

Behavioral reprogramming (overcoming social anxiety) - naner
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/hiyzl/24_year_old_who_suffered_social_anxiety_his/c1vrssp

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ryduh
This was a long read but very inspiring. While I don't have social anxiety at
the level that he did, I still am anxious in some social environments. It was
refreshing to read about someone getting past social anxiety. I'll be using
some of the assignments as inspiration for my own life. First assignment,
leave the house (I work from home) and talk to a stranger every day.

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Joakal
I asked several psychiatrists if a person with lack of social skills was a
mental issue with an example of Tarzan in city. They asked what mental illness
that Tarzan had. Tarzan was completely healthy, just didn't meet anyone else.
They said no and just offered generic advice to overcoming social issues.

So far, there's no official social training short of the advice: "Go meet
people, club, etc."

The reason that this is important is that I believe social therapy is going to
get more important as computer use becomes more and more common. These people
are going to get exploited through unofficial help resources by social
experts.

eg <https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Romance_scam>

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johnnyjustice
I just wanted you to clarify, how you feel about the methods used in the OP?

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Joakal
OP's condition said it was social anxiety than social awkwardness to which my
post was asking for a more overall solution to social issues.

To answer your question, I think his sessions were pretty beneficial but I
think missed one thing that I believe therapists should be aware, some
socially awkward people are oblivious. There's body language [0], there's ways
of talking about or asking for things (don't do it directly sometimes) [1],
etc. Some people can't magically overcome that when meeting people but I
believe they can learn (at risk of exacerbating their self-consciousness).

[0] How Do You Use Body Language to Read Minds?;
[http://www.chacha.com/content/infographics/how-do-you-use-
bo...](http://www.chacha.com/content/infographics/how-do-you-use-body-
language-to-read-minds) (It's said to be inaccurate, I'm not sure either)

[1] RSA Animate - Language as a Window into Human Nature;
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-son3EJTrU>

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nitrogen
Reading this from Tajimoto's (the OP) perspective makes everything he's doing
seem almost impossible. Maybe it's just me adding my own experiences to the
mix, amplified by the storytelling, but I can actually feel the anxiety coming
through the story.

The sympathetic nervous system overload is an interesting explanation for the
efficacy of the repeated exposure method of "hacking" fear. Can anyone with a
medical background comment on the accuracy of this explanation?

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hasenj
I really doubt that that's the reason. It's more like a reverse-conditioning
imo. Your subconscious adjusts the "fear level" so to speak by lowering it a
little bit every time it notices that the situation is less dangerous than it
thought before.

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ctide
It's amusing to me that the second thing she had him do was sing in front of a
crowd. I essentially did the same thing, using karaoke to shed social anxiety.
While I certainly wasn't at the level of this guy to begin with, I can
guarantee you the first time I ever did karaoke at a bar I was shaking pretty
violently, and I had to be extremely drunk to even consider it. Now? I can go
up completely sober and really not think twice about it, and the social
anxiety I used to feel in most social situations very rarely rears it's head.

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derrida
If anyone lives in Sydney and wants to get over their social anxiety, email
me. I am extremely open minded.

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pavel_lishin
Does anyone understand what the fuck losethos was talking about?

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forensic
he's bipolar and in a manic phase by the looks of it.

