rule

Alcohol

Actually, using alcohol could make the problem worse through classical conditioning. By drinking alcohol every time you get socially anxious, it teaches your body that alcohol is coming. That would make your body get even more anxious to make up for the anxiolytic effect of alcohol. Eventually, not only will you be dealing with social anxiety, but also alcohol cravings. You'd be socially anxious and alcohol dependent.
- I understand all of that, my comment was a joke. But I appreciate you pointing this out for others.
- entirely expected instance name, god bless
Used to think this, and absolutely would have ignored me if someone had said this to me at 25, but quitting booze altogether has really evened out exactly those more extreme feelings.

cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety can have a huge impact. also, learning diaphragmatic breathing helps regulate your stress response and can de-activate the sympathetic nervous system (and re-engage the parasympathetic nervous system). there is also some promising research emerging regarding sensiomotor psychotherapy.

goddamn i should do cbt??
- All therapy is contingent on the quality of the relationship between client and therapist. Thought Records, which are a huge part of formal cbt, can be quite effective in reducing the emotional impact of negative automatic thoughts, which is a very large component of social anxiety.

Is it a new thing? Are people born after 1980 just walking anxiety?

Nope. A very old thing.
People born before 1980 just have other names for it.
- There be ghosts in my system!
  Just kidding I was born in the '80s, I'm walking anxiety.
People with social anxiety born before 1980 didn't have the memes to express themselves
- But were there so many of them?
Like a lot of the problems from the past, you basically figured it out yourself or just went off to die in a corner alone and didn't talk about it.
No, people before were too. They just self medicated to the max 🍷🍷🍷🍷🥃🥃🍻🍺🍺
things generally haven't been great since the industrial revolution, but the big thing is that nowadays we're just soaked in stress at all times with little reprieve.
Used to be in the past that things were generally chill except for big stressful events that happened every now and then, but nowadays things are constantly loud, we constantly have to hurry to do stuff, we constantly have to worry about affording basic things and knowing that we'll probably never own a home, etc etc etc.
We're also in the middle of a loneliness epidemic, it's basically standard at this point to have few friends and not hanging out with people anywhere near enough. Add these things together and you get people being miserable.

Social interaction is fight or flight. The other person is thinking about whether to eat you, fuck you, or otherwise exploit you.

Ours is a transactional society.

Me and my buddy off to mutually exploit eachother over some coffee and doughnuts 😈😈
- I can do that in small quantities. Though buddy indicates you've already negotiated a relationship in which one isn't food for the other.
  Hypothetically, we're supposed to be civilizations of good neighbors, so that I, Californian can trust any New Jerseyite or Alabaman not to take advantage if I'm a sexy young person in the dark of night needing a lift home. But we suck at crews of more than fifty or so people.
- I'm more down for eating my friends personally