# Did you know what Social Anxiety was before finding this site?



## MobiusX (Nov 14, 2008)

What was your reaction when you found out?


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## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

Yes. I don't remember when I first heard the phrase. I always have known I was socially anxious.


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## sarafinanickelbocker (May 16, 2010)

Yes. I'm not sure when I discovered that there is a term for social anxiety. I think I learned about social phobia while looking up shyness on the Internet in high school. I don't remember my reaction either. I think there was some relief that I was not the only person in the world with this problem, but at the same time I was thinking I was mentally ill.


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## lyssado707 (Oct 29, 2004)

I had a vague notion.


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## JimmyDeansRetartedCousin (Nov 28, 2009)

Why would anyone join it if they didn't know??

Am I missing something here?


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## Cleary (Nov 10, 2007)

Yes.


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## Lasair (Jan 25, 2010)

I prob knew for about a whole 15 mins before and was a little excited to find out that I was not alone in feel like I do!


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## Hello22 (Feb 10, 2010)

Well of course i knew what SA was, i'm living the 'dream' ain't i??

Seriously though, i was relieved when i found out there were other folk who has to live with the same struggles, and its nice when i read success stories on here.


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## 88 Fingers (Jun 12, 2010)

I first learned via Wikipedia, then proceeded to do extensive research on it because the subject intrigued me and I felt a connection to it. So, I'm on the Yes side as well.


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## ShyViolet (Nov 11, 2003)

I can't remember the first time I heard the term "social anxiety" but it was before I joined this site. I think when I was in college I was searching for web sites on shyness, anxiety, and panic attacks and must have come across it.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

yes I found out about it when Ricky Williams advertised with Paxil in 2003.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I found out about SA about eight months prior to my joining SAS (exactly six years ago now). I was relieved, but didn't know how to get help.


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## letitrock (Jan 10, 2009)

Yes I knew, but only because I'd Googled my symptoms and came up with SA on Wikipedia-and then, I was watching an episode of True Life that centered on SA and that blond cyber girl mentioned this site and that's what led me here


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## cmr (Apr 8, 2010)

Yes, because I have family members with SA and similar issues.


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## BetaBoy90 (Jan 5, 2010)

Yeah I knew years before I joined here. I'm surprised it took me so damn long to find this site, I'd been reading about SA for a while before I even saw this site


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## starblob (Oct 23, 2005)

I would never have sought out a site like this unless I knew what SA was beforehand.


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## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

I found this site at pretty much the same time I learned of SA as a condition, I understood I was experiencing symptoms of anxiety but the term was new but fitting for me when I found this site


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## david86 (Feb 24, 2009)

No, I didn't know. I googled shyness and one of the links led me to this site. After reading through the forums I knew I had SA.


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## sash (Nov 16, 2009)

This was my reaction when I found out: :yay

I found my people.


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## david86 (Feb 24, 2009)

^ lol


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## djr86 (Jul 23, 2009)

Of course, that's why I searched for this site--to find a forum with people who share my struggle.


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## whiterabbit (Jan 20, 2006)

Yes. Back in my days of altavista-ing "extreme shyness" I came across all kinds of **** about social phobia and social anxiety, so I was well clued-in by the time my new friend Google found me this place.


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## Jnmcda0 (Nov 28, 2003)

I knew what it was from other sites I had visited, though I joined here shortly thereafter. I felt relieved to have people who could relate to how I felt. It gave me hope that I could learn to overcome my problems.

It is scary when you know there is something wrong and you don't know what it is or how to deal with it.


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## Keith (Aug 30, 2008)

Yup, I don't think i was officially diagnosed yet but i was definitely aware of what SA was.


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## kosherpiggy (Apr 7, 2010)

I think I was browsing on the internet one day a few years back. I saw that I suffered from a lot of the symptoms and started to wonder if this was worse than being just shy.


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## Scrub-Zero (Feb 9, 2004)

I actually found out because of my friend who had Asperger and SA. I suspected i wasn't socially normal, of course, but he pointed me towards Social Anxiety and thats when i knew this was me. 
That was long before i found this website.


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## coldsorehighlighter (Jun 2, 2010)

I think I saw my doctor for depression, told him how I felt and why I didn't want to be around anyone and he put me on a drug for social anxiety. I didn't know it was for that until I got home and Googled the drug name.


