Social Anxiety Support Forum banner

How do I get rid of my severe anxiety/depression?

485 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Duplo
I am a 31 year old Indian male with severe anxiety. I am unmarried. I find it extremely challenging to concentrate at work and more often than not procrastinate assignments or end up doing silly mistakes. I do get disturbed by things easily and have been getting suicidal thoughts on and off for a decade now. I have never been on medication for the same.

I have had a foot fetish ever since I can remember. Over the last few years it has gone out of hand. I watch foot fetish content for hours everyday and am still not satisfied at the end of the day. The more anxious I get throughout the day, the more time I devote to watching foot fetish content. It is a vicious cycle that I am finding impossible to break since the last 3 years now. On the contrary, it is becoming worse day after day.

I have always had very low confidence in general but was an above average student academically in school and college. I vivdly remember asking a lot of questions until I was 15-16 years of age and used to be an inquisitive kid. I used to participate a lot in plays, debates etc until I was 10 years old and soon after stage fright seeped in and I stopped participating in extra curricular activities. In the last 5 years, whateever little confidence I was left with, has nearly vanished. The situation is so bad that I choke even if I have to speak in a small group of strangers. This is slowly resulting into me completely cutting off from the society/people.

I have been a recluse for most part of my life and at present have nobody to talk to or share my feelings with. Due to my foot fetish, I have always been in awe of women and have fantasies about serving them etc. Due to my social anxiety/awkwardness, women have always been disinterested in me or maintained their distance from me. It is another concern that I am grappling with.

I do have interest in reading about stock markets and investments but my anxiety doesn't let me go in depth of it. I am fidgety most of the time, talk to myself a lot (a lot of which is completely unnecessary and fictional, but I can't stop myself) and find it extremely difficult to concentrate at anything for more than a few minutes. Eventually, I get fed up of whatever I am doing and quit.

I started losing my hair at the age of 19 and am almost bald now. Being brown and skinny doesn't help much to my appearance either. On the top of it I am pessimistic in general and look at things in a very negative manner. I want to be around people and have a network/circle of my own but my negative thought process doesn't resonate with that of people around me (most of whom seem to be so focused, confident, ambitious etc etc), and they maintain a safe distance from me almost immediately after our first interaction.

My parents are almost 60 and are quite conservative in their thinking. They want me to get married but I am not ready for it. Being their only child and their health getting deterioated with age, I am not able to discuss about my state of mind with them openly. I end up making some lame excuses about not getting married to some random girl and they get really disturbed and begin to blackmail me emotionally.

All the aforesaid things are slowly piling up and forcing me to go in a direction where I don't want to head. I have narrowly escaped that route once in the past and want it to be that way for the rest of my life . At 31, I already find myself so lost that even a 16 year old seems to be a lot more enlightened and intelligent than me. My self esteem and confidence are non existent today and it will be some millionth time when I will be considering to start all over again (if at all I would).

I am not sure if anyone will be reading this patiently and get even the slightest idea about my plight (I hate gaining sympathy but whatever), but I am posting this anyways as in some cases hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies.
See less See more
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
Your write clearly, articulately and it is obvious to anyone who reads your post that you are intelligent, perhaps above average/or a high level. Yet almost nowhere in your post do you speak of these things or mention them.


Its almost all bad with you, isn’t it? Well, that simply is not true. And it never will be true either.

You see, for people affected by SA and other anxieties, they tend to overly emphasise (sometimes strongly) their perceived concerns, troubles, anxieties, viewpoints and especially, how they compare with other people. They also express themselves with absolutes - always & never, when life is not really like that.

But you have no actual knowledge about other people, without spending time with them and seeing for yourself what they are like. Other people’s apparent confidence, focus, energy, etc., is just that - apparent. It is from your viewpoint that you are determining your belief/feelings about them. How other people seem to you is not a fact though and it never will be a fact. It is just a perception and a perception from someone who feels inferior, so your perception is most likely false. But you are not actually inferior and you never will be, for what this word expresses is not a real thing that anyone can see and test. And it never will be.

Not only are you determining untrue things about other people without actually knowing them, you are also doing so with the mindset of believing you are inferior while other people are superior and also, that other people who you assess are like they are all of the time. Do those people get scared? Do they feel anxious sometimes? Do they sometimes feel not confident? Do they get rejected? Do they have doubts? Do they feel lonely? Do they feel inadequate? Do they feel they are inferior and see others as superior? The answer to all of these questions is probably yes, at least sometimes.

You can assume that there are other “brown” men who are bald, but do you think all of those men lack confidence, feel inferior, worry about how they appear to females? Do you think all females would find those men unattractive? Then ask yourself the same questions for skinny ‘brown” men and then skinny bald “brown” men. It is simply not possible that all skinny “brown” men are unappealing to females but also, that you seem to be ignoring the well known aspect that most women do not place nearly as much emphasis on men's appearance as men do on women's appearance - and nowhere near as much. So there will be skinny brown men who are attractive to females, as well as some of those men feeling confident, focused, being calm and enjoying life.

