# Do your siblings have SA too?



## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

None of my siblings have this accept me. They don't understand and I think, minus my depression, they just see me as their sister. Normal. You?


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## JohnDoe26 (Jun 6, 2012)

None in my family have SA. It's weird. Even among my cousins and uncles, I'm the only one with this problem.


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## AnonymousPersonG (Nov 5, 2014)

My sister used to be pretty shy, but nothing about it ever struck me as social anxiety. She's completely fine now and has tons of friends.
My parents, on the other hand are both extremely extroverted and cannot even fathom the idea of social anxiety.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

JohnDoe26 said:


> None in my family have SA. It's weird. Even among my cousins and uncles, I'm the only one with this problem.


I agree...that is weird. I have family members that have it, but not my siblings.


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## Orbiter (Jul 8, 2015)

None, I:m likely the only one.


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## solorzke (Aug 1, 2014)

Specifically SA? None but my older brother and mother have told me they've had a history with anxiety, mostly because they were new to the country and culture. Though, my bio father is a weird one in the family besides me.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

AnonymousPersonG said:


> My sister used to be pretty shy, but nothing about it ever struck me as social anxiety. She's completely fine now and has tons of friends.
> My parents, on the other hand are both extremely extroverted and cannot even fathom the idea of social anxiety.


Hmmm....I feel like you can overcome yours. Especially if your sister did. And I am sure your parents are supportive. They may not get it, but are there for you, no?


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## power2theweak (Jan 2, 2009)

Yes, my brother and sister also have it.


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## JohnDoe26 (Jun 6, 2012)

peace_love said:


> I agree...that is weird. I have family members that have it, but not my siblings.


I think with some people it's environmental. I remember a time when I was actually outgoing. For example, when I was in grade 1 I wanted to be an actor. One time in that class I even randomly offered to teach. I got up in front of everybody and just taught some gibberish (to my mine, my teacher's, and everybody's amusement lol). It wasn't until 11 and 12 that I had these series of unfortunate social events that lead me to where I am today (anxiety ridden, home bound, disabled).


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## Aribeth (Jan 14, 2012)

yup
we got it from dad
=(


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

My older sister, no; she's probably the most extroverted out of anyone in my family. My younger sister, maybe; she is still better in social situations than I am and she has a group of friends and a boyfriend. However, she isn't better at handling professional social situations than I am. I don't think that's due to anxiety though. It's probably because my parents spoiled her and I end up having to do anything that is "too hard" for her. 

/middle child problems


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## quesara (Jul 25, 2015)

My sister is kind of shy, timid and awkward, but she doesn't have SA.


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## klvmm (Sep 16, 2015)

Hell no. They are extroverted as can be. However, I had a cousin who used to have really bad SA.


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## Joe (May 18, 2010)

they are incredibly loud


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## Shawn81 (Jul 9, 2014)

Two sisters with severe anxiety and depression that has already claimed their lives. Not sure about the third, but I suspect it. We don't communicate.


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## apx24 (Jan 31, 2012)

No my sister is a normal.


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## Beast And The Harlot (Jun 14, 2015)

I am an only child. My parents got screwed...no wonder they neglected me.


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## keyboardsmahshfwa (Apr 22, 2014)

One of my brothers is a bit socially awkward, but he can manage to talk to people and make friends. All my other siblings are the most outgoing and confident people I know. And the amount of friends they bring over the house is just...oh god... *shudders*


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## SuperSaiyanGod (Jan 21, 2014)

I suspect my younger sister has it to a degree. But this is mostly based on what my other sister has mentioned to me.


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## Scaredypanda (Oct 4, 2015)

My little sister has SA too. For her it is a lot more severe than for me.

Even though this is not about my siblings, I found some depression medication prescribed for my dad when I was cleaning. No-one had ever mentioned about it to me before that my dad could have depression and I just felt like it explained so much...


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## SofaKing (May 9, 2014)

My brother (older by 3 years) has it, I believe. He and I share some of the same anxiety traits because of our parents. Analysis/Paralysis, insecurity in relationships, abhors confrontation, rehearsed conversations, rumination over interactions, etc.


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## Akuba (Oct 17, 2014)

Yes, my youngest aunt (on my dad's side) has SA too.


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## findyourself (Aug 8, 2012)

Yeup me and my brother have sa.. But we're also just introverted too. Especially me. I don't have much excitement for anything and I really don't want anything other than a wife. 

My grandfather was like that. I remind myself of him a lot.


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## Darktower776 (Aug 16, 2013)

No.


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## My Hearse (Aug 28, 2015)

Nope.


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## PolkaTheSalsa (Oct 6, 2015)

Nope. My sister is a social butterfly.


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## kesker (Mar 29, 2011)

no, three siblings none of whom have it.


