I saw the BBC documentary on OCD last night. At the beginning they showed that many people on the street think they have OCD just because they like to keep their house neat and tidy or arrange things a certain way. In reality people with chronic OCD are far worse and have their lives completely ruined. Some are even are on the verge of suicide. I could not help compare this with shyness and social anxiety. Everyone is shy at times and most people hate public speaking. Yet social anxiety can be so...

I came across this quote from a book while looking at blogs on social anxiety the other day and it really moved me.It expresses some of the emotions and pain of loneliness into words so truthfully. No matter how much pain isolation creates to talk of your true emotions only pushes people away even more as desperate people are faulty people and faulty people are avoided and ignored.

[B]"It is from that vantage point that I tell you that loneliness itself is the secret. It’s a...

In the later years of my job I was considerably better mental health and anxiety wise as I worked in an office with people I got on with. I remember once being asked to go to a summer barbeque by someone I knew quite well and of course declined. There is very little doubt that most of the advice online would have criticised me for avoidant behaviour and taking the easy way out. However as the majority of people there would have been strangers this would have been a nightmare to me which is hard...

I went out on Sunday morning for a change as I was going to an event in the city(alone of course!) As I walked around I noticed just how many people were sitting outside drinking at the various coffee houses and speaking with friends and family or just reading the sunday papers. I felt a pang of jealousy. It looked a nice thing to do on a sunny summers morning.I’d like to be able to do that but I know no one in this city and hate going to such places alone as I feel awkward and weird and it usually...

You often get posts on anxiety forums attacking people for being cowards. The idea being that you are simply not doing enough to cure your SA. “What have you done?” they ask as if you must have a list of tasks to complete as if you are unemployed and being questioned by the job centre to justify your benefit payment. Feel your fears and do it anyway etc. of course guilt has been used as a motivational tool and to encourage people for as long as humans have existed. However I think there may be more...