# "Social anxiety does not exist"



## SilentRobot (Jun 30, 2015)

According to my Economics professor, social anxiety doesn't exist. Those are the exact words he told me when I asked him If I could present a little later on in class in order to prepare (motivate myself) for a presentation. He believed I was making it up. What should I do? If anything, what can I do? Nothing. Just gotta suck it up.


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

Tell him his mom doesn't exist.


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## iCod (Feb 17, 2015)

SA is real. Speak to your guidance counselor or whatever that would be in college and set him straight.


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

iCod said:


> SA is real. Speak to your guidance counselor or whatever that would be in college and set him straight.


His advice is probably better than mine.


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## UnusualSuspect (Feb 24, 2014)

Wow I can't believe this ignorance...and this is coming from a PROFESSOR, who should be smart enough to know better. These sorts of attitudes really tend to keep people with SA away from getting better.


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## SilentRobot (Jun 30, 2015)

LostInReverie said:


> His advice is probably better than mine.


Don't beat yourself up. I'm filing a complaint against the ***** so I can join another class.


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## DiscardYourFear (Oct 19, 2015)

Tell him Economics as he teaches it doesn't exist, therefore the presentation doesn't matter.
Then tell him to go experience real world economics. 

I don't know. That's all I got.


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## Qolselanu (Feb 15, 2006)

I would would try to get the school counselors or disability support services on my side. They should be able to get you more time to prepare (in addition to lots of other stuff).


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## bluecrime (Jan 27, 2013)

Bet he also thinks the trickle-down theory is true as well


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## JTHearts (Nov 4, 2015)

I would raise hell over it at the school, find the disability accommodations people and get them to help me.


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## sprawl (Apr 20, 2014)

Use some fancy econ theory to prove him wrong. Yeah.


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## minimized (Nov 17, 2007)

Tell him to go consult the DSM and people who actually know what the **** they're talking about. Tell him he should have dropped a ****ty subject like economics so he could actually understand something worthwhile like how the brain works.


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## Charmander (Sep 5, 2012)

Amazing how people who can't relate to things personally will ignorantly say that something doesn't exist.


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

SilentRobot said:


> According to my Economics professor, social anxiety doesn't exist. Those are the exact words he told me when I asked him If I could present a little later on in class in order to prepare (motivate myself) for a presentation. He believed I was making it up. What should I do? If anything, what can I do? Nothing. Just gotta suck it up.


Tell him: your presentation has the same degree of existence as my social anxiety.

He's just an ignorant prick that just doesn't care or worse: doesn't want to care or inform himself. Reading about SA on google or wikipedia takes just 1 minute of his worthless life.

I can't help myself to hate people that think that if some things doesn't exists for them, then it doesn't exist for anyone else.


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## Nada (Dec 19, 2004)

Social anxiety doesn't exist in his world, meaning no special treatment for you.


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## Euthymia (Jul 15, 2015)

RenegadeReloaded said:


> Tell him: your presentation has the same degree of existence as my social anxiety.
> 
> He's just an ignorant prick that just doesn't care or worse: doesn't want to care or inform himself. Reading about SA on google or wikipedia takes just 1 minute of his worthless life.
> 
> I can't help myself to hate people that think that if some things doesn't exists for them, then it doesn't exist for anyone else.


I honestly don't think he believes SA is not real nor is he being "prick".

He was probably just frustrated during the time or tired of slackers coming up to him making excuses as to why they need to present later.

Just give him some time and try to speak with him privately about it.


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## xennon (Nov 17, 2015)

Most people that don't have it don't understand. My own boyfriend thought I was playing around until that one time at one of his family's get together I cried when one of his family members asked why I didn't say hey to them. Like him and his whole family started questioning me and putting me on the spot and I just broke down. He got so mad and thought I was crazy but him and his family know me now and they know not to pressure me anymore. Anyway maybe if you just do your presentation and show him how difficult it is for you he will be willing to help afterwards.


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## nordision (Jun 22, 2015)

He is a normal he doesn't understand the only solution is to present and don't even bother to try to present, be yourself let your anxiety to block you completly your teacher will be like:''Ok I can't do anything with this guy he is probably stupid he can't even talk'' and he will send you back to your place because he will not waste the entire course waiting for you to open your mouth and maybe next time he will not even put you to do anything anymore.I did this when I was in highschool teachers used to know that if I present something until I talk the course it's finished and they always avoided me, true, the others who presented had better grades then me so everything has a price.


