I know I am going to annoy anybody because I am saying the same thing over and over again, but I highly recommend creative expression group therapy for anxiety. (I always vote for art therapy first, which is why I am afraid that I will become a total bore).

I am participating in one, so I am speaking from experience.

In general, there are two broad categories of anxiety.

I fall into physiological anxiety in that my very basic functions stall often (I cannot ingest food OR drink (!!!) when nervous, stressed out, preoccupied, etc. and I cannot sleep from anxiety and at night my heart feels squeezed and it is scary). But I can be high functioning and very social - say, I can make a presentation while not being able to drink liquids beyond taking tiny sips.

Trippin - are you like that, too? I imagine that for being a shop assistant, you MUST be social.

And then there is a large category of social anxiety which comes in many forms, but always involves restricted interactions.

So in my group most people are from the latter category - the social anxiety. They are very different from regular people. Their eyes "fidget" (if this term can be applied to eyes), their palms are covered in cold sweat (we had an exercise that included guiding each other while blindfolded and that is how I know the guy's palms were sweaty), their gaze is unsteady, and, most importantly, there is pure suffering hidden in their eyes.

And then you start talking and interacting with them and finding out that they are brilliant, compassionate, quirky, creative, and what not.

Because I am an oddball in my group with non-social anxiety, I report on my experiences more as an observer than a participant; I cannot speak for how it feels to be inside the body of a socially anxious person during the group, but, you know what -- we are happy to see each other when we meet the following week, so our therapist, and we, must be doing something right.