What’s the difference between those skinny “brown” men and you?

Most likely that, at least, they don’t give attention to the thoughts that you have and they do not believe in the thoughts that you do. They choose not to dwell on those things that might not be right for them in life and focus on what they can do and what they like in life. You can be such a person too, if you want that and your world would transform, perhaps quite quickly.
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: 3
Your write clearly, articulately and it is obvious to anyone who reads your post that you are intelligent, perhaps above average/or a high level. Yet almost nowhere in your post do you speak of these things or mention them.


Its almost all bad with you, isn’t it? Well, that simply is not true. And it never will be true either.

You see, for people affected by SA and other anxieties, they tend to overly emphasise (sometimes strongly) their perceived concerns, troubles, anxieties, viewpoints and especially, how they compare with other people. They also express themselves with absolutes - always & never, when life is not really like that.

But you have no actual knowledge about other people, without spending time with them and seeing for yourself what they are like. Other people’s apparent confidence, focus, energy, etc., is just that - apparent. It is from your viewpoint that you are determining your belief/feelings about them. How other people seem to you is not a fact though and it never will be a fact. It is just a perception and a perception from someone who feels inferior, so your perception is most likely false. But you are not actually inferior and you never will be, for what this word expresses is not a real thing that anyone can see and test. And it never will be.

Not only are you determining untrue things about other people without actually knowing them, you are also doing so with the mindset of believing you are inferior while other people are superior and also, that other people who you assess are like they are all of the time. Do those people get scared? Do they feel anxious sometimes? Do they sometimes feel not confident? Do they get rejected? Do they have doubts? Do they feel lonely? Do they feel inadequate? Do they feel they are inferior and see others as superior? The answer to all of these questions is probably yes, at least sometimes.

You can assume that there are other “brown” men who are bald, but do you think all of those men lack confidence, feel inferior, worry about how they appear to females? Do you think all females would find those men unattractive? Then ask yourself the same questions for skinny ‘brown” men and then skinny bald “brown” men. It is simply not possible that all skinny “brown” men are unappealing to females but also, that you seem to be ignoring the well known aspect that most women do not place nearly as much emphasis on men's appearance as men do on women's appearance - and nowhere near as much. So there will be skinny brown men who are attractive to females, as well as some of those men feeling confident, focused, being calm and enjoying life.

What’s the difference between those skinny “brown” men and you?

Most likely that, at least, they don’t give attention to the thoughts that you have & which you choose to give attention to and they do not believe in the thoughts that you do. They choose not to dwell on those things that might not be right for them in life and focus on what they can do and what they like in life. You can be such a person too, if you want that and your world would transform, perhaps quite quickly.
Thanks a lot for taking out time and writing such an insightful answer. Maybe sub consciously I was wanting to read something similar. Your answer has given me a fresh perspective to look at things, which is a good thing I guess. Thanks again.
  • Like
Reactions: 2
0) You can try nlp exercises, meditation, breathing techniques, visualisation. You can read books on this subject and there is a wealth of resources on the internet, youtube regarding this subject.

1) Relax, imagine you're just observing or there as a traveller. For example, if you are on holiday, you go there to experience and observe the attraction, you're not going to get anxious doing that are you?

2) Smile, smiling in contagious.

3) Be confident, respect yourself, accept yourself, work out, wear good clothes, feel good, focus on your passions, know you are a good person who treats people well, you have got as much right as everyone else.

Think positively, be proud of yourself, do things that make you happy, remember your happy times, what makes you confident? What makes you proud? Do you have a skill you are good at? Do things like cooking, driving, learning that increases your confidence daily. Relax.

Have good posture, body language, improve your appearance. Be happy with yourself.

4) Dress well, have good grooming, hairstyle, have good posture.

5) Just say hi or hey to people in your vicinity, who cares if they don't say anything back?

6) Ask how they are, how's everything, how's it going, what's the latest, what made them choose this course, their plans for the future, their plans for the rest of the day, weekend, how was their weekend, their day, what they will get up to, what they got up to, ask them about their hobbies, talk about what's happening. You could read up on current affairs.

Talk about the weather or did you see that sports game? Just mingle with them,

Compliment them, say "I like your jacket".

If you know they went on a holiday or somewhere, ask them about it etc.

7) Be passionate about life.

8) In group discussions, relax and talk to someone close or if someone says something you know, you can talk then. Stay relaxed.

9) Lighten up, have a laugh, laugh easily, be friendly, approachable, interested, relaxed.

10) You can write things down and come up with a rational reframed response, keep a journal of your thoughts, reach out to people slowly

-Convo skills:

How are you, hows its going, how been keeping/
what's new, what's the latest/
Wuu2/
How has your day, week/What are your plans/
Charm
Listen//
thread/go on, tell me more///
/relax///,,,
Ask questions about them, open ended///
How was the drive
Living the life/dream
If they want on holiday, you can say how was the holiday
See less See more
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
Top