Why no workshops or self help groups for social anxiety ?

[drronnie]

In oher countries there are various self help groups / workshops for alcoholics, drugs abuse, social anxiety , psychology problems etc. But I have yet to come across in Bangkok.

I have tried to look for a group for social anxiety for a relative but Thai people keep telling me that there is no such problem. Either he has to make for money or go to a shrink. Thais cannot believe that social anxiety is a real problem

[Franky Bear]

People are too scared to do it.

[Lamkyong]

People are too scared to do it.

or maybe too over anxious

[Sheryl]

Self help groups are nota Thai thing. Probably because of the concetn about saving face.

[nottocus]

Yep. All about face.

[hdkane]

Hi...on the positive side, there are plenty of techniques that can almost be self taught to diminish social anxiety...and valium is quite cheap here, pennies really...

There is AA here, as they are in every country...

and I wouldn't be surprised if a christian church would welcome opportunities to create a group for its members...

[JohnDodd]

To the OP, in his book "The Wisdom of Life" Arthur Schopenhauer analyse's all the problems facing human existence. It is not a page turner, and difficult to follow (for me) but you will find some understanding of human failure and its causes.

[bazza40]

Thais are highly social, so the concept of social anxiety is entirely foreign to them.

[Global Guy]

Because foreigners move to Thailand to escape responsibility, not accept it.

[Shiver]

With social anxiety, for me you'd see the claw marks on the door frame as they tried to drag me out of my room to attend, so I would say there is a lot of truth in some of the above comments regarding being too anxious to attend such a meeting, and hence their lack of popularity. That said, I guess if everyone else's 'panic attack meter' in the room is going into red it would be quite calming in a weird way, but still, I'd never sign up.

Being someone who seems to come across as 'stand offish' (according to my good friends when reflecting on how we first met), I don't find it easy to make acquaintances (though once we've established some rapport, can be very gregarious), and to this day going to a sit down business meeting makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it (first time I even had a panic attack was in this environment and somehow crowds of people and 'that' feeling have become associated.

In my own case, what I did was use alcohol, often as a pre-drink usually before even going to casual meet ups with known friends, or (eek!) going into a shopping centre (or is the latter just a male trait anyhow ). You can imagine that there is a downside to that as your tolerance to drink builds up, so is not a route that I would suggest, even if it is only a modest amount (i.e. under legal driving limit).

What worked best for me from that point was to quit the beer completely for a while (first day was sleepless, 2nd day less bad, 3rd day almost normal - though the shakes became almost unnoticeable by the 3rd day, it took I'd guess about 2 weeks to be zero shakes (eg. not uncomfortable filling out a paper form while people stare at you), and to be in good company and enjoy it without beer). Then I started going out again in that state, and gradually reinserted beer into my life, but now I monitor how it makes me feel the next day, and make sure there are more days 'off' than 'on' and I've found a balance. Others might do the same with assistance from a valium type product (especially if a business meeting and you can't be reeking of beer and need to be sharp). I've found that most generics here are crap, and I don't feel anything so don't bother with them, but on one occasion many years ago I took half of a 10mg tablet and think I found the whole of the poorly mixed batch in that one small piece - Serenity is the only word I can think of that describes it, with a very sunny disposition, completely relaxed and unphasable, yet 100% compus mentis and capable for important stuff like operating machinery or having serious meetings. It's probably good that quality is hard to find, as otherwise I'd likely have just switched props and become more tolerant to those instead.

I've also found that being in Thailand forced me to learn to interact with new acquaintances much more than I ever did in my life before Thailand. You can meet hundreds of new faces in a week if you choose.

So, in my case at least it was learned behaviour and making associations between interactions (in groups more so) and that horrible, horrible feeling of wanting to run from the room then walk it off for 20 mins until your body response reflects your mental questioning of "There is no apparent immediate danger or need for adrenalin, why is my body reacting like I'm going to the electric chair?". Btw, people saying things like "it'll be alright" aren't worth the breath. It's like telling someone "just jump into those shark infested rocky waters and no harm will come to you".

While I'm not speaking as a confident and relaxed authority on these matters, I think anxiety meetings would be about as popular as selling snow in the arctic "we have enough already, not today thank you".

Edited June 23, 2016 by Shiver

[Sheryl]

There are Thais who are shy and lack confidence, and there is a Thai word for shyness. What is different is how the soviety treats such people and also how they view themselves.

[Suradit69]

Yep. All about face.

If you spend any time reading through TV you'd quickly realize that issues involving loss of face are a far bigger problem for farang. And whining about it all on TV, rather than self-help groups, tends to be their way of coping.

As to the existence of self-help groups, you're looking for a western construct and expecting it to exist here in the same form, like a KFC or McDonald's franchise. People here are more likely to deal with such things, successfully or not, within the family or by seeking advice from monks etc.

In oher countries there are various self help groups

The "other countries" are, more often than not, in western countries where the family structure is dysfunctional and individuals have to pay someone to listen to them whine about their problems ... along with alcoholism, drugs, divorce and babbling incoherently on social media.

If someone wants a self-help group for some problem, the obvious solution would be to form one themselves rather than expecting someone else to do it for them in the nanny state style.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Suradit69

[Shiver]

There are Thais who are shy and lack confidence, and there is a Thai word for shyness. What is different is how the soviety treats such people and also how they view themselves.

With respect, a lack of confidence, and especially shyness can be quite cute and endearing.

Anxiety is like having a hundred flash cards per second of horrible ways to die, while at the same time your logical mind is still there, wondering why your body is deceiving you.

[salavan]

i know of 3 in bkk

soi cow boy

nana plaza

pat pong

try one might help

[salavan]

i know of 3 in bkk

soi cow boy

nana plaza

pat pong

try one might help

[dotpoom]

There are many Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anon (and Al-Anon) meetings all over BKK and Thailand.

[The Usual Suspect]

Get real....... T.I.T. They don't have support groups or workshops for shiite. Unless maybe you want to learn how to kiss arse or negotiate your way through the maze of corruption.

[Mudcrab]

first world problem