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Hi all...I read the posting from the soldier and wanted to respond immediately. Thoughts of death and dying occur at various times during transition times in our lives, for example when we are young and first learn the concept of dealth and again when someone or something close to us dies. Then again as we get older. It is quite normal to have a "death paranoia" considering you are in harms way everyday. So, I would not even call that a paranoia rather a coping reaction to a very very very stressful situation. There is a difference between social phobia and shyness. Phobias...all of them in there most severe forms....reduce quality of life and daily functioning. So you can think of shyness as a mild mild form of a social phobia. Hope this helps. Keep faith and continue to be well.
Personally, I am claustrophobic. I have found breathing exercises helpful because it slows down the ruminations and anxiety associated with fearing the future. At the heart of most phobias is a fear (real or imagined) that there is some impending danger to self. Cognitive reframing or helps. Both techniques I have found helpful in coping with my phobia.
I have several minor phobias, like fear of insects, of loud noises, of the dark, and of heights, but none of them can hold me back and all of them I can overcome by just thinking reasonably that insects can not do much harm if one does not harm them, loud noises are just that - noises, nothing hides in the dark, and the bridge has no reason to suddenly collapse.
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I have several minor phobias, like fear of insects |
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Now is Social Phobia just another fancy name for shyness? Or is it something totally different ? Do you suffer from a Phobia? |
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A person we describe as being very shy may be very quiet when meeting new people. He or she may take a long while to warm up in social gatherings. In a group a shy person may listen quietly and rarely speak. He or she may seldom start the dialogue in a conversation and may be much more likely to speak around people who are very familiar. We often speak about someone being shy (or ourselves being shy) because of how we behave in social situations - especially with unfamiliar people. We would say that a person has Social Anxiety Disorder(or Social Phobia) if he or she experiences so much social anxiety in everyday life that it causes significant distress or disability. People who experience distress may worry a great deal in anticipation of a difficult social encounter - often for days or weeks before hand. The anxiety they experience may involve strong symptoms, such as excessive perspiration, shaky feelings, difficulty concentrating, having to urinate frequently, or feeling very tense or restless before and during the social contact. There may also be difficulty concentrating and thinking clearly. Some people worry a great deal that their mind will go blank. Generally these people have a lot of distress and worry about having the anxiety problems. |
I like spiders. I really do! That in fact I think is a little unusual..I can tell you some stories about me and spiders but one could found that boring. The thing is I have something with snakes. And I try to fight that watching documentaries and have many contacts with snakes as I can...I hope that will cure my inexplicable fear...It is a slow process so far but hope one day I will get read of that fear.
I am afraid of nothing, well almost nothing. I do have a small fear of spiders. Mostly the fear is based on the idea that some small innocent spider will bit me, I will swell up and then die. It is a phobia because it is a completely irrational fear. I cant get over it, so I just dispatch spiders I see with extreme vengeance! That is, however, after I scream like a five year old girl.
My phobia without a doubt is spiders! I hate the webs and the creatures themselves. I know why this phobia started. When I was 5, I was bitten on the foot by what we believe was a spider. We did not know it at the time, however, poison started going up my leg over night. I had to go to the hospital and be treated...every since then...I kill all of them with a vengence! This has almost become a part-time job here in Japan, because there are so many of them and they are HUGE. Well, I am off to go buy some more spider poison...HAHAHA!
Vincenzo