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## XRik7X (Jun 11, 2014)

No, talking about this my sister and my parents are introverts as well :/ but they dont have problems with conversations as me.


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

No, thank God. My family can barely handle me let alone another person with SA. I don't wish this on any of my siblings.


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## kageri (Oct 2, 2014)

My dad is pretty bad but neither of my sisters have any SA.


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## mirado (Oct 16, 2015)

My little brother is just naturally quiet around people but it isn't caused by anxiety. Actually he's pretty much the opposite of me. The other day he was going to school wearing the same shirt he wore the day before and I asked him how it was possible that he wasn't scared about what people would think of him. He just laughed and said he didn't care. Hoo boy I wish my brain worked that way.


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## Mur (Jan 20, 2011)

Both of my siblings are super extroverted and super outgoing with very good social skills, I'm the obvious black sheep of the family.


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## Jesuszilla (May 26, 2013)

Not even close. It's like they got all the good genes and I'm me. My brother and sister are like Louise and Eugene from Bob's Burger except they're very good looking. I'm like Tina dorky, horny, weird and monotone

Even without anxiety, I'm still the only introvert in a family of extroverts


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## TuxedoChief (Jan 11, 2015)

All of them are extroverted as hell. Dad too.


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## dune87 (Aug 10, 2015)

I have a brother who is very popular. Literally everyone likes him. He can easily relate with people and make friends. He lives a very full life. 
I don't like when people compare me with him all the time. You know. 
Some have even gone as far as telling him "Why is your sister like this???".
This is one of the reasons I don't like going back to the place I grew up.


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## LostinReverie (Mar 18, 2007)

No. I would definitely classify my brother as an introvert, but not anxious. My sisters are not either.


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## mike91 (Sep 23, 2012)

Nope i am the only one out of 4


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## Jesuszilla (May 26, 2013)

TuxedoChief said:


> All of them are extroverted as hell. Dad too.


Love my family to death but it can get frustrating



dune87 said:


> I have a brother who is very popular. Literally everyone likes him. He can easily relate with people and make friends. He lives a very full life.
> I don't like when people compare me with him all the time. You know.
> Some have even gone as far as telling him "Why is your sister like this???".
> This is one of the reasons I don't like going back to the place I grew up.


People said that all the time when comparing my brother and I. He's the extroverted good looking one who's living a great life. He even has a nice job, a nice car, a nice gf of 2 years and they just came back from a vacation in Jamaica. ..meanwhile I ruined my one and only relationship, driving a s***ty care, struggling to look for a bulls*** job I'm gonna hate and still in school . Worst part is I'M the oldest XDpathetic like that.

They don't usually compare me to my sister, but she's also extroverted lots of frienDS and living a great life.


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## Kilgore Trout (Aug 10, 2014)

Aribeth said:


> yup
> we got it from dad
> =(


This ^

Social anxiety scale in my family(lower is better):

```
mom	▉▉▉▉▉
me	▉▉▉▉▉▉
bro	▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉
dad	▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉▉
```


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## Jammer25 (Feb 22, 2014)

I think my brother has anti-social tendencies more so than SA. 

He's more outgoing than I am for sure in social interactions, but he doesn't like to go out a lot with others besides me and/or our family.


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## Chelsalina (Oct 15, 2014)

My big brother has SA for sure. Definitely worse than me but he never admits he has anxiety. He makes fun of my SA and call me socially awkward but hey I am socially awkward and have SA, doesn't really bother me.


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## Crisigv (Aug 3, 2013)

No, I am the only one with SA.


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## quietriverrunsdeep (Oct 10, 2009)

I don't have any siblings with SA but my mom used to until Jesus apparently cured her (she still takes medicine for it though). Everyone in my immediate family has some sort of mental illness though as well as many members of my mom's side of the family. It puts me in a difficult situation if I ever want to have kids someday since given my family history it seems like I'll inevitably curse them with some sort of mental illness as well. 

Growing up shy and eventually socially anxious, it's frustrating when my sister still doesn't seem to understand how difficult everyday social situations are for me. Meanwhile, I feel like my mom has forgotten how difficult it was.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

quietriverrunsdeep said:


> I don't have any siblings with SA but my mom used to until Jesus apparently cured her (she still takes medicine for it though). Everyone in my immediate family has some sort of mental illness though as well as many members of my mom's side of the family. It puts me in a difficult situation if I ever want to have kids someday since given my family history it seems like I'll inevitably curse them with some sort of mental illness as well.
> 
> Growing up shy and eventually socially anxious, it's frustrating when my sister still doesn't seem to understand how difficult everyday social situations are for me. Meanwhile, I feel like my mom has forgotten how difficult it was.


Yeah, I still question whether or not I wanna have kids as well. I am leaning more towards no these days.


