Does anyone do any weird things to cope with anxiety while in public? Specifically those with social anxiety, agoraphobia, etc.?

I do. Besides daydreaming constantly, I always take pictures of everything with my phone. For some reason, taking pictures & staring at the world through the little screen on my phone helps me feel less terrible for being outside. I also try to talk to my mom almost continuously from the time I leave until I get to wherever I'm going. If I can't do that, I IM people on my phone. There are a lot of other things I do, too & I guess those might not be considered "weird" lol, but they seem weird to me for some reason. Especially when most "normal" people don't have to do things like that just to deal with being outside their house.

I think it's funny you believe "normal" people don't need to do those things to deal with the anxiety. People are constantly yakking and texting in public. The only people you will ever see hanging out in relative silence are loooong time friends, families and men watching sports.

I'd say the only "odd" thing you or any of us do to relieve social anxiety is refusing to talk a ton or take pics with people we don't know well.

People are on their cell phones constantly, that's true. But most people aren't doing it because of anxiety. They're on their phones talking to friends about what they're going to do over the weekend, etc. not trying to do whatever they can to forget they're in public so they won't panic.

I think most people experience some level of social anxiety and do things to try and ignore it. People are social creatures and want to be accepted so anxiety in public is normal. It's all a matter of whether we decide to let it control us or the other way around. I have too much I want out of life to let anxiety even think about having a chance! If I ever get nervous in public, I will make up mind games like following the cracks in the pavement or focusing on anything else in the environment. I definitely fiddle with my phone. Eating is good, too. When I am eating, I never care about what other people are thinking. Life is a battle, and I will win!

I think the people on cell phones is the exact opposite of social anxiety. They feel anxiety if they're not constantly socializing.

Anyway I walk fast so I can do what I need to do and get out. Sometimes the Imperial March plays in my head to keep the rhythm.

And sometimes when I walk past somebody in a hall and it's really tense I make a face once I get past them.

I try to walk quietly. Everyone seems to stomp around haha. I try to keep my steps as quiet as possible while keeping a good pace. Less attention on myself.

I also keep my hands in my pockets. I feel very uncomfortable if my hands don't have something to do.

I used to wear sunglasses and a hoodie when I went out, but I stopped doing that now. It drew too much attention to me, especially in the summer.

Everyone has social anxiety somehow. They are nervous about something. A social worker I used to talk to was talking to me about this. So sometimes, people do text to relieve anxiety, maybe it's to talk to someone that they know when they are in a place full of people they don't know. Everyone does something to cope with anxiety.

But yeah, some of them are more common than others, so the less common ones may seem "weird".

I agree with this, but I think it's also important to be aware that for some people, social anxiety is truly debilitating, whereas for others, it's manageable. I disagree with what FONE said about everyone being able to control their social anxiety via how they choose to manage it. I think this is true for most people, but for some, it's not that simple; I like to think that social anxiety can always be overcome, but for some people, it's a really long and challenging process. I also think it's unwise to make assumptions about how much social anxiety another person is experiencing. There's no way to know for sure. Some people deal with social anxiety by becoming extremely talkative and "social", but they might actually be in a state of panic and therefore exercising little control over their social behavior.


Anyway, I like having something like a camera or a dog with me. That way, I have something to do, and people have something to talk to me about should they want to.

I don't like texting as a way to deal with social anxiety because I think it comes across as snobby, but to each their own. Texting in social situations sure is commonplace now, so I guess a lot of people do it without realizing that it's rude.

Just really depends on the situation. Before cellies, I used to hate when you get stuck as "C" in a "A and B" conversation; now I'm just able to text or play pac-man and wait for it to end. Makes it far less awkward for myself AND for the people talking.

People who can't set the damn phone down while talking to someone face to face is just plain rude and ignorant though.

I wish it was easy to get cell phones to ring or beep like you have an incoming text just by pressing a button. That would be a convenient way to get out of exceptionally unpleasant conversations.

i normaly bring my psp if im going somewhere. when i get to anxious and start haveing an panic attack i start playing yu-gi-oh since u need to do alot of strategic thinking to play it and get absorbed into the game. but when i put away my psp my anxiousness comes back almost instantly.