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## izzy (Dec 18, 2009)

My therapist briefly mentioned my having social anxiety for the first time. I looked it up online right after that, found this forum and read what others experience, and I knew I had it...


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## SusanStorm (Oct 27, 2006)

I believe it was this site among others that led me to believe that I had social anxiety.I was 24 years old when I found out,before that I had no idea what it was.Neither did I have my own computer with internet before this either so it probably explains it a bit more or else I think I would have googled it before.

Don't remember exactly what I googled,but it was probably something to do with shyness.
I felt kind of relieved when I found out,knowing that it actually had a name.
Before that I just thought I was weird and extremely shy.


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## MindOverMood (Dec 12, 2009)

Yeah only because my sister was diagnosed with GAD and she pretty much told me that I had a lot of the symptoms of SA. So I ended up reading up about Sa before actually going to the doctors. Then I started to search for a forum and found SAS.


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## tutliputli (Feb 22, 2009)

Yes. I realised I had SA when I started university, back in 2007. I can't remember how I found out about it, but it was probably through google. When I read the symptoms of social anxiety I could hardly believe what I was reading - everything fitted me so perfectly - and that my problems were actually a mental illness. For a long time I thought I was a freak, and that I was the only person in the world who was this way. So it was a _huge_ relief to find that that wasn't the case. The best thing about finding out about SA was that I started to understand and accept myself. Knowing that there's something wrong with you, but not knowing what, is an awful feeling.

As for when I found SAS, I can't remember exactly - I joined in February 2009, 2 years after I found out about SA. I may have lurked for a while before becoming a member. :b


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## compulsive dreamer (Dec 9, 2009)

I read it in a magazine when i was about 13 years old, and i felt like "oh, that's why i can't talk to my school mates" it's like a found an explanation to was happening to me, and i felt kind of relieved because i thought i was really weird having no friends.


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## compulsive dreamer (Dec 9, 2009)

compulsive dreamer said:


> I read it in a magazine when i was about 13 years old, and i felt like "oh, that's why i can't talk to my school mates" it's like a found an explanation to was happening to me, and i felt kind of relieved because i thought i was really weird having no friends.


among other stuff, like don't be able to eat on public and faint when in crowed places :S


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## SilentLoner (Jan 30, 2006)

Yes, I was diagnosed at 17 by a psychiatrist. Found this site a few years later.


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## Lonely Hobbit (Aug 31, 2009)

SilentLoner said:


> Yes, I was diagnosed at 17 by a psychiatrist. Found this site a few years later.


No, you joined this site when you were 18. How could you have _found_ it a few years later.


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## fanatic203 (Jun 23, 2010)

SilentLoner said:


> Yes, I was diagnosed at 17 by a psychiatrist. Found this site a few years later.


Hey, me too! I never knew I had SA until I went to a psychiatrist for depression. Even though I had already learned about it in my grade 11 Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology class. It was staring me in the face, but for some reason I never put two and two together.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I was diagnosed for the first time about eight months before joining.


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## SilentLoner (Jan 30, 2006)

Socially Anxious said:


> No, you joined this site when you were 18. How could you have _found_ it a few years later.


I didn't exactly recall when I joined when I posted. Thanks for looking it up for me :sus


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

Yep, this site is one of the top results for "social anxiety" on Google.


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## low (Sep 27, 2009)

Yes. I knew of it for a while. I found this site when I was looking at depression forums if I remember correctly, I remember I found it accidentaly otherwise I would have used it sooner.


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## Anasthasiya (Jan 30, 2011)

Yes, I knew it earlier. I was told from my psychologist that knows me pretty well that I am socially anxious and she still helps me with that and everything else. It can be really hard to have AS and be socially anxious as well, but life is life 
So it is not the first time I hear for the term.


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## equiiaddict (Jun 27, 2006)

Yes I did. That's why I searched for a site like this one, so I could get advice and talk to other people like me.


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## Still Waters (Sep 18, 2008)

No,I just thought I was a bit of a loon. When I started reading posts about eating lunch in the bathroom at school(I was once a pro at bathroom dining)!!-As well as posts about panic attacks and hiding from people-I knew at last I'd found my people!


