It's often mistaken for shyness, but it's something much more severe and increasingly common.
It manifests physically such as with shaking.
I suffer from it heavily (No, I'm not looking for pity just help)

I can't understand people.
I try and I try, but I end up feeling useless and pathetic.
I get tongue-tied and frustrated and everything I say comes out wrong.
Even onlne, I come across conflict, and I cry over it. (Again, I'm sorry it's pathetic and I'm not looking for pity)

Some days I will I could curl up and sleep forever.
Never wake up. Never face them. Just quit . . .
I'm not suicidal, before anyone starts worrying.

It's just that, I'm highly empathetic, I feel for every person I come across. I feel their pain deeply.

I can't get along with people.
It's not that I don't care.

I love people. I love each and ever mannerism and movement and thought. It's all amazing to me. I treasure other people's talents and personalities.
I feel inadequate.

I would die for people who don't even know my name . . .

I know I have a personality and unique, interesting thoughts, but outside my family and closest friends, I can't properly express them. And most of them are too heavy or related to classic literature. No one wishes to discuss either.
And I'm socailly enstranged, I grew up without much social interaction. As a person, I built myself. None of my opinions, beliefs or ideas reflect people I've met. I'm not a mirror. I stopped and thought and created a person. I made myself. But because of this, I don't have the slightest idea about how to normally talk to someone.

And I want to, so bad.
It hurts to be misunderstood.

i have social anxiety too ):
i hated when i was in school because i get tense in crowded places..and this school is PACKED full of kids. it makes me feel so uneasy. and its so hard for me to meet new people. because i feel they wont understand me. i think i'm very different too. and i'm afraid that others wont accept it. and it got to the point where i was evaluating my own conversations with people. i was like "he probably thought i was a weirdo".
i got so fed up with it i told my mom and we went to see a professional....aka psychiatrist :3 i'm getting better but its still such a long progress. i've been like this for years.

I think that I may used to have that...but I don't know if it's something that can go away or not, so I may have just been shy. BUt when I finally stopped worrying about what other people thought about me, I was fine. I'm more confident now, I love public speaking (and I'm quite good at it) and just...I hope that everything works for you. :)

What may help is to find a club or group that caters to one of your interests. I'm sure you can find a literature club or something similar in your area. It's always a lot easier to be out in situations where something is familiar to you.

I think I kinda understand what you mean.

I'm afraid of speaking in public, and even in my group of friends I'm the silent one.

I don't have many people who I trust, sometimes I don't even trust myself. I'm an empath and I can't control the emotions of others I feel and I can't say which are mine and which are those of others. Lately, I can't even normally watch TV or read without completely freaking out.

I won't let people close to me, because I'm afraid to hurt them, because I'm different, not like them.

To solve this problem, I think you should just let go of your fears and try. And I know this is more easilly said then done, trust me. I tried this so many times before, I even went to a social ability course, and it helped a little bit.

I think you need to learn by trial and error, making mistakes and learn from them. And there may be times you get hurt, but you need to be strong and don't give up.

I hope this made a little sense and I hope a helped you even a little, since I think my case is a little different from yours. Maybe I even got it all wrong, I'm not completely sure myself either... ^______^

I have felt like that before but you have more empathy. I, on the other hand, have alot of apathy. I don't care for other emotions, just as others do not care for mine. It's like an equal exchange for me. I do have some symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder though but I doubt I fully have it. You just need to calm down and vent to someone. Whether they're professional or not.
Empathy is good, don't get me wrong but for me I can relate to people but I don't show my empathetic side because I always feel it's un-needed so my apathetic side comes out. I can only be empathetic when it can help me in a way. It may seem selfish but that's how I am. You'll eventually get better and be a bit less shy depending on the kind of people you meet.

I know how hard it is to try to talk to people. I don't have anxiety, but I am very shy around people I don't know. I don't mind being in crowds or around people, in fact, when there's that many people, you don't even have to talk to people, you can be anonymous in the huge amount of people there are. It's when I have to talk to people that I have problems. I don't mind talking to my friends. I don't mind talking to people on the internet. If they're friends on the internet even better, but like right now, you're a perfect stranger and I have no problem saying all of this over the computer. It's when I have to talk to people in real life who I don't know that I kind of blank and don't know what to say. I always feel like anything I say will sound stupid, and I feel that most people's interests don't really match mine. I like a lot of things to a small extent, but then everyone else either seems to love something with a passion or hate something with a passion. Most of the time I'm just in between, with a few exceptions. So it makes it hard for me to talk to people. I won't talk to anyone that doesn't talk to me first if I don't know them. SO the only people I meet are people that go out of their way to come and talk to me, which is rare, but does happen. I just always feel like I have nothing to say to them. One thing that I think has helped me is the internet, because I can talk to people without feeling weird. I guess because I have more time to think about what I'm about to say than if I was actually speaking it. I have made quite a few online friends and even some real life friends who started out as online friends. I met my boyfriend through the internet and it was really helpful in getting to know him before we actually met in person. I also met a lot of people online who live in my area, and got to know them online, and then was more comfortable around them when I met them in real life. So that might be something you can try, if you're not afraid of meeting people from the internet. (I know a lot of people think it's dangerous and stuff, you just have to be smart about it, meet in a public place, etc). It worked for me at least. And I do have close friends that I made when I was in high school, who I've known for years, and I'm so glad I have them because I can talk about just about anything with them.

