Drinking

[IamSAD]

I need a little advice. I find that drinking greatly alleviates my social anxiety. I have drunk a lot in the past, with friends and such, but now I am thinking of drinking before I get into social situations. For one thing, I have never been able to get a girlfriend because of shyness, and I think that if I had a few drinks before I went on a date, then I would loosen up and maybe say something. Do you guys think this type of self medicating is a good idea, especially at my age (17 years old). It is illegal and I could get in a lot of trouble at my boarding school for doing it, but it is a risk that I am willing to take, if it will get me out of my dorm. Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[young]

underage drinking could get you in a lot of trouble. I've even heard of people getting their license revoked cause of it.

While drinking would alleviate some of your stress issues, that would only be a temporary fix. There are other ways to increas your social life, than drinking. Plus your body will thank you.

Oh and as an add on, drinking has been known to trigger anxiety symptoms.

 

[4myself]

Please, please don't!. I went down the same path for the same reason and all it does is mess your life up. I know dealing with sp without self medicating is more difficult but it is the way to go if you dont want to risk ending up with an addiction.

 

[JJenny]

NO! Drinking is just another symptom of avoidance and ultimately exacerbates your problems. It takes you further away from who you truly are. Acceptance of yourself and courageously reaching out for help regardless of the fear of being judged as weak is the way to go, not down the road of more self denial cos that's why we get in the cycle of social fear for a start. Acceptance - try it instead of alcohol. Be brave, drinking is not brave.

 

[Chilaxin17]

Hey man,

I really don't recommend doing that. I know exactly what you mean by it loosening you up though. I have done this before with females that I would normally be a little nervous before and it does help a lot, but it's not a good habit to get into.

Just imagine being dependant on drinking just to get into a social situation. That would be so tough and make your situation even worse when you realize that you have to resort to that.

Please try to refrain from doing that. I'm sure over time you will figure out other more natural ways to ease your nervousness

 

[Hurricane]

Ive read once about a research that stated that when you're drunk, your symptoms of SA/shyness, etc are even worse, it's just that you don't care and realise it anymore...

 

[skins]

DONT DO IT!!! it messes your life up. i drink way too much and have learnt many a hard lesson over the course of my life. some of my drinking experiances have been the worst moments in my life. for starters comming down from heavy drinking can be be the worst feeling you can experiance sometimes, and i'm not talking about hangovers i'm talking about the deep feelings of depression it leaves you with while sobering up, a living hell, Alcohol is a depressant! which is not good for some1 with sp. it has left me feeling very suicidal before. Point 2, if you are intoxicated while socialising you might end up saying something very regretful, something that you would normally not even dream of mentioning to anyone, something that you would normally be so embarrased to say in public which leaves you feeling much worse when you finally sober up and realise what you just said (has happened to me and is not something a sp sufferer takes very well). point 3 the false sence of social confidence you feel while drinking MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, all it really means is that you are missing that oportunity to improve your social skills because you will learn nothing about improving your social skills while being intoxicated, it just doesn't work like that. on the positive side however alcohol can help you overcome your shyness or social arkwardness in situations like pubs, clubs and parties etc which would normally prevent you from meeting ppl.....and in those situation, when others are normally drinking aswell it is ok...but just don't start relying on it on other situations like simply meeting someone or whatever as you will start to need it for everything and before you know it your going backward not forward with your sp....... now if only i can live by my own advice :roll: good day

 

[nerdgirl178]

I think its okay to drink social situations, don't drink too much!

 

[veryshy]

only on occasion, especially at your age. DONT make it your social medicine. Cuase in my experiance, the more I drank, the more alcohol it took to make me loosen up, the more alcohol the more messed up I get. Plus it never really worked helping me meet girls.