Extroverted Like Me

[Sweet Pea]

gee, i wonder if this article would have received the same response if the author had posted it here himself because he was a member of SU. oh well, i may never know.

i would still like to encourage anyone who reads it to post their response, if that's alright with those who've already made their feelings known quite thoroughly.

[phoenixferret]

sweetpea said:

i would still like to encourage anyone who reads it to post their response, if that's alright with those who've already made their feelings known quite thoroughly.

Why don't you explain what *you* thought of the article? Since you seem not to be getting the response you were looking for.

[Sweet Pea]

phoenixferret said:

sweetpea said:

i would still like to encourage anyone who reads it to post their response, if that's alright with those who've already made their feelings known quite thoroughly.

Why don't you explain what *you* thought of the article? Since you seem not to be getting the response you were looking for.

i think i did that. what i'm looking for at this point is more responses from people who have not already expressed their opinion. thanks for your concern.

[theinfiniteabyss84]

sweetpea said:

phoenixferret said:

Why don't you explain what *you* thought of the article? Since you seem not to be getting the response you were looking for.

i think i did that. what i'm looking for at this point is more responses from people who have not already expressed their opinion. thanks for your concern.

It being "amusing" and "interesting"?

Gee, I guess illustrating the reasons why this guy is a monumental idiot (as well as the doctor) didn't work.

[HybridMoment]

This post makes me laugh.

The other night I was browsing here (before anyone had replied) I clicked on the link to the story, and then when I saw the Slate.com logo on the top I thought, "oh it's on slate.com it's probably not even worth reading". And then I closed my browser with out even reading it.

[skyhint]

what is slate.com known for?
And if these experiences are true then I believe this article serves as a warning for people who do not have EXtreme shyness to show what can happen if you take paxil. And in the end it has a nice little moral about these negative feelings being all part of the human experience. This moral isn't lost even if the story was all made up.

[MrNice]

And in the end it has a nice little moral about these negative feelings being all part of the human experience.

its a mistake to associate feelings with shyness. Extroverted people have feelings too.

[theinfiniteabyss84]

hybridmoment said:

This post makes me laugh.

The other night I was browsing here (before anyone had replied) I clicked on the link to the story, and then when I saw the Slate.com logo on the top I thought, "oh it's on slate.com it's probably not even worth reading". And then I closed my browser with out even reading it.

Haha your post made me giggle audibly ;D I read one "article" on how director Wes Anderson is a racist. Slate has no credibility in anything,

[strawberrysweetie]

When I first read this article, before reading others comments, I found it quite interesting, actually. I didn't really have anything against slate.come, though, either.

lsdima said:

And in the end it has a nice little moral about these negative feelings being all part of the human experience.

its a mistake to associate feelings with shyness. Extroverted people have feelings too.

That is a good point, lsdima.


Anyway...I was also kind of intrigued by the way the author explained how it had affected him. True or not...I've wondered how pills do work. Maybe he didn't need it...but it's still interesting. In particular, how he said it lessened his emotions and affected his writing.

Taking medication has never appealed to me. Anymore, I don't even really experience the physical anxiety (sweating, blushing, racing heart)...well, I haven't experienced these in a way that they've affected me for a long time. Rather, the worry is still in my mind and I do stress about things. And I've been a huge avoider of getting a job...I want to get one, but I am sort of scared. I hate being evaluated and don't want to fail. It's stupid and I know it is, but..hmm...

I guess I don't know what the medication is actually supposed to do, though, because I realize now that it does not cure all. Especially, since I've seen my friend who takes an anti-depressant...and see how she still gets times when she stresses out about things and still sometimes gets a depressed mood. It's interesting.

But I don't know, I guess my question is in regards to the social anxiety part of it...what is the drug supposed to do? What does it control? Is it just to control physiological symptoms like blushing, racing heart, etc. to make one feel more comfortable in that regard? Is that it? Does it lessen worry to? If so, how? I don't get how that can be regulated. But reading the article and assuming it's true...it makes sense how the medication could cause one to feel emotionless.

hmm...anyway, I don't know. Those were my thoughts on the article. Thanks for sharing, Sweet Pea...it makes for an interesting discussion even if there's something apparently horribly wrong with the people who write those articles on that website.

[iroseiroared3]

If I see shyness as a personality trait, I still say it stems from low self-esteem. Unless you're just talking about simply being introverted, then that's something different.

I thought this was interesting to read, anyway. It seems funny how people can prosecute you for using certain drugs, and then other ones are legal and fine and are meant to help you - just because they say they're legal. It's a lot the same thing. It's like they all just want everyone to be just like them.

I know it's no good to always be unhappy, but I had an experience recently,without drugs, that was similar to this. I had gone away and cleared my head, but my thinking was diminished, and my feelings. It was good to not be obsessing over things, but like this person said, he couldn't think of lines to write that'd pop up in his head. I was glad to be back to normal when I was, although that sucked too. But you need something to hold onto in your life, to feel that something is important, even if it becomes an obsession.

That's cool that he had the experience though. I'm glad he's back to himself now.

[audioalone]

theinfiniteabyss84 said:

That guy is an idiot. You don't turn into an extrovert by taking Paxil. Paxil does not give you a new personality. I do not magically become outgoing.

