Is Online Interaction Helpful to Those with Social Anxiety?

[Ballaurena]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but this sounds like a definition from someone who hasn't experienced anxiety, so doesn't understand the exaggerated emotional response to one's thoughts.

Just wanting to be clear and not sure how to truly 'edit,' I should have said "this sounds like a definition from someone who hasn't experienced CLINICAL anxiety," for I think a lot of confusion comes from people who don't understand that there is a significant difference between the two. For surely everyone has experienced a FEELING of anxiety at some point. That isn't the same thing.

Also, an additional thought in the form of a question: Would a perfect person never experience any feelings of anxiety? I can't say I know for sure in part because I don't know how to properly characterize Jesus' emotions in the garden of Gethsemane, but even if a perfect person like Jesus would not ever feel anxious, there is only one of those in existence so the significance of clinical anxiety remains.

Also (I'm sorry! God made me a voice and I consequently tend to have a lot to say), God has in the past year revealed via someone I love very much, that some people have so much psychological/spiritual damage from childhood that it cannot be repaired in this lifetime. Therefore it is important for us as Christians to respect that and not judge others improperly, or to torment them with unrealistic expectations.

Even for those who can be helped in this lifetime, it isn't simple. I have a friend who was miraculously healed of bipolar disorder, and she has said that all the psychological tools they had tried to teach her were ineffective UNTIL her healing.

 

[jennymae]

I’m glad you shared this. I have Complex PTSD, anxiety and depression. In addition I have a life threatening medical condition.

Everything I’ve ever been afraid of is manifesting itself like a twister.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Karlon]

Huh? Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but this sounds like a definition from someone who hasn't experienced anxiety, so doesn't understand the exaggerated emotional response to one's thoughts. Yes, faith and keeping one's priorities in life straight help, but clinical anxiety isn't primarily a result of unhealthy thinking, but rather the result of the system itself that mediates these things being calibrated wrong.

When I was an undiagnosed anxiety sufferer in high school, I was determined not to let my 'shyness' get the best of me. Therefore instead of running from my ailment, I signed up for speech and debate class. Now I could force myself to go up front and speak, but I couldn't make my body stop shaking like a jackhammer - it was utterly beyond my control. This isn't a perfect example of what I'm talking about, but perhaps it will help demonstrate how disconnected the results can be from the thoughts and intentions of someone with a condition like anxiety or depression.

that sounds like an honest intelligent explanation. nice job with that. i never experienced anxiety. but my brothers & i lived thru hell growing up because of the almost daily beatings mentally, physically & spiritually. it was quite catastrophic! i think i have a higher than normal tolerance for being mistreated than most people & that's the source of my strength & after i became a born again Christian, Jesus is now my strength. but i always tried to heal my own problems by myself thru deep thinking backed with wisdom & patience & it always works. i have never seen a doctor for anything. i will pray for you. blessings to you Ballaurena!

 

[Lynx]

Just wanting to be clear and not sure how to truly 'edit,' I should have said "this sounds like a definition from someone who hasn't experienced CLINICAL anxiety," for I think a lot of confusion comes from people who don't understand that there is a significant difference between the two. For surely everyone has experienced a FEELING of anxiety at some point. That isn't the same thing.

Also, an additional thought in the form of a question: Would a perfect person never experience any feelings of anxiety? I can't say I know for sure in part because I don't know how to properly characterize Jesus' emotions in the garden of Gethsemane, but even if a perfect person like Jesus would not ever feel anxious, there is only one of those in existence so the significance of clinical anxiety remains.

Also (I'm sorry! God made me a voice and I consequently tend to have a lot to say), God has in the past year revealed via someone I love very much, that some people have so much psychological/spiritual damage from childhood that it cannot be repaired in this lifetime. Therefore it is important for us as Christians to respect that and not judge others improperly, or to torment them with unrealistic expectations.

Even for those who can be helped in this lifetime, it isn't simple. I have a friend who was miraculously healed of bipolar disorder, and she has said that all the psychological tools they had tried to teach her were ineffective UNTIL her healing.

This is both nosy and off topic, but... What church do you go to? Not the specific church name, but what kind of church?

Because you talk like somebody who, in this region, would be a Pentecostal.

And since this is nosy there is no reason you have to answer, and since this is off topic there is every reason you can ignore it completely if you want.

 

[Cold]

Oh, interesting topic. I can tell from personal experience that online interactions never helped me with in person communication but I don't know if that would be true for most other people. I had many reasons that talking with people was difficult, but I can share a few.

One reason I had difficulty talking was that I tend to focus on background noise rather than on one single sound. So if someone was standing only 2 feet away and talking to me I would be overwhelmed with all the other voices and random noises form machinery etc. It actually made it almost impossible to hear what the person in front of me was saying so I had to keep asking people to repeat themselves. That led me to already dislike the conversation because I've always hated repeating myself. I got to the point that hearing the words in my mind that I was about to speak felt like I already said them, thus I didn't want to repeat them out loud lol.

Online interactions through typing was always a lot easier since I never felt like I was having to say the words multiple times. Being clumsy when I was younger also made me uncomfortable in public and around people because I always felt like I was somehow going to break things or knock things over. Having a growth spurt from a short kid to a 6'3 13 year old took me years to adjust to for some reason. I broke plenty of door handles while opening doors as well as hit my head on door frames or just accidentally kicked things cause my shoe size went way up. It didn't help that I was walking on egg shells around my father when I was younger, that just added to the panic and discomfort. There are plenty more

There are many more reason I can think of but those seem to be the most odd ones so I chose those lol. The main factor would still obviously be the mental issue of anxiety.