Since I have known my husband I have always thought he had anxiety problems especially social anxiety. He deals with social events either by avoiding them, drinking too much at the event to "have fun" or punishing me if I force him to go to an event (pouting is one of his favorite ways to punish me).
He has finally agreed to see a psychiatrist to get on something to help him with his anxiety. Let me give you a couple examples of his anxiety levels when it comes to social or work things. This way you can see the extremes he goes to to deal with his anxiety or punish me.
*Once drank so much at a party he had invited friends to to make up for the bad time he thought his friends were having that he fell down a flight of stairs, knocked out his front teeth, broke his nose and split his lip open. We thought he had broken his neck or back as well but he was spared those injuries.
*At a Bar Mitzvah we were invited to he got so upset that I left him alone to go dance with some of my co workers (not out of jealousy but anxiety) that he not only left to go sit in the car without telling anyone...he moved the car away from the party so I couldn't find him and assumed he left me there and then didn't understand why I was upset. PS it was a 5 minute song and I went right back to where I had left him sitting because I knew he hated parties.
*Got drunk one night trying to show a friend a good time (see a pattern) that he went into his office drunk at 1:30am to email a subordinate to see if anyone from the office was out drinking. Forgot about doing it until he checked his email and then spent two nights worrying so much about it that he did NOT sleep for two days. Not an exaggeration. I read the email and said it was rather unprofessional but not harassing or inappropriate just way too late to be emailing coworkers to find people are out. This made him feel better but he still lost days of sleep.
David is a happy drunk and from what I have heard about him before I met him he was extremely shy unless he was drinking. He didn't date much in high school or college and had the same group of friends since he was in t-ball. He never had to come out of his shell to make friends or get jobs. Since graduating from college he has had to WORK at being social and friendly when not drinking and I notice if he is in a situation that he feels anxious (especially about being accepted) he usually lubricates the problem with lots of alcohol. At least he is a happy, if sometimes clumsy, drunk.
From what I have gleaned off the internet he is pretty textbook for the types of people that get into addictions. This is one of his traits that always seem to be on the list. Anxiety, and not being able to handle it in a healthy way, can really destroy your life.
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