She gave her self pep talks each time she switched from one class to the next, "Bianca, just walk straight ahead and avoid eye contact, you"re going to be fine." Yet, she wasn't fine.
What was even more debilitating than the emotional and mental stress, was her physical reaction. Every time she found her self in a situation where she felt threatened or anxious, her body would give away. She felt the blood rush to her face and her cheeks turned crimson red. She used to sweat profusely and her hands trembled uncontrollably. In addition, her heart would race so fast she thought it might burst at any second. All she wanted to do was crawl into the deepest darkest corner possible and shut her self away from the rest of the world.
Bianca sought solace in being alone. At a time when she should have been making friends and going out on the weekends, she almost always sat at home by her self, friendless and perplexed by her inability to have a social life. She felt like a misfit and knew that her reactions to social situations were completely illogical and unreasonable. However, despite her best efforts, she was unable to alter her behavior or control her body. She desperately wanted to be normal and have friends, but she knew that under the circumstance, it was highly improbable. Consequently, Bianca spent almost the remainder of her high school years living a life of loneliness and desolation, trying her best to conceal her problem, and wishing she could confide in someone about her dilemma.
The turning point in her life did not arrive until halfway through her senior year when she was on the verge of depression. One day after school she had decided to watch television. As she carelessly flipped through the channels, something caught her eye. It was a commercial for social anxiety disorder. She was convinced it was a sign from God. While the commercial spokesman described the symptoms of the illness, she was left in a state of shock, unable to move from her seat for at least thirty minutes.
