Before being diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia, I was diagnosed with severe Social Phobia. In fairness, I have always tried to hide the fact that I have delusions, so until recently, my diagnosis wasn’t correct. My current psychiatrist said that my “social phobic” symptoms were much to severe to simply be a phobia.
I’m confused about what’s the difference between fear of social interaction, where you are a afraid of being embarrassed (social phobia), and the paranoia that comes with Schizophrenia. I’m assuming you can have both, right? Or is the fear of social interaction simply a part of Schizophrenia’s paranoia?
Oh my God, even this post is confusing!
I’ll ask my psychiatrist on the next visit, but I wanted to get other’s thoughts.
I ask myself the same questions. At 13 I had a severe case of agoraphobia, I was too deep in my fantasy world and the world outside seemed harsh and cold and I didn’t want to take part in it, so I was afraid of other people and missed school for a month. Then I was forced to go to school and my social phobias started, I was always a shy kid. Then my teenage years, and found alcohol and drugs to help me be social so I took refuge in them. Then it all came crashing down and now, sober and medicated, I’m still affraid of others and of conversation. I went through a phase when I was really outgoing, but I think that I was like that because I was manic or drunk. Now I tend to stay home more and I’m not so extroverted as I was before.
Don’t know why all this happened to me, but I think it has to do with the illness. For sure.
I don’t know about in your “real” life, but you interact with people very well on here. So kudos for that! Luckily for me, I never had issues with drugs and alcohol. Congratulations on your sobriety.
The funny thing about me, is that if we met in person, you’d never know that I suffered from any type of mental illness (I hate the term mental illness). And I’m very good with people in person. But, I rarely interact with others.
You’ve obviously been on here longer than I have, so do you pick up that many people with SZ have trouble with or don’t like to socially interact with others in person?
You don’t have to answer this, but are you a man or a woman? It doesn’t matter, but I just like to get a picture in my mind of who I’m talking with.
Well in real life I’m a great pretender, I can pretend to be fine and have a laugh but it sucks my soul. I put a fake smile every day. I learned to do that after my agoraphobia incident.
And looking at me you’d never say I have a mental illness either. My pdoc said I’m a normie, medicated.
And yeah, a lot of us, if not all, have issues with social interactions, on one degree or another.
I think a sz has been so socially disappointed by phonies that he is saying to the world, I’m not going to bother. Someone who simply fears sociability may just be shy, immature and unpracticed.
I am not dxed with sz(a former diagnosis) but experience paranoia and quite severe social anxiety… I experience both the fear of being embarrassed and the fear of hostile and hurtful reactions(a throwback to being bulled and socially rejected in my teens). I think they feed off each other.
That’s the way I interpret it. I always thought that schizophrenia includes other symptoms besides social phobia. You can have social phobia and not be psychotic. Being psychotic goes hand in hand with schizophrenia.
