I know the feeling of anxiety in social situations. My friends didn't know how to support me other than telling me to go to counseling. =( It's upsetting now that I think about it. =(
Are your friends the type who will overly worry about you? At least it shows that they care. It's hard for me to give feedback w/o know much about the personality type of your friends. If anything, picture yourself explaining your situation to your friends and try to anticipate how they'll respond. If the response is unfavorable, then try another approach until you find one that you think won't yield a worrisome response from them.

I guess no one has any advice on this matter xx

Thanks Jesse, you speak alot of sense. My friends and family do over worry bout me me, so alot of the time I end up holding my feelings back, even though i know thats the worst thing I could possibly do! I cancelled meetin up with mates last nite as I needed to take time out 4 myself- they got worried and txted me several times ilast nite n today. But i know its cause they care, so it's difficult to explain to them what im goin through

I know exactly what you mean Colourful, I try to keep how Im feeling a secret from my friends and family, I recently told my Mum how bad things had got and now she's calling me every day and inviting me round all the time when all I want is some time on my own to sort myself out, so I tell my mum that im feeling better than I actually am cos I don't want her worrying, I don't really think there is any advice we can give on this, It's a very difficult thing to understand unless you have been or are going through it, I think you just have to put some faith in your friends to try and understand, and if they cant, then to at least recognise that you have an illness that you are dealing with, and worrying about their reactions is making matters worse. Good luck.

I also keep everything inside of me for my whole life and that was part of why I got anxiety and stress issues. I never really told my friends anything different than what I would tell a complete stranger....if that makes any sense. I just shut everything down for a couple of months to get it figured out. Here's something I found out which I thought was great because it's what I needed and probably alot of people need( which they might not realize ). I told my friends that I had some mental issues it's like I'm not myself anymore, it's like I woke up one morning and somebody came into my home took my brain out gave it to someone else then replaced mine with there's and said....OK now try to act like yourself.....yeah right! Well my phone used to ring about 20 times a day and for that time period no one would hardly ever call me, only to check in every now and again, I think they thought I was crazy. It worked out well just tell them your crazy and they will leave you alone for the most part. I don't mean to make light of this but the time alone helped me tremendously. If I tried to keep up with my friends as I did before then I would never have got this under control. Just tell them your perfectly fine and just need some alone time, or do what I did and tell them you went crazy and they'll leave you alone naturally. Good luck, smiles

i'm going through the same thing right now. I have brilliant close friends but i struggle with the fact that they dont 'really' understand how i feel in social situations. i've been honest with my friends to different degrees based on what i think they can understand and that has worked quite well. its difficult to accept that some people only have limited understanding, but i think its best to be reasonably honest anyway and just try to explain in the best way you think they'll understand. i know it isn't easy, but if they're true friends they'll accept it. reassure them that it's the situations you struggle with, not them, and that you're ok. i hope you get on well. i feel your pain. xBethx

Well...no one is gonna truely understand unless they have been there. If they don't have an anxiety issue, then they aren't gonna understand where you are coming from when you try to explain it to them. Sorry babes!

i cant make friends

Thakyou everyone for your replies, much appreciated xx