To All Social Phobics: Please Read (The Cure)...

creznor · Newbie User Joined: Dec 18, 2007 Posts: 20

My Social Anxiety = cured.

As a former social anxiety sufferer & member of this forum... I believe that I should enlighten you all on how I recently cured my social anxiety. I've been a member of this forum for several months and asked for some help last January - when I was at rock bottom.

I used to suffer from social anxiety & depression, and let me start off by saying that I'd researched the disorder for years, taken medication for months, been to countless psychiatrists and doctors... and even after all of that, I used to think that my mind was just too powerful to ever tap into; that nobody would ever understand me; and that I was going to live in misery forever.

A few months ago, I was skimming through a social anxiety forum (like I always did on my lonely Saturday nights), and saw that someone had recommended the book: Self-Coaching: The Powerful Program To Beat Anxiety & Depression. I briefly read the name of it and was naturally skeptic at first - it sounded very gimmicky. Regardless, I decided to get some info. on it by looking it up on Amazon.com.

When I read the preface of the general idea in the description, that "our thoughts and interpretations of events determined our moods and feelings," it was almost like having an epiphany. Those words were so true to me, because it was something that I had become aware of and had been thinking about before. The only problem was, I always believed that I would never be able to "break the cycle" and change, because I didn't know what to do.

In a nutshell, the author of the book I just mentioned - Dr. Luciani - is not only aware of it, but he masterfully explains the concept to you, and then tells you how to eliminate (by starving) the "negative reflexive thoughts (the root of social anxiety)" with something called Self-talk. It takes discipline and motivation, but Luciani places emphasis on these aspects of healing, because he knows that anxiety/depressed-prone people can easily be susceptible to it if they aren't consistent. After a while, the "directed positive thoughts" will become automatic and replace the negative ones, ultimately influencing your oulook on life, how you feel, and how you affect other people.

Depressed people dwell on thoughts of the past, while anxious ones (social phobics included) have their minds clogged with thoughts anticipating the future. The goal is to live a "reactive life" - a life that's in the moment, where there are no insecurity-driven thoughts clogging your mind and distorting your perception of life. It might seem like a complicated concept to grasp, but I promise you that it'll make so much sense after you experience it first-handedly.

In my humble opinion, this is the single most amazing book I've ever read, bar none. It's so simple, but so unexplainably powerful if you follow it. I am dead serious when I say that the world would be a much more peaceful place if everyone on earth read it. I would give everything I own to the author for the happiness that I've acquired after reading this book. My social anxiety is cured.

Just my sentiments. The book again, is called Self-Coaching: The Powerful Program To Beat Anxiety And Depression, and you can buy it any where books are sold. The author (Dr. Joseph Luciani) has his own forum you can goto (self-coaching.net/forums) where he answers your own personal questions, and is on every day. He's probably the most compassionate psychologist I've ever seen.

The book has completely altered the way I look at life. I feel like I'm high on my endorphins.

Good luck!

Chris