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## Haydsmom2007 (Oct 16, 2009)

well yes that's why I went looking for this site lol.

not for very long before though. my boyfriend was the one who pointed it out when we very firstly got together. mentioned something about me probably having social anxiety. And i was like "what, is that a thing?" I looked into it and I was like WOW there are other people like me???? It was a great moment, lol.

I always just thought I was a bit loony tunes.


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## Haydsmom2007 (Oct 16, 2009)

Still Waters said:


> No,I just thought I was a bit of a loon. When I started reading posts about eating lunch in the bathroom at school(I was once a pro at bathroom dining)!!-As well as posts about panic attacks and hiding from people-I knew at last I'd found my people!


I always just went to the library and/or wandered around the halls aimlessly. *sad face*


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## freakzilla (May 24, 2010)

No. I just knew I was a little unusual, had trouble having conversations and making friends (although the last one occurred to me very recently).

I started reading about depression and bumped into this site and the I was like "Hmmm... I guess that describes me pretty well"

Edit: As some people have already pointed out I was also really surprised to find that I wasn't only with SA.


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

I knew it existed--just thought I was the only one in a 3,000 mile radius who had it.

When I found it, I was estatic; come to think of it, what did I do without it?:afr


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

Still Waters said:


> No,I just thought I was a bit of a loon. When I started reading posts about eating lunch in the bathroom at school(I was once a pro at bathroom dining)!!-As well as posts about panic attacks and hiding from people-I knew at last I'd found my people!


ahhh nothing like fine bathroom dining


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## Toad Licker (Nov 2, 2007)

Yes I'd known for years before I found :sas


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## Beelei (Feb 17, 2011)

yes, known for quite a while and have been diagnosed for years now...I think I first heard of SA from a Zoloft commercial.


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## Kwtrader (Oct 10, 2007)

no i did not know what social anxiety was until i joined this site. i use to wonder why i was acting so weird. i had my suspicions but its frustrating when i don't know why i was acting the way i was. after reading what other people are going through here then i realized what i had was sa.

i remember at a group job interview in 2005 i nearly broke down and i didn't know what in the heck was going on with me. that was the first time sa started to affect me bad.


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## i just want luv (Feb 13, 2011)

No. I was looking up something like (my natural face is angry) or something like that and like 3 links here popped up.


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## Catherine Cavatica (Feb 2, 2011)

sash said:


> This was my reaction when I found out: :yay
> 
> I found my people.


ME TOO SASH:yay:kiss:cuddle:b:boogie:clap:group:agree:squeeze


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## LatchKeyKid (Jul 30, 2010)

I first read about SAD when I was 15, years before I came across this site. I guess it was a relief? Uncomfortable as the label may be, at least it offered an explanation for my peculiarities. I'd previously regarded my problems as a personal failure, which weighed heavily on my self-esteem.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

I still dont know..:um


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## lissa530 (Oct 29, 2009)

I found out about SA in 2004 when I was diagnosed with it. However I always knew something was wrong just didn't have a name for it yet.


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## au Lait (Sep 8, 2010)

I knew what social anxiety was before I found this place. I just didn't realize I have it until I started to read the posts here and realize how many shared experiences/symptoms I have with everyone. Before SAS I just thought I was really shy.


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## Squirrelevant (Jul 27, 2008)

Yes. I was diagnosed at 15 and found this place shortly afterwards.


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## Ms Squiggle (Jul 19, 2011)

I knew from CBT ... which didn't actually help much btw (breathe breathe, break the cycle, hide behind the sofa)


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## IllusionOfHappiness (Sep 6, 2007)

I knew what it was before finding the site. It's been too long for me to remember exactly how I felt, but I remember definitely enjoying spending time here. Where else can I be so honest and have people actually understand what I'm going through, at least to some extent?


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## estse (Nov 18, 2003)

I knew what SA was years before coming here. This site just made me....<tear> feel less alone ...<cry>

I used to frequent many depression sites before finding this one, but the people just didn't understand.

"SAD? Oh I have seasonal affective disorder also!"


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## orchidsandviolins (Jul 8, 2011)

No. I didn't know SA was an actual disorder and what encompassed it. 

It all really made sense how a lot of these posts applied to me. And from there, I began looking into it more.


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## dominicwalli (May 12, 2011)

i dident knew...yo me di cuenta despuesO_O,when i was searchign desperatly on google what was wrong with me lmao


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