Archive for the 'Diagnosing' Category
Social Anxiety Assessments
July 10th, 2006 by Ryan Oelke
When I realized that I struggled with social anxiety I never took any sort of formal assessment. My assessment was picking up Painfully Shy and reading it, experiencing “a-ha’s!” one after the other. I wonder how many others have had the same experience? I really didn’t need anyone to give me a formal assessment. However, assessments are great because they do help to narrow the possibilities, and if someone struggles with a mental health disorder, the assessment is a learning process in and of itself.
Out of the social anxiety assessments listed on our resource page, I found Painfully Shy’s SAD self-assessment to be the most thorough, and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale to be the best attempt at a more scientific approach. Painfully Shy’s assessment covers fears, avoidance behaviors, and physical symptoms. Taking it again gave me both a positive rush and a little bit of anxiety. A rush because I feel like I have perspective on what happens for me; anxiety because it focuses me on the problem, when I usually try to “ignore” it. Taking an assessment pushes me to embrace my social anxiety and to do something about it rather than simply avoid situations and attempt to deny my feelings.
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Initial Overwhelm
June 29th, 2006 by Aaron
When I finally picked up and read Painfully Shy: How to Overcome Social Anxiety and Reclaim Your Life (which I would recommend to anyone) I was floored. I was not expecting to have so obvious a case of SAD. I felt an immediate sense of relief. Here finally was a chance to see clearly what was going on.
But when I started to talk about SAD, when I started a journal to examine my history and record incidences, something shifted. I realized I was not dealing with isolated anxious moments but a constant presence. I began to feel overwhelmed.
Avoidant Personality Disorder and Social Anxiety
June 26th, 2006 by Ryan Oelke
Many of us, myself included, might meet the diagnoses for Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD) and Social Anxiety. When looking at the criteria for both, you’ll see that while they’re not identical, they do seem to be in the same ballpark. As a person who does fit both disorders, I wonder if they should be treated similarly or separately? Does one have different implications over the other? Let’s take a look at these two disorders, and as we go I’ll share a little about my own experiences. (You’ll notice little footnotes throughout the post. Click on the number to get more information.)
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