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Woman, 25, Japan: Has social anxiety disorder, afraid of people


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My problem is that I am afraid of people. It is called SAD (Social Anxiety Disorder) and I have had it for years. Maybe it started when I was 15 years old or so.

Now I work at a small shop. I work alone all day (for 10 hours) and my day off is just once a week. Recently I began to feel weak and depressed while working and finally took two days off in a row.

I'm not going to quit but it is really getting tough to work there. Also I haven't had enough sleep, and tend to eat too much because of the stress.

I have no confidence to keep working here all day alone anymore. However, it is too frightening to ask my boss to increase my days off. Or maybe I can ask for one more person to be hired, but I am afraid to work with someone.

Can anybody help me out?
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