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## Joe (May 18, 2010)

everyone else is loud


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## CookieCrumble (Oct 26, 2012)

My oldest brother has it and my mum doesn't like certain social things either


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## lonerroom (May 16, 2015)

peace_love said:


> None of my siblings have this accept me. They don't understand and I think, minus my depression, they just see me as their sister. Normal. You?


I have no siblings at all. My cousins are all "normal" but they think they are better than me and were always very cruel to me when I was growing up. I no longer have contact with any of my relatives.


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## pandana (Jul 13, 2015)

Nah. My younger sister's a little shy at times but that's just because she's young. She's quickly growing out of it.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

lonerroom said:


> I have no siblings at all. My cousins are all "normal" but they think they are better than me and were always very cruel to me when I was growing up. I no longer have contact with any of my relatives.


I'm so sorry to hear


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

I'm an only child but my dad, his mother and his brother and sister all had it. My dad was by far the worst case though.


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## EmotionlessThug (Oct 4, 2011)

Popspops.


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## MCHB (Jan 1, 2013)

Nope; my brother is a social butterfly, lol!


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

I have an older brother. He was the popular/social one growing up, I was the one who got good grades. Guess which trait is more useful in life...? (Hint--it's not the good grades.)

My mother is a highly sociable extrovert. My dad is an asocial (but not anxious/avoidant) introvert. Neither one of them understands my anxiety and depression.

I'm the only anxious/depressed person in my family. Everyone else thinks I'm just exaggerating.  Even though I'm known to be very honest/sincere and definitely not a troublemaker.

Though, considering that alcoholism seems to be prevalent in the extended family, I have to wonder if that's simply the way they deal with such things...I had an uncle pretty much drink himself to death (and another one who's on his way) and the prevailing family attitude seemed to be basically, "Oh well, there was nothing we could do." :/

Similar with twin cousins of mine who are diabetic, refuse to marry because of this condition, and don't seem to take very good care of their health (we frequently hear the ambulance being called out to their place on the scanner); I can't help but suspect that these incidents are some sort of passive suicide attempts. Again, the family just shrugs and says what can you do.

Either way, emotions/mental issues are something that is not discussed in this family. And since family is all I have, that means I have no one to turn to about such problems.

Should my life come to a premature end I'm betting the prevailing attitude will be, "Oh well, there was nothing we could do."


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## lonerroom (May 16, 2015)

peace_love said:


> I'm so sorry to hear


Thank you


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

tehuti88 said:


> I have an older brother. He was the popular/social one growing up, I was the one who got good grades. Guess which trait is more useful in life...? (Hint--it's not the good grades.)
> 
> My mother is a highly sociable extrovert. My dad is an asocial (but not anxious/avoidant) introvert. Neither one of them understands my anxiety and depression.
> 
> ...


Dang, that sucks! I think a lot of people disregard mental illness though, because they don't want to deal with it. This is why I never spoke about it when I was younger even though I reallllly wanted to, because I was terrified my family would just brush it off. Plus people have problems of their own, so thats another reason I didn't say anything.


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## HannahG (Aug 31, 2010)

Nope. It's just me. Though, I'm pretty sure my dad's cousin had SA. She was really sweet & nice but awkward, shy, quiet, and she did get anxious a lot. Unfortunately I was the only one that liked her. Everyone else either forgot about her as soon as she left the room or they thought she was too 'strange'. 

My brother and sister are very sociable. Social butterflies & liked by all.


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## DistraughtOwl (Mar 1, 2014)

My sister is the opposite of me. She's always had a lot of friends and been really outgoing and chatty.


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## Krauser (Aug 11, 2014)

No, but some people in my family aren't exactly extroverted or social butterflies too.

No one is as bad as me though.


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## SadGhost (Oct 23, 2015)

I don't have any siblings, but I'm pretty sure that my dad has it, just undiagnosed. He is a recovered alcoholic too, and I think he used alcohol as a coping strategy for a long time.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

SadGhost said:


> I don't have any siblings, but I'm pretty sure that my dad has it, just undiagnosed. He is a recovered alcoholic too, and I think he used alcohol as a coping strategy for a long time.


Yeah, my dad drinks too and he is a loner.


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## saya2077 (Oct 6, 2013)

None of mine do. They're all extremely outgoing, except my little brother whose a typical "leave me alone mom" teen. None of them get me either, and they take the piss when they can. They expect me to be open and cheery around my in laws hen I feel scared as hell and intimidated by them. And dont get me started on my dad who doesnt think anxiety is real and I should "get over it".
My mam had some SA but eve then, hers was very mild and she's rolled her eyes at me and at one point told me to "grow up". I rarely talk to my family while at uni. I cant talk to them about anything without being laughed at.


