Something was missing. I had just spent the better part of a week contemplating my situation and still couldn’t put my finger on the reason for my failure. One thing was certain – It would take more than exposures (no matter how small) to break this cycle. I thought I was on the right track with my incubation approach – and I actually was – its just that I hadn’t prepared myself personally. (more…)

Three years ago in 2009, I wrote a post about quitting drinking alcohol and starting a healthy lifestyle. Well, that only lasted about six months and then I gradually started drinking a glass of wine or two per day, and that eventually escalated to going out on weekends again and getting drunk to the point of blacking out. So my depression and social anxiety came back because of all the harmful side effects from binge drinking.
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As if Social Anxiety Disorder were not enough for an individual to deal with, research indicates that many people who suffer from this disorder also have one or more co-morbid conditions. In recent years, studies have demonstrated a link between social anxiety and depression, for example, which had not previously been known to exist. It is not, however, surprising that many individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder should feel sad and even depressed, given the high levels of stress and anxiety that they are forced to cope with on a daily basis. It is important to understand how these two conditions relate to one another, and their dual impact in the lives of patients who suffer from both. (more…)

There are a number of treatment options available for people suffering from social anxiety, an often debilitating condition that is characterized by the fear of being negatively evaluated by others in social situations. Because social anxiety disorder has both mental and emotional symptoms, as well as physical signs of distress, most treatment regimens focus on the combined use of medications and various behavioral therapies. While medications have proven to be successful in alleviating many of the physical aspects of the condition, in order to permanently affect changes in the underlying thought processes of the patient usually involve such therapies as exposure and response prevention.
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Habit – -an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary” (http://dictionary.reference.com/). If you have some bad habits, you may not even realize how unhealthy they really are, because you’re so much used to doing those things that you don’t even give it a second thought. Some of these unhealthy habits may be directly associated with your social anxiety, depression and your overall mental and emotional health. You’ve probably heard a phrase -healthy body – healthy mind”, so why don’t we keep our body healthy if we want to rid ourselves of social anxiety once and for all? The reason may be our bad habits, the way our brain has learned to behave in a certain way over a long period of time. I’d like to share some of the unhealthy habits I used to have at the peak of my social anxiety:
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One of the most damaging misconceptions a person with social anxiety disorder is prone to hold onto is the concept that they cannot be saved. The reason that myth is held so firmly by those who are so unfortunate as to have this debilitating phobia is that the most dominant feeling you have when you are in the midst of a panic attack or suffering the effects of social anxiety is helplessness. But when anybody who is suffering with a disability or an illness gives up like that, doctors as well as family and friends have an uphill battle to try and help you.
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When you are suffering with social anxiety disorder, many questions haunt you including, “What caused this to happen?” and “Why me?” Because social anxiety disorder is such a wide spread psychological problem, medical science and the psychiatric community has been working hard to track down the causes of social anxiety disorder. As we all know, if you know what might be causing an illness, that is the key to coming up with a cure.
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Like many psychological disorders such as bipolar syndrome and severe phobias, social anxiety disorder is a problem that you may have to learn to live with. While therapy and skilled psychological treatment can virtually eliminate the symptoms of the problem, these solutions can take a great deal of time and patience. In order to help someone who is suffering with the ugly consequences of social anxiety disorders, one step that can be a big help is to empower the patient with the ability to cope with the process so that the one who is enduring social anxiety can muster the patience to step through the therapy on the road to total recovery.
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When social anxiety disorder begins to take control of a situation, you feel surrounded on all sides with no hope of stopping the assault of fear. People who just go through “stage fright” or shyness have a tiny glimpse into the horror you go through when your social anxiety is so strong that it can paralyze you from being able to perform even the most basic of social functions. The combined trauma of feeling anxiety turn you into a nonfunctional human being combined with the terrible embarrassment and social isolation you feel when people in your social circle witness an anxiety attack makes episodes of social anxiety disorder a genuine hell on earth experience.
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Warm greetings to everyone who reads this blog, my name is Vladimir, and Im the new owner of shyandquiet.com. I will be blogging about my own social anxiety experiences from now on. Drew has decided that he will dedicate more of his time blogging about other things, now that he is recovering from social anxiety, and so he passed this blog on to me.

Ive had social anxiety for ten years, since I came to United States from Russia. The cause of my social anxiety was the new language – I was unable to express myself the way I would in my native language so I became isolated from the rest of people and never really became adapted to the new environment. To this very day, I still think there is something terribly wrong with the way I speak, despite a lot of people telling me that my voice sounds just fine. My social anxiety has diminished a lot since I started a healthier life about two and a half months ago and Im on my way to recovery. It will be a pleasure sharing and blogging about my social anxiety with the rest of the world and hopefully I will be able to give hope and inspire anyone who thinks they cant overcome social anxiety.

I have also started video blogging about my social anxiety on youtube.com and you can check out my videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/VladimirRussianDude