Is it normal to be scared of making mistakes?
I'm really scared of making mistakes, whenever I recognise an error in my thinking or in something I've said it makes me cringe. When I make a mistake it makes me feel dumb and inferior to others, which is why I avoid talking about things where you can either be right or wrong most of the time. I sometimes get panic attacks because of it as well, but I am very good at hiding it so I doubt that people would actually know how I feel when they look at me.
I understand that this fear is completely irrational and because mistakes are a part of life I try to make myself engage in situations where I could be wrong (eg answering a teacher's questions in class), but I rarely ever have the energy to and whenever I manage to do something like this I feel horrible. Even when my answer was correct, I always try to find something about it that's wrong without really wanting it.
I used to cut and hit myself whenever I made a mistake and I also have tried to kill myself because of it before. I stopped it years ago, but sometimes I really crave it, especially when I feel that I did something wrong.
Is this normal?