social anxiety disorder a.k.a social phobia?
July 9th, 2010
Yummy Mummy asked:
Hi I’ve been doing a little research, and it seems my partner has social anxiety disorder……….all the symptoms are there.
He was recently made redundant, but is keen to get back to work as we have a young family to support. However, even the thought of an interview gives him a full blown panic attack…..he breathes faster, he shakes, complains of a tight chest, even sweats…………all classic symptoms of social anxiety disorder. It’s not just the thought of an interview either. Whenever we are invited out, even to a friend or relatives house, we have to make an excuse as to why we can’t go as these situations cause panic attacks. Our daughter asked him to take her swimming and although he would love to he just doesn’t feel able to as he thinks he is being watched and judged constantly. We rarely go into town to shop, and he would sooner do our food shopping online just to avoid people. He knows all this is irrational, but it’s something he cannot control………think of a fear of spiders or needles but a LOT worse.
We want to get married, but even that panics him…..and before you say that’s normal, on this level I can assure you it’s not ( I suggested just having a couple of witnesses and our daughter present but even that sends him into panic mode)
Is there any help I can get for him, as this ongoing condition is not only disrupting our lives on a daily basis, but he feels he is making our daughter miss out on a lot of things other kids takes for granted. Basically he feels like a failure to us as a family, and that makes him more depressed every day.
He has been like this for as long as i can remember, and although I’m not a Dr, even I can see this is not a normal phobia……..it’s worse.
Thanks for not quitting this novel halfway through!
Richard
Hi I’ve been doing a little research, and it seems my partner has social anxiety disorder……….all the symptoms are there.
He was recently made redundant, but is keen to get back to work as we have a young family to support. However, even the thought of an interview gives him a full blown panic attack…..he breathes faster, he shakes, complains of a tight chest, even sweats…………all classic symptoms of social anxiety disorder. It’s not just the thought of an interview either. Whenever we are invited out, even to a friend or relatives house, we have to make an excuse as to why we can’t go as these situations cause panic attacks. Our daughter asked him to take her swimming and although he would love to he just doesn’t feel able to as he thinks he is being watched and judged constantly. We rarely go into town to shop, and he would sooner do our food shopping online just to avoid people. He knows all this is irrational, but it’s something he cannot control………think of a fear of spiders or needles but a LOT worse.
We want to get married, but even that panics him…..and before you say that’s normal, on this level I can assure you it’s not ( I suggested just having a couple of witnesses and our daughter present but even that sends him into panic mode)
Is there any help I can get for him, as this ongoing condition is not only disrupting our lives on a daily basis, but he feels he is making our daughter miss out on a lot of things other kids takes for granted. Basically he feels like a failure to us as a family, and that makes him more depressed every day.
He has been like this for as long as i can remember, and although I’m not a Dr, even I can see this is not a normal phobia……..it’s worse.
Thanks for not quitting this novel halfway through!
Richard
Categories: Mental Health | Tags: Fear Of Spiders, Panic Attack, Panic Mode | 4 Comments