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## SadGhost (Oct 23, 2015)

peace_love said:


> Yeah, my dad drinks too and he is a loner.


Yeah, I've talked to my dad about getting help, but he is very anti-treatment and even wants me to stop taking medication because he sees it as an inherently bad thing. It is unfortunate that most people in this thread who have other family members with SA seem to receive little support from them.



quietriverrunsdeep said:


> Everyone in my immediate family has some sort of mental illness though as well as many members of my mom's side of the family. It puts me in a difficult situation if I ever want to have kids someday since given my family history it seems like I'll inevitably curse them with some sort of mental illness as well.


I've decided against having any for this exact reason. Also for worry that I might not be able to provide a stable home for them due to my own mental health issues.


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## longtimenolove (Oct 21, 2015)

My sibling did have it, yes, but he killed himself. It's also in other members of my family. They are pretty anti-mental illness so they stay home and make excuses for not being able to live their lives, without eluding to having SA. But they have it pretty bad.


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## apx24 (Jan 31, 2012)

No lol my sister is a normie.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

longtimenolove said:


> My sibling did have it, yes, but he killed himself. It's also in other members of my family. They are pretty anti-mental illness so they stay home and make excuses for not being able to live their lives, without eluding to having SA. But they have it pretty bad.


Really sorry about your sibling.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

apx24 said:


> No lol my sister is a normie.


"Normie" lol cute


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## Shawn81 (Jul 9, 2014)

My dad spent his whole life alone in his house with vodka in his drink. He died sad and alone. And I've already ended up just like him. Except for the drinking issue. But hey, it's not to late to become even more like him.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

Shawn81 said:


> My dad spent his whole life alone in his house with vodka in his drink. He died sad and alone. And I've already ended up just like him. Except for the drinking issue. But hey, it's not to late to become even more like him.


My dad drinks too. I am like him in a lot of ways also, minus the drinking part! I think seeing him like that deterred me.


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## Shawn81 (Jul 9, 2014)

peace_love said:


> My dad drinks too. I am like him in a lot of ways also, minus the drinking part! I think seeing him like that deterred me.


Sadly, with the mental health issues in my family, he died a hell of a lot less tragically than my sisters, even with all of his issues. Pretty depressing to think how I'm going to end up in the end.

A drink actually doesn't sound bad tonight. Still have that Crown that has been in the freezer for a year and a half or so.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

Shawn81 said:


> Sadly, with the mental health issues in my family, he died a hell of a lot less tragically than my sisters, even with all of his issues. Pretty depressing to think how I'm going to end up in the end.
> 
> A drink actually doesn't sound bad tonight. Still have that Crown that has been in the freezer for a year and a half or so.


I think drinking will claim my dad's life if nothing else. In a way, I know he is 'waiting to die' sigh...Your sisters passed away too?


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## Shawn81 (Jul 9, 2014)

peace_love said:


> I think drinking will claim my dad's life if nothing else. In a way, I know he is 'waiting to die' sigh...Your sisters passed away too?


Yeah. Depression and anxiety have taken their toll on our side of the family.


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## peace_love (Oct 24, 2008)

Shawn81 said:


> Yeah. Depression and anxiety have taken their toll on our side of the family.


Damn something really bad must have happened I am so sorry about that. If it helps I am here to talk.


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## Shawn81 (Jul 9, 2014)

peace_love said:


> Damn something really bad must have happened I am so sorry about that. If it helps I am here to talk.


Thanks.


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## indielife (Jun 17, 2015)

My brother is kind of the opposite of me in a lot of ways. He is quite good looking and outgoing, but he also likes to spend some time alone and thus sometimes declines invites to go out if he doesn't feel like it. I however can easily spend weeks (even months if possible) without talking to anyone. We hang out on a regular basis and he is almost always the instigator.

He can easily hold a conversation going and has no problem with small talk, however, he has told me that he doesn't enjoy it too much (which is understandable). He really hates big crowds and thus avoids malls like the plague (when we go fishing and we need to purchase some bait I'll have to enter the store while he waits). That's not to say that he can't go into a mall, but he really prefers not to. He also hates the buss. This is sort of strange as I who has quite a bad case of SAD have no problems with big crowds and busses as long as I'm not the focal point. In the past he has even sort of hinted to that he doesn't like big crowds because he thinks that people stare at him and thinks bad things, which is exactly how I feel. He doesn't really have any reason to be feeling the way he does as far as I know, and as a result I am starting to think that we both share genetics that makes us prone to feel that way. 

If someone had asked me if I thought he had SAD, years ago before I found out these things about him I would have said "hell no", but now I do suspect that he has a very mild case of SAD, so mild that it doesn't really affect his life in any meaningful way.


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## i suck at life (Mar 14, 2014)

my 16 year old bro has it. my other bro is fine tho


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