Is it normal that i'm afraid to talk to people?

6 Comments

Is it normal that I am afraid of talking to people, especially if I've never met them or talked to them earlier..? This has been going on from when I was 7 or something like that. I just hate meeting new people and talking. My parents are afraid I won't be 'normal' and meet new people when I get out of high school and start to plan my future. I think it's all because of how everyone kept telling me, when I was little, to not talk to strangers. It is harder to do things when I can't ask for help, but everytime I try I just freeze and get a small panic attack or so.. This one time I had to make an important call and my mom was there. We sat in the car as she waited for me to call, but I just couldn't. So she drove to the hospital and parked the car and said that if I don't call right now she would take me to a doctor, a complete stranger again.. I don't think she did the right thing because I started to cry and she didn't care. I wrote down what I needed to say and finally called and read from the paper. It was a terrifying experience. Just knowing that I had no choice but to either call someone or talk to someone. Is this normal? Does anyone else have this?

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Comments ( 6 )
  • e51pegasi
    6 years ago

    Yes. It sounds like you may have what is known as social anxiety/social phobia. Have a look around online.

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  • BeautifulDreamer612
    6 years ago

    It sounds like you have social anxiety. Social anxiety is very common and can be treated. You should see a psychologist and/or psychiatrist.

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  • RoseIsabella
    6 years ago

    I too think that you have social anxiety. I hope you can get help soon. Please do get help, this won't go away on its own.

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  • edwininthematrix
    6 years ago

    it sounds like you are very young. these things go away as you get older so don't worry about it. work on improving yourself and having a good future.

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  • Nicholas_L
    6 years ago

    You’re probably just antisocial like me

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  • palmtree
    6 years ago

    I agree about it being social anxiety. It's normal in the sense that a lot of people have it. I used to be the same, especially when I was a teenager. I thought that I would never be able to function normally as an adult, but I noticed that it got a lot better for me when I passed my teenage years. I've read that anxiety is worse at this time for a lot of people, so maybe for you, too. However, if you can, see a psychologist so they can help you with it.
    Social anxiety is treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. The idea of it is that you should change your thoughts about a situation so your behavior can change, too. Your brain is perceiving things like talking to strangers and making a phone call as imminent danger, so it prepares you to fight for your life. You need to change those thought patterns through therapy, and then expose yourself to the same situations over and over until you no longer associate them with danger. I think what your mom did wasn't the best way about it. (I actually used to argue with my mom about the same thing, she thought that forcing myself to do things would eventually make me stop being scared about them, and I thought that it would only reinforce my fear of them because they would not go well. I kind of concluded that we were both right in a way; with cognitive behavioral therapy you expose yourself to situations you fear, but first you prepare yourself changing the way you think about them.)
    I hope your situation gets better. If you can't go to therapy, you can visit social anxiety forums online that can give you advice.

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