How Long have you had your Anxiety Disorder?

[Cuchculan]

Come on folks. Time to get this forum moving. So how long have you all been dealing with anxiety? When was the first time you ever noticed it? Tell us about your first ever reaction to it. What was going through your mind?

[Total Eclipse]

I have had some form of anxiety disorder dating back to the age of 3. I was first dx'ed with Selective Mutism.

[Otherside]

Social Anxiety? When I was twelve, had quite a bit of it then. Went on through my teenage years, eventually was given therapy for it (at the schools insistance, my parents didn't want me to go.)

Got to about 16, made some friends, convinced myself that I was "over it" and that it all just been some sort of awkwardness. I told myself I was completely cured. Unfortunatley, I wasn't.

Ended up having a full blown panic attacks around that time. I didn't realize that it was a panic attack then, I thought there was something physically wrong with me. I thought there was something wrong with my heart, or my breathing, and I thought I would pass out or die. There was issues of Social Anxiety involved there, but it was mostly panic attacks.

[Cuchculan]

I started out about the age of 21. Kind of PTSD. Ended up under a car at 16. Never fully dealt with the shock of that. Had a friend die in a car crash at 21 and I think everything just came back and hit me hard. Over 20 years later now. It began with panic attacks. But I don't worry about panic attacks any more at all. I think over the years new things come along. Push the older things out and take over as the new biggest fear. Like it evolves over time. Was housebound for a decade. But got fed up looking at the walls of my bedroom. So began to fight back. I do go out and about today. Still a few things I will not do. But progress has been made over the years.

[merc]

I've always had extreme shyness. My Mom said I would only allow two people other than her to hold me as an infant. My Babchi [grandmother] and my Aunt Pauline. As a child I vividly remember hiding behind Mom when people [relatives] would visit. I am very prone to avoidant behavior. However, with some people who I feel confident and comfortable with I am completely different. Sometimes, I can be a basket case, like a few years ago. Right now, I do not think others see much different in me but an occasional bout of shyness and lack of confidence. Infancy, bad. Elementary one or two friends, fourth grade hated teacher, stopped speaking in class that year. Fifth grade nicer teacher spoke again. Early teen years very shy. Later teen years and college not so bad. In fACT my twenties were my best period of not letting SA get in my way. Then I had child with spina bifida, unrelenting stress regressed to very bad behaviors, like early teen years. Severe depression. PTSD. Also had a cancer scare, severe anemia with pica. Now at one year shy of 50 I am so much better, but I struggle.

[L]

Mmm...no idea when it started really but I was always a shy kid. Primary school years I would guess it started to develop due to all the crap that happened then. I remember being at a friends birthday and her brother was there and my anxiety went crazy...i think that was the first marked real time i thought it was a problem as i never really went out of my comfort zone other than then, I was 14 maybe. At 19, I had a complete break down after meeting a friend with her boyfriend. It was after that I found out with social anxiety was. I was good for looking for help straight away and joined the other forum. Then I went to college, and it got worse with depression thrown in there....now post college I my first real person job and my overall anxiety is the lowest it has ever been. Certain things affect it and I need to check myself every so often but I'm doing well

[kdcwil]

I heard that as a young child I would avoid people like the plague, except my mom. Then after the age of 6 or 7 (I'm 24 now), I started to do the same with my mom as well. I just always thought that I was an awkward, loner kid or something. My fear of people and open spaces makes it hard to feel safe or comfortable anywhere even at home. I grew up in a pretty big house but I would sleep and spend most of my time in the closet or bathroom in my room. I would have panic attacks a lot as a kid so my family would always leave me at home. I'm not sure if I've just gotten over the panic attacks or I'm just a little better at dealing now but it's still really hard to go anywhere without feeling moderate to severe anxiety.

From my earliest memory to now, I'm always thinking that something will happen and won't be able to get away. I don't if I answered your questions, I kind of just wrote what I was thinking and kept getting lost in my thoughts.

[walsit]

I guess I have always had mine. But got worse when my mother passed away from cancer when I was 19.

[Chantellabella]

Since day 1. I think my mother gave birth and went, "Oh wait, that's not really what I wanted for Christmas. Can I take it back?"

[IllusionOfHappiness]

My first memory of social anxiety was during lunchtime in my first grade classroom (I was new to the school and area). I guess I was afraid to eat because I was just too afraid being in a foreign place. Hunger doesn't cross your mind when you feel lost and afraid. I didn't know anybody, so I just didn't have my lunch. I can still remember that I had those crunchy cheezies.
That's also where I met my first bully. Joyful. My sister convinced me to tell her we couldn't be friends anymore, after noticing she was bothering me on the bus. Cue anxiety. Confrontation will never be my strong point.

The second was in third grade when I had to read my project to the class. My classmates were sitting in a circle around me, and spouting random facts about pandas was suddenly very difficult. More advanced anxiety set in around age 12/13.

[Sagan]

As long as I can remember. I can recall unplugging the land-line phone so my mom wouldn't get a call from school saying I was absent. leaving as if I were going to school. Coming back in through my window and hiding in my closet. had a small flashlight and would read and entertain myself untill school was over and time to come home. I would put my backpack on go out the window and in the front door like a normal day. This worked several times. But my mom noticed the phone didn't work a few times and found it unplugged. Eventually she found out what I was doing. I cried and cried and told her that I don't know why but I can't tolerate being in a room full of other students..

[kevinjoseph]

diagnosed when i was 16 with GAD and MDD, then at 25 or so with panic disorder with agoraphobia and social anxiety and ocd. im thirty now. i think it gets easier the more open you are about it and the better access to quality treatment you get

[fetisha]

I have been shy since I was in elementary school but I had anxiety since high school

[1]

Always been shy and silent,it got worse after high school.

[Sagan]

As long as I can remember. Although not as extreme as it currently is. I can remember Hiding in my closet all day, then when school was out. Hoping out my window with my backpack and going through the front door as if I was out of school.