He had unreasonale expectations regarding the medication.

Also you do NOT go off Paxil cold turkey. I tried to gradually go off of it and I do admitt it really really sucks incredibly.

I believe shyness is more of a personality trait than something that is to be cured.

agree! - my ex-husband took paxil for years, and he was shy/nervous/depressed (what a bloomin' bad match we were ) when he was on it!

I don't take it (Paxil) myself nor Zoloft (couldn't handle the side-effects of fast beating heart and nausea).

[rubytuesday]

I'd strongly recommend anyone considering meds to think twice. If your really bad off, they may lighten the load a bit,, (I speak from experience), but still...they are not a cure, they do have side effects, and the longterm effects/damages are not known. You certainly cannot trust your government or the pharamceutical companies to do what's in YOUR best interest so take everything with a dose of skepticism and do your research!
You may gain a new perspective after reading: Shyness by Christopher Lane. It goes into the pharmaceutical industries lies and gimmicks.

[madiocre]

well basically it comes down to this , we live in quick fix societies where basically you have to fit a mold and you need to fit that mold now .
shyness etc is seen as one of the qualities not to be had. The pressure to overcome it is immense , even if its just on a small scale .Which could be what this guy felt.
I mean yeah he was bit of an idiot but then who doesn't want to believe that there is something we can take and wake up all perfect tomorrow.
People take pills for pretty much any problem so it makes it seem like its not such a big deal to be chemically altering ourselves left right and centre even though it is .
Offcourse if you seriously do have troubles with depression anxiety then medicine combined with other treatment can be a good option .

and yeah i agree i don't like the way at the end he wrote it to sound like being shy and having emotions is linked im sure that wasn't the intention but it was just worded kinda wrong .

[Sweet Pea]

Jun 28, 2008 7:45:46 GMT -5 madiocre said:

and yeah i agree i don't like the way at the end he wrote it to sound like being shy and having emotions is linked im sure that wasn't the intention but it was just worded kinda wrong .

maybe they are linked for him, because when he used a drug to alleviate the shyness he felt that he lost touch with his emotions.

[marle]

Just noticed what this thread is about and thought I'd post.

Everyone's experience with drugs is different. I'm very suspicious about consuming anything developed in a lab. Whether it's food or pharmaceuticals, there can be unexpected consequences. I believe that drugs are way over prescribed. I also believe that the system for approving drugs is corrupt, with pharmaceutical companies deliberately covering up data from their clinical trials that would prevent their product from making it to market. That system of drug approval and distribution needs a large overhaul, to be sure.

Besides those issues, there are some people with debilitating disorders for whom the risk and trade-offs are worth it. But they must proceed with great caution.

I took Paxil for about 3 months when I was 16. It didn't turn me into an extrovert, but it helped in certain circumstances. I became more talkative and less fearful in situations where I was doing any talking in the first place. For me, however, there were very few of those. On a normal day-to-day basis at school, there would be no difference in me socially- I didn't start talking to people conversationally, just as I never did. The difference was that it was easier for me to raise my hand in class, easier to walk straight into the school office for some procedural reason without nervously standing outside the door a minute beforehand, easier to share an idea within a 3-4 person group in math class. So nothing dramatic when it came to my social life, but there was less fear.

The question was brought up in this thread whether Paxil detaches you from your emotions. For me, it detached me from feelings of mild-to-moderate fear. Not just socially, but in all areas. For instance, I would climb over a fence that I would be too skittish to do otherwise, or I would climb up a tree to reach the roof of my house. It increases other emotions. Oddly, I found that on Paxil I felt more empathy. I became noticeably nicer to my younger brother and did more favors for him (not to imply that I was mean before). I would feel badly hearing about some stranger's misfortune in the news whereas before it may have only been abstract to me.

It didn't all work out positively. My grades started to get worse. Stupidly, I didn't attribute this to Paxil at the time. I now think they went down because Paxil removed the mild fear that was motivating me to get my work done. At some point, my grades were looking really bad. As that reality was dawning on me, I saw how terrible my life looked. I still couldn't talk to people socially, had no friends- and with bad grades I couldn't have a good career. It looked like I had no prospects. So I thought about suicide. I kept thinking about it. It seemed logical to me. I researched methods online. I ended up planning my death. I focused on the physical steps of carrying it out, and not the death itself or the aftermath. I knew that if I dwelled on the actual dying, I would be too scared to go through with it. I found it easy to avoid dwelling on those fears.

I ended up taking 20 pills or so of something in a suicide attempt. As I was downing them, I felt the overwhelming fear of death creep over me. I ended up telling somebody and I was taken to a hospital - I ended up OK, physically. However, I was forced to stay at a facility for suicide-prone youth for a few days. The counselors/physician there didn't believe me when I said Paxil was the critical factor in my suicide attempt, or they thought it only had little to do with it. "There is no evidence that Paxil causes suicide attempts."

Since then, there have been reports of increased suicidal behavior from Paxil (Safe Use Of Paxil Doubted For Youth, Paxil Increases Suicide Risk). Even though the vast majority of people on Paxil will not attempt suicide, there is an increased danger since brain chemistry is being messed around with. I'm just advocating caution.