Hmmm...

The things you describe; there have been times in my life where I was like this. Since I fluxuate, I don't think I can say I have Social Anxiety Disorder or claim that I can actually relate to everything you go through. But honest to goodness, I have felt everything you've listed at least once in my life.

Once I started working and living on my own my self-esteem and ability to relate to people increased greatly. I don't know if that would help you, but it helped me.

When I feel insecure, I start to draw or write. I'm really good at painting and illustration - rather, I'm very confident when I do it. It makes me feel a lot better about myself.

There are times when I don't relate to anyone in the room. But really, I think that's probably because I'm not 'suposed to.

"Those who do not live among us can see everything"

You probably have a great skill for perception. You probably also understand more about human beings than most people. You have an ability that's quite rare, so you feel like you don't relate. In reality, you probably relate to the grand scheme of things than anyone you know.

I've put myself out before. Many times.
It ends rather tragically. I always feel worse than I had before.

I've thought I was building friendships. I'm good at talking to people one on one and I've gained people that I could talk to. But it doesn't last.

If there is one other person there, without fail, my 'friend' focuses on that person and I am left out. I'm the last resort only important when there is nothing else.

I like to talk about classics and world issues and humanity is general, but people are often uncomfortable or uninterested. They want to talk about little things. Things I can't seem to grasp the significance of. Why should I care that such and such teacher lives with his mom? She's lost her husband, she'd be alone without him. Isn't this good of him? What's so funny? What's so wrong? Or that girl said something stupid. And I can't laugh, I feel bad for her. She's nasty and selfish, but she's empty and she hurts. And she's pushing aways what she wants so bad. She's looking for meanng. And so it goes. (Cookies for anyone who gets the reference)

When it comes down to it, I do care too much. I see both sides andI takes things literally. And I can't stand up for either because I feel sorry for both.

I don't know how to make myself feel secure. I'm just not very confident.

And I'm a cynic with a strange sense of humor.
In Chemistry, I was giggling in my head because humans are carbon-based life forms and carbon has 6 protons, 6 nuerons, and six electrons. 666, it's like God is trying to tell us something.

Good luck with that.

Honestly, that sounds very tough.

I'm almost the complete opposite of you, and relating, or even imagining your plight is hard.

All the best,

Switch.

Thanks lightswitch, that must be nice.
Likewize, I can't imagine.

That is not in the slightest abnormal, Sanctuary.

It's hard to interact with people when they don't understand, and when you feel for them so much.

You need to try and reach out a little more...and people who like you for who you are are the only ones who matter.

A lot of people won't understand who you are, what you are. But that's because you're not a mirror, you're a unique and amazing person.

And I think that by far is better than being something else.

• Awh, you seem like such an amazing, intelligent person and I'm sorry you have such a hard time interacting with people. :C
  
  I just found out this evening that one of my good internet friends whom I may be moving in with next year has social anxiety disorder. I just feel bad because I absolutely adore him; he has a fun personality and he is incredibly cute, but he is always so nervous about meeting people, both in real life and on the internets. It's like he forgets all that when he meets someone new.
  
  I don't know how much my advice will help seeing as this is a disorder, and one I don't have, but I used to be INTENSELY shy to the point that people would think I was rude or bitchy because I was too scared to talk much. My two best friends in high school really helped me out of my shell a bit. I had never had high self esteem before I met them, and that had contributed partly to my shyness. They are also both very outgoing people and into partying, so partying with them and being introduced to their friends helped as well. Then, this summer I simply decided to consciously try to be outgoing because I was going to a summer art program where I would be staying in a dorm for six weeks and be surrounded by people I didn't know. That went extremely well :D Each new friend I made boosted my confidence in my ability to socialise. It is a lot easier now for me to talk to people after I got over my initial fear of simply approaching someone. It DOES feel very awkward at first. However, that passes, and I've learned that it always feels far more awkward to me than the other person -- usually they don't think it's awkward at all!

But every time I see you post you seem like such a great person.
Not saying that you're not.

Also, what exactly do you mean by not understanding people?

Caroline- The awkwardness doesn't go away for me. I don't know why. I've known people for years, but stilll feel nervous around them.

Arousal- Thank you, I always feel I make a terrible impression. It's nice to hear that you don't find me unpleasant.
It's difficult to explain exactly what I mean. Those little social thinga people know. What to do and not to do, I don't know. I get nervous and tongue-tied and I'll say the wrong thing and make people dislike me or be uninterested with me.