amI the oldest here>

[macaroni]

I'm59 and have suffered unknowingly from SA for all my adult life but my generation just 'got on with things' no counselling just 'get on with it' and now my problems have a name but perhaps its too late for a solution other than a kick up the backside and stop feeling sorry for yourself, any other 'real oldies' here with advice

[filo]

I dare say you could well be. However there's at least 2 or 3 that I know of that are in their 50's, so you're by no means alone mac

[Wjec]

I think i remember someone posting saying they were 60 and had suffered with it all their life as well

[Winnie57]

Hi macaroni,

I have a friend on this site who is 59. I myself am 50 and only found out about the term SA a couple of years or so ago.

Don't know if it's too late to change at our age but it's certainly good to be among others you can identify with. I think we can probably change in small ways by boosting our self-esteem. But others may think we can change in bigger ways.

I don't think we do much kicking up the backside on this site It's more about empathy, support and encouragement.

[ßazzaOld]

Originally Posted by Winsome

I don't think we do much kicking up the backside on this site It's more about empathy, support and encouragement.

Waahh? I thought everyone kicking me in the bum was for encouragement. I was told redder the better. They could used kind words instead tormenting me.

Iv always being bullied in life without knowing it.. Even here.

[hardy]

welcome Macaroni.There are people of all ages on here. i'm in a similar age group to you. I've had some therapy which proved that you can make a great deal of progress at ANY age.
Its especially important to avoid thinking in terms of kicks up the bum " snapping out of it" etc. because the problem of SA is NOTHING top do with laziness or bad personality , personal faults , unattractiveness etc. It requires a recognition of your own talents and a new interpretation of how you think the world sees you. The person with Sa generally spends their life kicking themselves for being shy and having "irrational fears" it generally turns out that the sufferer is acting pefectly rationally based on how he/she THINKS (mistakenly negatively) the world sees them .

[tictoc]

Hi there, I'm 59 and suffered all my life too.

I've just found this site. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one.

tictoc

[Winnie57]

Welcome tictoc - I'm sure you'll find it useful and supportive

Hi tictoc, welcome to the site

[andor]

Hi Space. I'm 57 and only joined a couple of weeks ago. Like you, my sa was never recognised. I've just staggered through life, out of step with everyone else, depressed, missing opportunities, annoying people, believing I was a loony, being frightened of EVERYTHING.

SAUK has opened my eyes. I thought I was the only one. And there are hundreds just like me out there! (I was going to say hundreds of nutters, but thought it might not go down very well.)

[-Simon-]

I'm 43 and have only just found this site. I'm typically posting stuff without having a good look around. I find it hard to stop myself from communicating if it's in written form. not so good with the talky thing.

[sonofbartleby]

Originally Posted by andor

I thought I was the only one. And there are hundreds just like me out there! (I was going to say hundreds of nutters, but thought it might not go down very well.)

Hi - I'm 57 too. And I'm happy to be included as a nutter. I only have to listen to the other inhabitants of this office exercising their normal social functions and I'm proclaiming myself thrice a nutter.

[hardy]

no. I admit I'm 60 on Friday. so i'm probably the oldest but i once chatted to somoone in the chat room who was 64.

[diffdrum]

Hi, I'm yet another wrinklie checking in for the first time - 1949 was a vintage year

I discovered this site earlier today, and have only briefly scanned its content, so I may be about to repeat stuff that has been amply covered in previous threads

It's to do with autism, the autistic spectrum, neuro-diversity, asperger's syndrome etc etc - do these 'labels' overlap at all with the S.A.D. 'label'?

My life story is similar to many of the stories which are told on this website - loneliness, social mis-fit, under-achievement, lack of stability etc etc

People have spoken of the 'eureka' moment when they recognised themselves as suffering from S.A.D. - my 'eureka' moment came about 3 years ago when I recognised myself as suffering from A.D.(H).D., with symptoms also of Asperger's Syndrome

The similarities are very great - including the lack of understanding from people in the N.H.S., and the fact that it becomes slightly easier to live with the condition when you know that it has a name!

Cheers

[Chach]

Welcome to the site, diffdrum.

You're right about the name. I never understood the importance of names until I discovered the one that fitted me.

[hardy]

Aspergers /autism and SAd /SA are not directly liked.

Research suggests that most with Sa don't have autism.


However there is a complication to this picture in that anything that makes you feel different can make you nervous of people and lead to SA . So SA is quite common in autistic people but its not correct to reason from that that many Sa people are autistic

[diffdrum]

Originally Posted by hardy

anything that makes you feel different can make you nervous of people and lead to SA

I think you have summed up very neatly exactly what I have come to believe in the short space of time since I became aware of SA.

Autism is slowly becoming generally recognised as a 'bona fide' condition, but it is still a bit of a Cinderella within the NHS, especially when adult sufferers are involved. SA is even 'newer' than Autism, and so it is even harder to persuade the medical professions to take it seriously.

I would however make the observation that a few of the problems which some people have posted about on this website suggest to me that some of the individuals involved should at least consider investigating the possibility that some form of Autism may be at the root of things, and that their Social Anxiety is a side-effect of another condition altogether.

Cheers