Is it Satan, that does this to me

[Jeffmk]

I know this probably sounds stupid. Really, naive at some level. Perhaps even a bit like playing the victim card, instead of just facing facts.

But, ever since I was a child I have had a fear of people. When I talk to them, I think they believe the worst of me. That they want to hurt me in some way. I have no explanation as to why I feel this way, it just seems inherent to my very nature.

I can barely talk to a stranger, without feeling the need to get away from them. As though they are a danger to me. It is all so very irrational, and I do try to fight it. I just can't seem to ever beat it.

I don't know if it is just genetic, perhaps something I don't recall happened. Really I am at a loss here. I realize how irrational it is, but it is always there. A sense of fear, an imagined worst case scenario where people will group up against me and try to hurt me. It has ruined my life.

Does Satan deceive in such ways?

[Guest]

I know this probably sounds stupid. Really, naive at some level. Perhaps even a bit like playing the victim card, instead of just facing facts.

But, ever since I was a child I have had a fear of people. When I talk to them, I think they believe the worst of me. That they want to hurt me in some way. I have no explanation as to why I feel this way, it just seems inherent to my very nature.

I can barely talk to a stranger, without feeling the need to get away from them. As though they are a danger to me. It is all so very irrational, and I do try to fight it. I just can't seem to ever beat it.

I don't know if it is just genetic, perhaps something I don't recall happened. Really I am at a loss here. I realize how irrational it is, but it is always there. A sense of fear, an imagined worst case scenario where people will group up against me and try to hurt me. It has ruined my life.

Does Satan deceive in such ways?

From what you described, you have a condition brought about by an imperfect mortal body and not necessarily by Satan's tempatation. These imperfections come with the natural man that your spirit must exercise control over. Other people are born without hands and feet or they lose their limbs sometime after birth, other people are born with mental disorders, other people are born with leukemia, and other people are born with some kind of "birth defect" in one form or another. You happen to have social anxiety disorder of some kind.

It is part of the "opposition to all things" that is the purpose of mortality in the Plan of Salvation - something which your spirit is meant to face and overcome through the atonement of Christ.

[Suzie]

Hi Jeff, nope I don't think it is Satan who is deceiving you. It sounds to me like perhaps you might have a social anxiety disorder (a.k.a social phobia).

What Is Social Anxiety Disorder? Symptoms, Treatments, & More

[mnn727]

Nope, I think you just have a phobia that would most likely be helped through counseling and perhaps medication.

Sometimes you 'grow out' of stuff like that, sometimes you don't. I had big anxiety speaking to people, especially on the phone, in my 20's it took the form of stuttering in my case, then I grew out of it by the time I hit 30....boy did I hate my 20's though. I now do tech support mainly by phone, speaking in Church is no problem at all and I was even Ward Exec Sec -- so I am proof that you can get over it. Probably with counselling I could have gotten over it sooner and saved myself a few years.

[Seminarysnoozer]

I know this probably sounds stupid. Really, naive at some level. Perhaps even a bit like playing the victim card, instead of just facing facts.

But, ever since I was a child I have had a fear of people. When I talk to them, I think they believe the worst of me. That they want to hurt me in some way. I have no explanation as to why I feel this way, it just seems inherent to my very nature.

I can barely talk to a stranger, without feeling the need to get away from them. As though they are a danger to me. It is all so very irrational, and I do try to fight it. I just can't seem to ever beat it.

I don't know if it is just genetic, perhaps something I don't recall happened. Really I am at a loss here. I realize how irrational it is, but it is always there. A sense of fear, an imagined worst case scenario where people will group up against me and try to hurt me. It has ruined my life.

Does Satan deceive in such ways?

We are dual beings, both body and spirit. Satan played a role in us obtaining this corrupted body, so indirectly Satan is, in part, responsible.

Our body is not a perfected body, here our brains can generate carnal drives of all kinds. The brain can create and imagine. It can assume and anticipate and in that way generate learned behaviors and reactions. Many of those are for survival. When we think we hear a "lion's roar" off in the distance, we run. We don't have to verify that it is indeed a lion (metaphorically speaking). For whatever reason your brain has a response to a potential situation, this is within the capability of the brain's wiring. Part of Satan's "deception" is created by this condition of being "man" which is a dual being of both carnal nature and spiritual nature. This is what creates the test we face here, to show which influence we pay heed to. The carnal influence is supposed to be there our whole life as that is part of the purpose of this life. Like Paul's thorn in the flesh, he realized that it is there for specific reasons and that he could not get rid of it. We all face those carnal influences even though they present in different ways for everyone.