You CAN recover from Social Phobia

[Anonymous]

Hi, I thought some of you might be interested in my recovery story. I suffered badly from Social Phobia, but I eventually overcame it by attending group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I no longer have any of the symptoms of SP, despite having suffered from it for over 30 years. I also developed a bad alcohol problem as a result of self-medicating to deal with social situations. This was bad enough to end in my being placed in a detox unit and a rehab centre. Alcoholism too, I overcame using CBT.

Recently Sarah Edelman, a well-known Australian psychologist and author heard of my success story and has written an article about how I overcame this disorder. The article has not appeared yet, but I have posted a draft version on the Internet for anyone who would like to read it. I thought perhaps it might provide some inspiration for those who have this condition, and offer direct evidence that Social Phobia can be successfully treated. Sarah has authorized me to re-print it online.

If you are interested you can view it here: www.angelfire.com/oz/socialphobia/

Here is a link to another story written about my recovery which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald recently:
www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/02/1056825460768.html

There are a few inaccuracies in this story (I had SP from about the age of 5, not since my teens as suggested in this story).

All the best,

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing your encouraging story with us. It's evident you are a brave, courageous, and determined individual! You also seem very fortunate to have found a dedicated & caring therapist as well, which is quite a rarity. I wish you indefinite continued success with your endeavors!

I imagine you are getting a great deal of 'fan email' because I wrote to your email address 'click on' but my email was returned a few days later with the following message:

Persistent Transient Failure: Delivery time expired
Delivery last attempted at 5 Jul 2004 0:19:07 +0000

 

[ella]

I also had the same problem,so you`re probably right Guest.
Congrats from me too Andy!I`m sorry I couldn`t reach you since my life story is very similar to yours,so I thought we could share some present experiences.Anyway,I hope we`ll meet some day,over the mail ofcourse.