Completely!!

[LA323]

do u think that once uve had SA, u can COMPLETELY, but i mean, just simply make it vanish, like if u didnt even have it in the 1st place, because i think that once uve had SA, u can lower the symptoms and get rid of it to some extent, but i think that ull still feel afraid of it, and u will still have it in ur consious,and be afraid of it coming back, so i think that it wouldnt b possible to COMPLETELY!! get rid of it, dont think that im a hopeless ass motherfuker, but i think that way, do any of u?????

 

[tommydog]

im actually not quite to sure.

what i will say is the differences in the way you think, depending on you level of mental health even on a day by day basis, can be absolutely tremendous just remember that. Some days i find it hard to have much beyong gloomy depressing thoughts .. and others its almost impossible for me to be negative at all .. so just because thats what you think atm, dosnt make it true. have hope

i got some great advice in a recent thread i made entitled "im on a bit of a downer" check it out

 

[Anonymous]

I believe you can completely get rid of the anxiety.
Sp might reamin in your memory as something u used to have in the past but that's all, just in the oblivion of memory.
As soon as you live in the present the SP memory will get weaker and weaker. So i do think you can completely erase the irrational anxiety and with more time the memory of having SP.

Now LA, after reading some of ur posts i found u complex, since u seem to deal life with people such as friends and a gf. Have u ever think that u might have just GAD, generalized anxiety disorder instead of SP. wich in any case u can have both. However i think you just need to focus and try on what is really bringin you down. otherwise u need medicines to threat the depression caused by drugs or wathever is causin it. good luck.

 

[Chilling__Echo]

i don't think it's possible. i feel like it's something in our genes. something like this can only be coped with, not "cured" . we can't completely reformat our brains. however, i do believe that it is possible to rid ourselves of the anxiety, i'm not sure how we'd feel in public or in our situations, but i do believe that it's possible to live a normal life like anyone else, symptoms almost completely wiped out. you could go to chronic SA rather than full throttle SA :wink:

 

[richkid]

I don't think it will every go away completely thats unnatural. You can be too confident or have severe SP the trick is to be balanced. Fear is there for a reason its a reaction to an event creating the fight or filght syndrome. You have learned to be a particular way through how you see the world . The world is how you make it!

Sounds good doesn't it! But as I'm discovering the need to be one thing clouds another. I want to be confident but in an idealistic where I don't say or do anything out of place it ain't going happen and I'm slowly appreicating this.
People say just be yourself for the simple reason you can't be anyone else and why would you!

 

[Nightshade]

Over my life I have had other anxieties that have come and largely gone. When I was a teenager I used to hear every tiny noise in the house at night and thought they were people breaking in (or I rationally thought it unlikely that it really was someone breaking in, but I reacted emotionally as if it was). For a year I actually slept in my mother's bed like I was about 4 - it was the only way I could sleep at all. Also I couldn't be home alone even during the day and even for a few minutes, I would just lock myself in the bathroon with a cricket bat, terrified the moment I heard a sound.

Eventually this got better, and it was really bad only for a year or so (after my father left and the house was burgled, so I had reasons to be not so good emotionally), but it persisted until I was in my mid twenties at a much lower level, and I still occasionally remember it when I am in a house alone at night. Although I have a flatmate at the moment, I spent about 5 years living in flats on my own and I really enjoyed it and didn't spend my nights in terror - so even if I have occasional nevousness, I can say that that anxiety problem is well and truly gone.

Also for as long as I can remember I was terrified of people crying, except babies and very young children. I started overcoming this fear at about 15. Now I'm pretty much fine with it, but again, sometimes I have to remind myself what to do.

So all my life I have had irrational fears, probably to the level that could be called phobias, although I never received any specific treatment until a few months ago (I have been on medication for years, but that was specifically for my depression problems). Because I have got over other fears, I believe I can beat my social phobia. But I don't think for me it will just vanish. I'm a really rational person in many respects, but overly strong "fight or flight" and irrational fears seem to be a part of me.

I also think that it is possible that I might develop another phobia later on. That would really piss me off, I have to say, but it wouldn't be the end of the world, likely I would recognise it developing, and know how to treat it. The second time I recovered from depression, and when I discovered that many of my genetic relatives also had mental illness problems, I realised that it was probably going to happen again, but it just isn't such a big deal or a disaster any more.

So this is a roundabout way of saying, I'm not sure that the fear will go completely, but I have confidence that I could reach a level where it isn't a problem. Also I agree with Richkid that there is a balance, a bit of fear is healthy and normal.