MARCO RICCI: Founder of Talking Mental Health

(talkingmentalhealth.com)

The issue that’s affected me most is social anxiety. Some people believe this is simply a fear of social situations, but in reality, it’s much more. When it goes unchecked, social anxiety can infiltrate even the most everyday tasks - like ordering a meal at Mcdonald’s, speaking in a public place, or sending a text. It’s an intense fear coupled with an overactive imagination, causing you to continuously ruminate about everything that could possibly go wrong at any given moment.

To help, I went for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), where the most valuable advice I received was to record my thoughts. Initially I was sceptical, feeling silly to be writing down all the ways a situation could pan out – but it’s helped me tremendously. I would list my predictions and then, once I came back from whatever event I had been to, I would revisit the thoughts again. I can safely say that in 99.9% of cases, my predictions were at complete odds with reality and I had the physical evidence to prove it.

With more and more evidence, came more and more confidence, and eventually I was able to stop using the technique.

Now, when thoughts of public embarrassment or failure enter my mind, I have the confidence to mentally subdue them before I overthink them.