“Yesss!!! Finally!!! I did it!!!!”
That’s what I thought at the time. It was a combination of extreme excitement, relief, and optimism. That moment was about three years ago. I had just told my doctor that I have social anxiety disorder, and he wrote me a prescription for the antidepressant, Zoloft. Continue reading
My first introduction to fantasy sports was in 2009 when I joined a fantasy baseball league. I finished in second place that year and have loved fantasy sports ever since. 2009 was also Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke’s breakout year. He made the All-Star team, won 16 games, had 205 strikeouts, led the American League with a 2.16 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, and won the Cy Young Award. He wasn’t on my fantasy baseball team that year, and I wasn’t a Royals fan, but I was rooting for Zack Greinke’s success because I learned that, like me, he had social anxiety disorder. Continue reading
I love podcasts. I’ve learned more from free podcasts than I did from a $200,000 college education. There’s a podcast for literally every topic under the sun. Actually, there’s about twelve for every topic under the sun. A podcast can be broad or extremely specific. It’s basically radio on-demand. You listen to exactly what you want, exactly when you want to. And it’s completely free–except for the Audible and Stamps.com commercials that sponsor just about every podcast, though you can skip over them, anyway. While there are some podcasts I listen to for pure entertainment value, I listen to many more podcasts to learn. Continue reading
When I told my doctor that the antidepressant medication he prescribed me wasn’t really helping my social anxiety, he suggested I go see a psychologist for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in conjunction with the medication. That sounded fair enough, except, because the medication didn’t work, I still had severe social anxiety, so I was too shy to contact a therapist. Continue reading
Some call it social anxiety, others call it social phobia. Both terms refer to the same fear of social situations and are often used interchangeably, but I used to always only call it social anxiety. Continue reading
Ever since I learned that social anxiety disorder was a thing, I’ve been in search of the Holy Grail. The instant cure. A magic pill that would get rid of my shyness and make me “normal.” Continue reading
What’s it about?: Choking Man is a psychological drama about Jorge, a young Ecuadorian immigrant with extreme social anxiety who works as a dishwasher in a Greek diner in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The story basically follows Jorge and his interactions with his diner co-workers, including an overbearing extroverted cook and a pretty Chinese waitress. Continue reading
As someone trying to overcome social anxiety, I often seek out information to learn more about the disorder. I read websites, blogs, books, interviews, listen to podcasts, audio books, and watch Youtube videos and documentaries. And since movies have always been my first love, I’ve naturally searched for films about social anxiety, as well. Continue reading
Many therapists and psychological experts say that our social anxiety fear of being judged by others is irrational. That people aren’t really thinking the negative things about us that we believe they are. While it’s true, you can never know what another person is thinking, we can’t ignore the fact that people do judge other people, often negatively. I know, because I do it myself. When I see someone do or say something foolish, I’ll negatively judge them— find them stupid, weird, or whatever else. Which is exactly what I and others with social anxiety are so afraid of other people doing to us. The irrationality of social anxiety comes with how much importance we give to those negative judgements of others. Continue reading
I’ve seen and read a lot of interviews where people talk about when they first developed social anxiety. For some, it was high school. Others, once they reached puberty. Or when they left home for college. But me? I don’t get that. Social anxiety isn’t something I developed. I’ve been debilitatingly shy for my entire life, or at least as long as I can remember. Continue reading
T.Z. Barry 