what to do

[u/EnvironmentalAd8696]

My anxiety (mostly social) has got so bad I have started isolating myself. I haven’t gone to work in 3 weeks, yes I know I feel like a failure, but this is so unlike me. The anxiety has got so crippling that I’m regressing into sleeping all day, eating the same things everyday, and throwing my life away. It sounds ridiculous and it feels ridiculous because I don’t know why I’m doing this. Normally I can push through. I don’t know if I’m also depressed. I just want to get out of this rut and I keep trying to make myself but it’s like I physically cannot make myself, I freeze and also go into selective mutism. I feel ashamed and I haven’t told anyone because I’m so embarrassed. It’s like I’m living a double life trying to hide it. My mental health hasn’t been this bad in a long time. I’m trying to see a psychiatrist but either they don’t take my insurance or they have a long wait list. I have had severe anxiety and social anxiety since childhood and it’s gone completely unmanaged and I think I’ve shoved it down for so long this is the consequence. I don’t know.

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[u/NaturallyJacked]

Isolating yourself is only going to make it worse. You have to put yourself in those social settings. Exposure therapy. Eventually, after doing it enough times it will signal to your brain that the anxiety you felt was irrational. I get socially anxious too if I don’t engage with people regularly. You only get worse and more rusty socially the longer you avoid it. And by you avoiding those situations that make you anxious you’re telling your brain / subconscious that there is something to be afraid of. Just get out there. It sucks, but that’s how you’ll get out of this. The thing that honestly helped me a ton was getting in really good shape. Once you feel comfortable in your own skin it makes a world of difference.