Dysthymia and Social Anxiety

[Trickmatic]

I've been diagnosed with both, and it's been really terrible over the past few months.

I haven't been able to do things like look for a new job, approach people in school, make new friends (in person and online). It's really been depressing me loads. I've lost contact with many people, where I would usually talk from people even time to time to see how they have been doing. Now I just avoid everything all together. I assume that people have moved on from me / are better off without me.

Does anyone know of good ways to battle social anxiety or dysthymia?
Any help would be greatly appreciated in advance. :]

[Fairy Poppins]

I used to have social anxiety really bad. I would literally just curl up in a ball on the desk at college. I felt so trapped by it, couldn't do anything I wanted to.

I got over it by realising that it doesn't really matter that much what other people think. Obviously, in situations like job interviews, it does matter. But in every day life, who cares what someone else thinks of you? I just used to go around thinking "Yeah fuck you" to anyone who looked at me. It sounds harsh, but you have to be strong to get over this extreme self-consciousness.

Just present yourself as best as you can to try and give yourself as much confidence as possible. But after that, don't worry. There will always be people who don't like you, but then they've probably got issues of their own to deal with. Most people will be accepting.

At first you might have to do a lot of acting. I know I did. Pretend to be confident, pretend you have a social life, etc etc. Eventually you'll have pretended for so long and socialised in the mean time, that you will wake up one day and find you don't have to act anymore.

By the way, I suffer from depression too and I understand that it's hard to do anything and feel confident when you're low. However, lack of social contact is probably making your dysthymia worse. A vicious circle.