Getting A Blank Mind When Put Under Pressure

As I’ve said before on previous posts of this blog, one of the funny things with Social Anxiety Disorder is that people seem to relate to so many things. For example, when I was first finding out about SA I went to the SA UK forum and read a few interesting posts just to see if I could relate to any of it, which meant that I would probably have SA. Anyway, I saw a post from someone saying that they seem to get a blank mind when put under pressure – say someone approached them in the street and asked something out of the blue, this persons mind would go completely blank and they wouldn’t really know the correct answer (without guessing).

I looked at some of the symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder and surely enough, getting a blank-mind when put under pressure was one of the symptoms. This was something else that led me to believe that I definitely have a form of SA – years ago when I worked at a supermarket part-time whilst I was at college I would get approached by customers asking me where things were. Sometimes I would be fine and would remember where things were, but other times I would feel as if my mind has gone completely blank – and not really know the answer. At the time I thought I was just being a bit thick really, and that I was forgetful or just really bad with customers. I guess I was really bad with most customers, but at least I know that it was (hopefully) mainly because of having social anxiety.

It may sound like another weird thing to explain to someone without SA or who hasn’t heard of SA but it does just feel like having your mind completely washed. Even one time I remember talking with a colleague about something that I was extremely knowledgeable on – and this was someone I was quite comfortable talking with, but when they asked me a very very easy question about something my mind went and I couldn’t answer. Its a very strange, uncomfortable feeing, and very frustrating when you know its something that is so simple and yet you seem so struggle so much under pressure. I would hate to see myself on a program like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire! I wouldn’t even be able to answer the questions that I did know!