I'll chew on my sleeve, fidget, cling to one person, make myself look pissed off so no one approaches me- yeah. All silly things that just make me look cowardly and mean.

or just cowardly. Like a dog. Courage. The Cowardly Dog.

lately I play with my fable 3 coin

I'll daydream and make up stories in my head. Or I look at the architecture of buildings or other things in the environment. I like doing that, beause I tend to notice things other people don't.

You described the things that I do too; if by 'other things' you meant people as well as noticing objects.

punch nearest person.....

i usally start trouble when i get looked at wrong or yelled at by unkwon people....some times i get yelled at and nobodys around......so i take it out on the rocks or trees, sometimes walls......

I can't say that I have any special techniques to cope with anxiety in public, but my mind/body itself seems to have its own way to cope with stressful situations.
If I'm not in full-on panic mode, I often experience a weird sort of derealization/depersonalization which is pretty hard to explain. Everything around me seems strange and foreign, even if I am familiar with it. People seem like they have transformed into animated puppets or something, rather than human beings. Also, I get a sort of "out-of-body" feeling, like I am observing myself waiting in line at the store or what have you.
While this feeling is very strange and uncomfortable, I think it is probably a sort of coping strategy which prevents me from going an all-out panic (though I sometimes feel this way before an actual panic attack.) To someone who has never experienced this, it might sound like some sort of psychosis, but I am convinced it is caused by extreme anxiety/panic.

No, I don't look at people when I feel nervous, because I don't want them to notice me. But I do like people-watching sometimes.

I always have my iPod with me, but that isn't weird.

I also keep my hands in my pockets because I'm so awkward that I can't even swing them naturally. I look really wooden when I walk. Having my hands in my pockets makes me look more relaxed.

L0L, obviously most of this is jokes, but - you're not one of those people who starts on someone for looking at you "funny", are you?



I'm also in the "hands-in-pockets" club. Always have been, always will.

I put my hands in my pockets if the person I'm with has theirs in theirs too. I'm always far too aware of my hands and what I should be doing with them. I try and rest them naturally, but then I feel as though they are just hanging around like odd ends, so I cross them but then I decide that's too defensive and aggressive a posture, so I hook my thumbs into my pockets but quickly start to think that's far too poser-ish. Thankfully I've been able to forget about them recently because it drives me mad.

Whenever I'm outside doing something my nails get bitten down to the absolute wick. I can promise to grow my nails long so they don't look so horrid but as soon as I start to worry about something I bite until they bleed. I also constantly fiddle with my hair and not doing that takes a great deal of concerted effort.


I had a guy I barely glanced at say: What you looking at you four-eyed freak? the other day. I felt considerably put out because I couldn't even remember his face moments after sort of glancing in his direction. I think it's required to be obnoxious during any pub crawl.

Agh, horrid wouldn't you just love the power of, say, an unlimited length of stretchy/unwindable strong arm with which you could've picked him up and placed him on top of a really tall building or something... or just the power of invincibility so you could piss on his shoes .

Some time at the beginning of last year, I was walking home from pubs with my housemate, and this short towny man appeared walking beside us asking if we had cigs, but we only had tobacco and he wasn't interested. He then was just sort of walking in front of us, and I rang someone quickly, and I was laughing as I said bye. So then this chavvy chap whose still a bit in front of us starts looking at me going, "you laughin' at me?" and it allllllllll started; you know the story clearly he was looking for a fight. It's funny as well how me and my mate were both telling him "honestly, I wasn't laughing at you I was on the phoooone." to which he replies, "yeah well don't look at me like that then." ARRRHGHFDUGHFUIHGFDUI So anyway, I ended up getting smacked by him, then a group of pricks up ahead started running back, I got up, some horrid evil-looking cunt came up to me as I got up and hit me again, and then my mate rushed me to get up so we could run away seeing as there was now about 8 drunk fucks wanting to fight us for nothing .

Hmm, sorry that story turned out quite long and obvious . Bah, too many pricks...

I tend to cling to my friends, and I usually don't stop talking. If I'm alone then I just text as much as possible.