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## McFly (Jul 15, 2014)

Those words are one of the things that russle my jimmies the most. But ignorance is bliss, a lot of college professors aren't that bright, they're only good at the subject they teach. If he continues that attitude I'd switch classes and use that as an excuse. And thanks to ratemyprofesser you can give him some exposure on the online wall of shame.



Euthymia said:


> I honestly don't think he believes SA is not real nor is he being "prick".
> 
> He was probably just frustrated during the time or tired of slackers coming up to him making excuses as to why they need to present later.
> 
> Just give him some time and try to speak with him privately about it.


Could be, I wouldn't be surprised if others used that as an excuse to get out of work.

It's been two weeks now so maybe OP can give us an update.


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

"It's all in your head" they said.


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## SilentRobot (Jun 30, 2015)

McFly said:


> Those words are one of the things that russle my jimmies the most. But ignorance is bliss, a lot of college professors aren't that bright, they're only good at the subject they teach. If he continues that attitude I'd switch classes and use that as an excuse. And thanks to ratemyprofesser you can give him some exposure on the online wall of shame.
> 
> Could be, I wouldn't be surprised if others used that as an excuse to get out of work.
> 
> It's been two weeks now so maybe OP can give us an update.


The thing is that this professor is bright, and I go to one of the top universities in the UK for Economics. There doesn't seem be many slackers, if any. When the grades come out, 90% of the students comfortably maintain a min grade of 2:1, including myself.

Luckily though I had a chat withe Disability and Dyslexis service and they're going to help me prepare for certain presentations in my own way. Of course I will still have to present to classrooms full of 30 students but hey, I have to do it for the sake of my future.

I can understand why he'd think that though. He very well could be extremely ignorant in relations to mental health conditions and so forth.


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## maddieKate (Mar 2, 2014)

He sounds like a damn ignorant fool. You know what? If possible, go ahead with that presentation and leave there feeling humble and proud that you managed to speak about a sensitive subject like that in front of everyone. Funny how those who don't suffer from it at all have a lot to say about SA like they've experienced it.


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## HannahG (Aug 31, 2010)

I hate when people say that.

SA is real and eventually people will start recognizing it as a real illness like depression or cancer. But...it could be a long time before that happens.

With SA though preparation is key. I've always been considered good at presentations in school but I still freak out with public speaking. I've never not gotten an 'A' in presentations. I had to talk at my sister's wedding a few years ago and I did well but I was nervous for weeks before. Presentations are horrible.

BUT here are some tips if you have to do it (if you haven't done the presentation yet):

* Make cue cards, memorize them.

* Make point form notes (to bring and use during presentation). 

*Look at people's hairline or if brave, at the spot between their eyebrows (it'll give you points for 'eye contact' without having to actually look at them).

*Breathe a little at the end of your sentence (Basic but if you're trying to stay calm it helps). I used to write in 'Pause' or 'Breathe' at the end of the sentences on my cue cards and 'Eye contact' so that it would remind not to flip out. If you go over it many times eventually it helps you to remember to look up and breathe without thinking about it - during the actual presentation. 

*Have visual aids. Posters, graphs, screen caps, etc. Apparently teachers like that sort of thing. 

*Stating the obvious but research. Do lots of research & have a few quotes if you can (it makes you look like you did your research). 


Hope that helps and good luck!


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## knightofdespair (May 20, 2014)

Nada said:


> Social anxiety doesn't exist in his world, meaning no special treatment for you.


That is really what it means. Economics is really a soft science anyway like psychology. There is very little that can be proven with hard and reproducible results, the bulk of both fields are based on guesses that will almost never be proven the same way twice in a row with any real accuracy. Every economist I have ever researched is a master at ignoring inconvenient trends and facts and cherry picking some conservative policy that discredits every bit of math or science they pretend to use. Ultimately economists work for the rich and will sell their soul to skew the results to whatever their employers want to see. It is not surprising at all that one would take that attitude about mental issues that they don't want to acknowledge.


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