Social phobia? What social phobia? part 1

[dreamer_easy]

Well! *claps hands* Let's have some good news from the arena of the unwell. :-)

It was pointed out to me that, when it comes to mental illness, I mostly blog about the drug end of things. That is, of course, only part of the treatment - drugs without some kind of therapy have trouble doing the job. When I first tackled my panic anxiety syndrome back in the 90s, it was with the help of a method called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. CBT helps you to identify and challenge the inaccurate, negative thoughts which are part of anxiety - "The plane's doors will pop open!", "The people at my talk must have thought I was an idiot!" - and replace them with more reasonable, factual thinking - "A plane's doors can't open in flight", "People complimented me on the talk".

CBT isn't an instant miracle cure, of course, but requires guidance and practice. I found it very helpful in combatting my panic attacks, and when I was looking for a new psychiatrist in recent years, I specifically sought one who could use CBT to help me address my anxieties. He and I have made a lot of progress, especially on my social phobia; there was a time when I was too fearful of embarrassment to do something as simple as phoning a stranger. But looking back at recent months, I can see both that I still had a lot of progress to make - and that I've actually made some of that progress.

With hindsight, it's obvious that my exaggerated emotional response to racewank '07 was an offshoot of social phobia. That response gnawed at me for months, until I had my epiphany in February this year. I think the CBT training is somewhat visible in that posting - I'm challenging incorrect or unbalanced statements with more accurate and fair ones. Lest I be accused again of "playing the martyr", the crucial thing was that I began to challenge those statements in my own mind.

Similarly, I was able to walk away from the latest anon meme, rather than hanging about anxiously trying to defend myself. After all, not worrying about what asshats say about me online was my New Year's Resolution. :-)

So: progress in fixing my social phobia in my main avenue of social interaction, the Internet. But what about IRL? In part two of this exciting account, the fun I had talking everyone's assorted limbs off at Conjunction 2008. :-)

Comments

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I myself have an almost crippling problem trying to phone strangers. So often I have to ask Tom to do it for me. How did you tackle it? It's something I *really* would like to get over. My psychiatrist is... well, not very helpful, and the good therapist I had isn't listed under my insurance at all, which has stalled a lot of things on that front.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Are you able to change psychiatrists? I was able to locate one who does CBT by phoning up the equivalent of the APA and asking who they had on their books.

Have a poke round here:
http://www.socialphobia.org/

Here's an online treatment program:
http://www.shyness.tv/

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

First thought: There's a lot of dead links on that site! And the second site's program looks like a great idea, but it seems to only be open to Australian residents. I don't think having a kitten who pretends to be Australian qualifies!

Another part of my problem is *getting* to said psychiatrists. If I could find someone who has Saturday hours, this would help, but the occurrence of said is extremely rare. I'll have to have a poke around and see. I think apathy is a large part of why I haven't changed so far, plus the hassle of having to deal with the stupid, stupid process I have to go through with the insurance company in order to *go* to a psychiatrist in the first place, then having to go over my entire history with yet another complete stranger. I'm pretty sure you know how that feels.

It's really quite annoying, not to mention demoralising and upsetting, when you're sitting with your husband in traffic on the way to an appointment, for example, and you know you're going to be late and he asks you to call the place on your cell phone to let them know, but you can't bring yourself to do it. I do wish it would go away, it's really rather inconvenient.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

You can beat it, but it'll take persistence and determination.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

I know that in my case, the retraining of my thought processes was a hell of a lot harder before I got on the medication. Meds made it possible for me to open up to the possibilities suggested in talk therapy.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

That's been very much my experience - the meds provide a "bedrock" which allow me to make progress.

[the-cockfighter.livejournal.com]

Well may i recall the first time I met you back in 1995 at Tavern, you were an exceptionally socially engaging person and an absolute delight to talk to.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Well, you too!