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Feedback
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Hello I've been to the first three of these meetings and thought I would give you some feedback. Each session begins with a warm-up and introductory exercise. This is a good ice-breaker. We then have a series of diferent types of exercise, some physical, some focussing on our own mental states and some focusing on other people. There are visualisation exercises and some practical work. Personally, I find the practical the most rewarding, since I have tried forms of hypnosis in the past with little success. Different people seem to get benefits from different exercises. I have found these three sessions interesting and beneficial and would recommend them to everyone. The most daunting thing I've found about it so far was turning up for the first session! Once over that hurdle the rest is easy.
Cheers
Daniel Hola Stefano: I found the group last monday a very possitive experience. It really took me out of my head and I felt very relax afterwards. When I was in the train coming home I felt like I had done some physical excersise. My body was unusually relaxed, like I hadn't been for ages. I acctually had gone to the meeting felling quite disturbed for things that were going on in my life in that particular day, but had a tottally different outlook on those things after the meeting(it's true). I think the excersises are quite powerfull. I feel like the one involving the voice was very rewarding for me. All what we did ,in fact, was very interesting. I really forgot of myself doing the work. I think I need to do something like this at least three times per week, I'm not kidding. The more obvious effects of the class lasted twenty four hours, I had very relax day, the day after and I felt unussually relaxed with people. The day after I tought this two beautifull girls and I felt great with them, I looked them in the eyes most of the time without flickering. S. Hi, I also attended the meeting last Monday, and have to say I found it very rewarding. I suppose the first thing with any SA meeting is actually getting the courage to turn up in the first place, but this is made very easy by a relaxed (and by relaxed, picture everyone sitting on large cushions!) introductory session where you can say as much or as little as you like. I found this approach very helpful because when you attend a meeting for the first time, your naturally anxious simply because you don't know what to expect. I remember as I walked up to the building for the first time last week, I imagined walking into a room full of people sitting round a table in stiff backed chairs, taking turns to give little speeches. Well rest assured, it's nothing like that. Also the group operates an open door system so you can come and leave at will. Anyway, after the initial introduction to the group there was a gentle exercise session (a great tension reliever.) Then we went onto some visual and interactive exercises, working with one member of the group at a time and changing partners all the time. This was followed by combined exercise and verbal work and then we went through some relaxation techniques followed later by interactive work in small groups (sorry Stefano if I've missed any). After the meeting I felt very relaxed and I found myself more confident over the next week in situations which previously would have made me very anxious. I'm sure I still have a long way to go, and I know I'll have to continually put in the work, but I found this group a very friendly and open place to begin and would recommend it to anyone. B l have suffered with social anxiety for quite some time which has effected me greatly when in a working/group environment and to a lesser extent when in a pubs/club hence to say it has has stopped me from holding down a regular job for quite some time and from having a normal social life like others. I've been to the last few meetings and i have to say so far i have found it to be very rewarding to me especially in dealing with my fears in a group setting. I feel more motivated, relaxed and alot less self conscious and paranoid after with my social anxiety. The hardest step for me was taking the courage to go to the first meet, i had visions of it being quite formal and having to stand up and introduce myself, something was has caused me imense anxiety in the past, but this was not the case as others have said, it is very laid back, there is no pressure at all if you do not feel comfortable participating in any of the exercises. I have personally found the 'eye contact' exercise beneficial as it is something which has always bothered me, the working in pairs and role playing exercises are helpful also as for me its a good way to explore my anxiety's and to have a laugh with the persons i'm chatting with. Going to the pub after has been a good test for me too, i feel alot less self conscious in going now and being exposed more and more is begining to put my mind at ease. I would recommend the group to anyone who might be thinking of coming along to one of the meets. J. I was meant to e-mail you a few weeks back as I was best man for a friend's wedding, and obviously had to do a best man's speech, part of the reason I began attending your classes in the first place. The speech went extremely well, with a little help from a few drinks, but actually ended up enjoying the attention of the room and having them listen to me for ten minutes. I would have been able to have done it without the help of the group, but I would have found it very difficult, and the help and support from the group helped me immensely. Also I feel some of the practices and techniques explored in the group, especially breathing exercises and having the chance to feel comfortable in situations I normally struggle with, gave me a lot of confidence. I just wanted to say thanks for the help, which has been enjoyable, and if you wish feel free to put on the website my comments above Received 2 March 2005 I attended my first SA meeting last week. I had been very nervous about attending, but I'm glad now that I did. I really enjoyed some of the exercises and felt more relaxed than I would have expected. It was also reassuring to know that everyone else there was in the same boat. Thank you for a very positive evening - I'll be back. Clare I also want to relate my overwhelmingly positive experiences at the group. At first I was really anxious about attending it, but once I got over the initial nerves, and entered the room, I felt comfortable and very, very welcome. This group offers a rare forum for experimentation with all forms of social phobia and will be a tremendous boon for anybody willing to work on overcoming this condition. I highly recommend anybody who wants to join to come along. Posted 12 April 2005 I enjoyed the task of answering the questions and felt like I could express myself, because normally I would not like to reveal anything about myself as I would feel my opinions do not matter. This activity reinforced the fact that I have a right to express myself. I often received negative criticism as a child and felt I had to hide my personality and opinions at all times because I believed I was different from everyone else. That has now become a habit and I would like to break that habit because it is not doing me any justice! Received 21 October 2005 I enjoyed the last meeting on 5th October where you invited people to use the floor to stand in front of the group. There was a great collective focus from everyone in the group - everyone was a bit tense but encouraging to those standing in front of the group - great team effort I would say. It was a great experience to go up in front of the group and pay attention to how I was feeling and how my body was relating and to talk about how it felt and what I was thinking. I though that it worked really well and would like to do more similar exercises (did I really say that! Maybe!). Some of the one to one talking exercises, I do not get much from but they are still good experience and I understand everyone is individual and every exercise will be different for each individual. I also like some of the relaxisation exercises. I think your meetings are excellent and thanks for your selfless efforts and time. Received 21 October 2005 Hi, just posting because Stefano asked us to put feedback on the SAUK message boards. Went to my first SASH meet this week (Wednesday) and found it very helpful. Quite a variety of exercises both group work and individual. Very informal and relaxed and people go for a drink afterwards if you are interested in socialising with fellow sufferers. I look forward to the next meet, James Hello,although nerve wrecking before I went in I soon relaxed and was able to chill.Was an intersting and thought provoking night.I used one of the exercises learnt in the class during the week to some degree of success (being able to shift attention from one thing to another in my mind). Was nice to have good,honest chats with people who understand what you're going through. Throughly recommended. Posted 4 December 2005 I've also gained a lot from attending the group. In terms of confidence in social situations, the role playing exercises have been good in making me less self conscious. Especially the ones where each person in a conversation has different agendas regarding voice use/eye contact. The relaxation/focus on dealing with anxiety exercises have me understand some of the emotional roots of my anxiety. Knowing this gives me the power to understand what is happening when I'm anxious and I'm learning to manage the anxiety better. This was uncomfortable to start with, as it brought some of the negative emotions that have blighted my social interaction to the forefront. But now I appreciate how its better for me to confront rather than avoid these feeling. Finally meeting other people with social anxiety has helped me rid myself of notions of me being an oddball misfit. There are lots of other people coping. Its also helped me socialise more. Posted 5 December 2005 Arriving at the open centre was certainly nerve racking and I found my anxiety rising many many times throughout the session, mostly to the point where I'd think "it's too much, I'm going to have to get out of here or I'll be sick in front of all these people", somehow I managed to stay in the room for the entire evening without leaving once which may sound like a ridiculously small triumph but to me was a massive achievement and something I felt quite proud of. Despite this, the experience was mostly uncomfortable, I was intensely paranoid about what people were thinking of me, clutching my heart and contorting my body and felt the dreaded 'weight dropping in my chest' as panic rose often, but again I got through this. I guess the main factor for 'surviving' this anxiety where in the normal world I would have run to the hills to be alone was being able to tell myself that everyone in the room understood and therefore would appreciate why I had left if it had come to it. This took the pressure to be normal off my shoulders and helped me survive. Having been through phsychotherapy, hypnotherapy and many alternative holistic approaches over the 14 months of my anxiety and panic problems, this was the first time I came away from a therapy really feeling like something had been achieved. Despite being too anxious to concentrate properly on the various and well planned and executed excercises, I can see how these practices will be very beneficial to me as I become more comfortable in the group. I fully intend (if it's ok) to keep coming in a bid to eradicate the 'learnt behaviour' which tells me I can't cope with a situation long before I get near it. I'm already looking forward to next monday and hope to actually speak this time, the lack of pressure to do so combined with everyone's entirely friendly, honest and understanding dispositions really helped me to feel that there are definitive goals I can achieve through this group. The weirdest thing for me was stepping back out into the real world, getting on a dreaded tube and trying to keep in my head that there wasn't the same level of understanding amongst everyone else in the world, but somehow I'd run out of 'panic juice' in my brain and the journey went by easily without having to get off and walk when more than 10 people were in the same carriage as is the norm at the moment. Many thanks again to you and all who attended yesterday. Received 7 February 2006 I thought i would send some feedback about the group meetings. I think that the way you construct the meetings is very helpful as I think it is best to allow people to face their fears at their own pace rather than forcing people into introducing themselfs in front of the group etc. I often feel a slight sense of heightened confidents for a couple of days after the meeting because it is the only place where I feel relaxed enough to really work on my problem. I sometimes think that for my personal version of SA it would be helpful to meet more than one time a week but i realise that this is not practical. I dont have any suggestions for excercises in the group yet but i think once i get more used to the group and feel easier about the tasks you set i will then feel i can suggest and cope with more challenging tasks. Received 13 February 2006 I have been attending the sessions for the past month now and what I have discovered is that social anxiety appears in different ways to different people. Some things I would not dream of doing other members of the group do without concern which came as a real surprise to me as I thought everyone would be anxious in the same situations as I was. Just talking to other people without the fear of rejection and them understanding is a powerful experience in its own right. But the meetings themselves are more than simple get togethers with a range of different exercises that allow you to explore through interaction with others what it is actually about and how you can reduce the anxiety. Clearly this is not a miracle cure class and it is often uncomfortable and challenging but there is no pressure on people to commit to things they don’t want to do - you can leave the room when you want and rejoin at anytime. I have had varying levels of social anxiety for a long time and the previous mechanisms to deal with it cognitive behavioural therapy and relaxation help in their own way but neither challenged the root of it to this level and I suppose made you do something about it. This class does – you are no longer isolated and thinking poor me everybody else just gets on with it – you have support and that support allows you to challenge yourself at your own pace. Received 27 February 2006 Hi all, Just a quick note re last meeting on mon 24th april(not sure if this is the right place to post it): Yep, I found it a useful experience and would like to attend future groups. I think the psychological/exposure/support, exercises conducted in a supportice enviroment is a beneficial process. I think the concept works well, and whilst it doesnt claim to be some sort of 'cure' I feel it is definately a positive step in the right direction. take care, tim Posted 26 April 2006 |
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