My interaction skills with other humans are so bad that i need to rehers and plan what i will say.
In every situation. Wether a phone call, niceties with a cashier at a shop or just talking. The only way that a conversation can flow with me involved is if they do all the talking and then i just briefly paraphrase what they’ve said or have a little comment about the subject. It causes so much anxiety in me. I almost never can say more than a couple senstences at a time otherwise it doesnt come out right and i kind of stutter in a way. I wonder what this is? Like brain damage or adhd or somw kind of negative symptom of schizophtenia. Maybe its the pace that people talk at and i cant keep up?
5 Likes
Yea that’s pretty common I think haha. I used to do that a lot…planning what I’d say at shops etc
2 Likes
I stopped interacting with anyone on the phone or in person unless its my psychiatric or medical team.
I just do transactions and don’t bother with small talk or pleasantries. Usually checking out at a pharmacy is just flashing my medical card and waiting for my meds. No Hi or Bye. I engage if there is a problem with my medication refill.
2 Likes
I do this constantly. I hate when things don’t go how I thought they would and I can’t use what I rehearsed.
Social anxiety is the worst.
3 Likes
I avoid social interactions with others just because my brain isn’t sharp enough to do it well.
2 Likes
I hate my doc for telling me to rehearse social interaction as treatment for social anxiety. It never works. I get lost in it. Can’t figure out what to rehearse. And social situations turn out completely different. They are unlikely to turn out according to my mental rehearsal.
2 Likes
Yes. Social situations are dynamic. We can’t predict how they will turn out and rehearse accordingly.
3 Likes
I had this badly when I was in a major depressive episode and my anxiety was at its worst. Constantly going over and over scenarios in my head of how the conversations might go. I would plan how therapy was going to go, what might happen at the grocery store and any time I had something I needed to talk to someone about, like a friend or family member. I was so deep inside my head all the time that I couldn’t function in the here and now properly.
That’s when I found this site. I could converse with people but take my time thinking through what I wanted to say. And if I decided I really didn’t want to say anything I could just cancel and move on.
1 Like
That’s a good strategy, keep it up. I’m a few decades in and doing the same. I’m at the point where I can fool most of the people most of the time now when it comes to socializing.
1 Like
Thanks everyone. @shutterbug yeah most people are fooled by my expert rehersal skills haha. But when it goes wrong it can be embarrasing. I hate choking on my words.
But shouldnt there come a point where we can just say sentences without extreme mental taxation?
I have gotten to where it is less tiring to do F2F interactions, but not to where I don’t have to rehearse ahead at all. Suspect that may be out of my reach in this lifetime.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.