new home. It never happened. You hear time and time again that you are young and these things will just happen one day. Well they didn’t and I pretty much...

It’s been much harder to find success that a lot of the advice I have read advocates. I remember when I was younger at work and the feelings of not being one of them, not one of the crowd, different and weird but most of all extremely disliked. (yes, just like on SAUK!)I felt a quite intense jealousy and even rage when I saw other people going out and enjoying themselves so easily. Even today reading that you should stand up straight and speak in a clear loud voice to overcome SA. I once tried...

Why is it that the social anxiety forums are so youth orientated? One female poster said she felt too old at 30 to use the forum and it often feels like I am entering a student forum and feel embarrassed mentioning my age. Not surprising when there is special sub-forum for the over 30's. It’s the same on blogs or facebook groups with social anxiety being almost always spoken to as if from the point of view of a teenager or someone in their early twenties. Yet there are many people aged 40+ with...