Anyone done/thinking about doing the Social Anxiey programme in the Mater?

I applied for it this morning after having it reccommended by a rake of people!
Its usually a long enough waiting list - about 5 monhs I'm told.
But like, I'm 21 - suffered through my childhood and teens.
I want to actually enjoy my 20's.
I'm nervous now... Hoping I'll be able to get a place on it.

Has anyone else thought about doing this?

I know someone who did it and he highly recommended it.

Waiting lists are always worth it if it does the job, Best of luck with it Char!

Yeh if you think about it, travelling up and back every week is actually 1000000 times better than spending the rest of my life with SA.
I'm definitely doing it!

I am thinking about doing it aswell can anybody give me info on it.I have realised only recently that i have SA as i taught it was depression for years. My head is wrecked and i have to sort it out.

I know the feeling.
I was constantly suffering from depression because i thought i was weird and would never succeed at life.
Then i found out im not alone.

Heres the only site i know with info.
Though you should email someone whos done it in the forum. I found out through people in there!
http://www.socialanxietyireland.com/materhospitalgroup.htm

Thanks
ill have a look.
yea finding out that i have sa was kind of a stress release as i taught i was the only one thinking like this . Cant believe i left it for so long without doing anything about it.

I've applied last November after reading about social anxiety in the Irish Times. I'm 46, have suffered from this all my life. There's a 12 months waiting list for the Anxiety Programme in the Mater, or so I was told last November

Is there anything else out there like meetings with other sufferers of sa or groups that sufferers can talk and try and help each other?

Hopefully the waiting list is shorter than 12 months - It'd be great to get ourselves sorted once and for all.

I'm not sure about groups and stuff but there's anxiety management classes out there - though i dont know how effective they'd be.
CBT's the way to go it appears...

I dunno about meetings either - there's nothing official like y'know?
Though few of us are planning to meet up in Galway in April, so maybe if yer interested ye can come along. It'll be just an informal thing where we can talk about everything and anything.
Ye'll feel atg ease knowing we're all in the same boat y'know!

Meeting? Just thinking about that possibility makes me feel sick !!! :-) Even if we're all in the same boat ... maybe because I've been in this boat for decades ... Are you all in your 20s?

i did a group thing like that in my college but it wasn't specially for sa

Im 21 anyway. Dunno bout most of the others.
Im crap with numbers...
21 years is long enough to suffer i dunno how you coped for 46 years!

And David i think you should do the group in the Mater.
From talking to you it seems your SA's more serious than mine.
I think its well worth looking into!

I've been suffering from depression for most of that time too. I've only just realized (in the last few months, from reading about SA) that they're related. I have the feeling that if I can sort out SA, the rest will sort itself out. Only problem: I'm so entrenched in my avoidance behaviours that I find it difficult to imagine that I can ever un-learn them. Maybe the group in the Mater will be of some use.

x_No_Oil_Painting_x wrote:
And David i think you should do the group in the Mater.
From talking to you it seems your SA's more serious than mine.
I think its well worth looking into!

I would go to something like that but I don't think i would go to Dublin for it. I would get lost there lol

I was the same with depression - i always had it.
Its recently come back and now is at its worst!
I hope the group in the Mater does us all some good.
I've started Dr. Richards CD's but didnt finish 'cause i have a motivation problem!!
Thats why i need people to keep me on track!


And David you just made me realise i havent a clue where the Mater is - looks like ill get lost too!!

Have you tried reading Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness: A Self-help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques from Gillian Butler. That's the book recommended by the Mater Group (if I remember correctly). It makes interesting reading, but I haven't tried doing the exercises or whatever they are yet. Motivation a problem here too!
Depression is awful. My heart goes out to you. I don't really know what to say to you other than I do believe now that there's light at the end of the tunnel (I'm not as half bad as I used to be) and CBT is supposed to be the best way of treating it and that's what the Mater group is based on.

Oh, and the Mater is on the North side of the city centre. About 5 mn walk from O'Connell St. :-)

Awh you're a hero!!
I know O'Connell street thank God...
Yeh i think they work off Gillian Butlers book - i cant seem to find it anywhere though!!

Glad to hear you've improved anyway!! I cant wait to get sorted with the Mater group! How long was it before you heard back from them?

x_No_Oil_Painting_x wrote:Awh you're a hero!!
I know O'Connell street thank God...
Yeh i think they work off Gillian Butlers book - i cant seem to find it anywhere though!!

Glad to hear you've improved anyway!! I cant wait to get sorted with the Mater group! How long was it before you heard back from them?

whats the name of the book ? i mite be able to find it !!

padmasana wrote:

x_No_Oil_Painting_x wrote:Awh you're a hero!!
I know O'Connell street thank God...
Yeh i think they work off Gillian Butlers book - i cant seem to find it anywhere though!!

Glad to hear you've improved anyway!! I cant wait to get sorted with the Mater group! How long was it before you heard back from them?

whats the name of the book ? i mite be able to find it !!

Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness: A Self-help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques from Gillian Butler

Ive heard of it but cant find it in easons or the library!

I got a copy from my local library. If you can't get a copy in your local library, they'll get it for you (from another branch). It takes a few days. Otherwise, you can get it online at amazon.co.uk.

I got a reply 4 days after I wrote to them. I had to fill in a questionnaire and I was told that I'd be contacted again a few weeks before starting the course, that there was a 12 months waiting list but that they were starting a second group which should speed up things. That was last November. 4 months ago.

I must get onto the library about that book...
Really want it!

Oooh cant wait to hear back from them.
Im glad theyre starting a second group - that'll half the waitin list!!

Hi everyone,

I did the course in the Mater around this time last year and found it very good. I wouldn't say it's made my life hugely different because you can't expect to completely change overnight but so far it has helped me make a lot of little changes for the better. I learned a lot in it and it's something I can always keep building on so I'm really glad I did it.

I also made friends with my group and it was great to talk face to face with other people who understand what SA is like so I'd recommend it just for that. I found the wait after putting myself on the list wasn't too long in the end.

If you have any questions about what it was like or what it involved I'll be happy to answer them here.

shyguy wrote:Hi everyone,

I did the course in the Mater around this time last year and found it very good. I wouldn't say it's made my life hugely different because you can't expect to completely change overnight but so far it has helped me make a lot of little changes for the better. I learned a lot in it and it's something I can always keep building on so I'm really glad I did it.

I also made friends with my group and it was great to talk face to face with other people who understand what SA is like so I'd recommend it just for that. I found the wait after putting myself on the list wasn't too long in the end.

If you have any questions about what it was like or what it involved I'll be happy to answer them here.

I've heard you can't cure SA but you can improve. I just wanna get outta hell and seem remotely confident.
How long were you waiting to start? I emailed them yesterday but havent heard anything back yet..
Ill definitely go through with it anyway!
What kind of stuff did it focus on?
Anything to do with eye contact?

I applied way back in September/October and got an e-mail a few days later asking me to fill out a survey and then mail it back to them,just a multiple answer thingy about how badly you feel you're affected by SA in different situations.I completed it and mailed it back and got a reply stating that I'm now on the waiting list,and its about a year long and that each session costs about a tenner each,haven't heard a thing from them since.

Really hope I hear from them soon!