Fear of Physical Expression?

Do any other Borderlines out there have a fear of public physical expression like me? I don't mean just dancing, singing, etc., and not public speaking.

A (somewhat embarrassing) personal example:

The other day in my DBT class, we were doing a mindfulness exercise where we had to "throw" an imaginary ball around in a circle, and imitate noises that other people made (Beep, whoo!, and the like). It caused me so much anxiety that I started shaking and crying, and I couldn't continue (I cry when uncomfortable ).

Has anyone else experienced this phobia?I have never met anyone who had a similar reaction to these types of situations, but I saw mention of it in an article on BPD, and I'm curious....

Hi,

I have of course experienced such a fear but I think that it can be explained under the heading of social anxiety or shyness. Certainly, it's not something exclusive to BPD. In most walks of life though, I find it hard to simply 'let go' of myself and just be human. Know what I mean?

Kevin

It's not shyness though. I know it is related to the BPD.

Why can't shyness be a symptom of BPD? Shyness is typically interpreted as being a standalone 'illness' when, in fact, it shouldn't at all be interpreted that way. It can be a symptom/feature of many things such as depression, anxiety, AvPD, Asperger's Syndrome, ASPD, etc.

Look,
the only reason noone post here is because I wrote in it.

______________________
Why on earth would shyness be part of borderline.
They might seek attention as much as they flee from it.
They are famous for being manipulative, flirting and attention seeking and approval seeking.

So this doesnt seem avoidant.

They withraw and keep in the background, they might avoid attention
and avoid socials.
They also need and gets stuck in attention when they gets it,
talking long about their problem.
Sara was sucked towards company such as groups and strangers and as often she was shy she fleed or keept herself in the background.
When I think of it she was more shy and avoidant than not.

I think the fear of expressions the person mentioned
is an oversenitivity of expressions.

The person realise he/she is easily manipulated or influenced
by body language and the like.
Which leads to an sense of loss of controll
because it means the person can be sucked into relationships and hurt.

I agree that this is highly resembling the avoidance that Chucky and me experiences because of our aspergers.

i use to be real shy. i have bpd.
any way.
I wouldn't want to do that exercise eithor.
Did you understand what the exercise was for... the meaning of it.
are you comfortable with the people you were with? that would be a really big deal.

I could probably do something like that with my kids.
but with adults?
seems like i don't even like the thought of it.

avoidance? who the heck wants to throw an imaginary ball? who wants to act crazy? not i said the fly.

i wouldn't want to do that exercise no way. why would i want to act crazy when i'm tryin to fix crazy?

what were you really thinking?

maybe there were conflicting thoughts.
i mean really most even healthy people might not want to make goofy sounds and throw imaginary balls.

I laugh at the people on dr phil when they throw emotions in the fire pit or whatever.

queenofwands wrote:Do any other Borderlines out there have a fear of public physical expression like me? I don't mean just dancing, singing, etc., and not public speaking.

A (somewhat embarrassing) personal example:

The other day in my DBT class, we were doing a mindfulness exercise where we had to "throw" an imaginary ball around in a circle, and imitate noises that other people made (Beep, whoo!, and the like). It caused me so much anxiety that I started shaking and crying, and I couldn't continue (I cry when uncomfortable ).

Has anyone else experienced this phobia?I have never met anyone who had a similar reaction to these types of situations, but I saw mention of it in an article on BPD, and I'm curious....

Reading this reminded me a lot of how I feel. Though, I can't say I cry in the situation, but I certainly feel a lot of anxiety.

Showing physical expression for me is pretty hard. I can do it if I'm acting or if I'm purposely trying to throw it out there. But in general, my reactions and physical expressions aren't what other people expect. They can come across as either extremely condescending (when they were meant to be helpful), extremely apathetic as though I don't really care for what I am expressing, quite sarcastic to the point where people think I'm mocking them (sometimes I am), or extremely irrelevant to the point that they don't make sense.

In some cases, I just don't express anything and stand there somewhat paralyzed in fear. Or I just give that awkward "giggle/laugh" when someone says something to acknowledge I heard it. Even if what they said wasn't funny or amusing. This is usually one of those irrelevant expressions that sometimes people misread.

I don't know if you do that as well, but that's practically how I feel. Like I have to "act" every time I want to show some sort of expression, be it facial or bodily. During speech, I'm also quiet, and I hate having to raise my voice for people to hear. When I do it, it sounds forced and it seems to always come out wrong.

I do agree, though, that it isn't a key symptom of Borderline PD. But it definitely resides heavily in anxiety which is extremely prevalent in BPD. That anxiety can be caused by different things for different people.

It's also a symptom of Asperger's, which I've found to have a few similarities with BPD. But that's all debatable.

I can definitely resonate with your post, though, queenofwands.

I feel deep shame with public expression, and I feel physically distorted like I am really ugly and have a huge head.

p.s. Air Captain that Depeche Mode song is awesome!!!

Hi Queenofwands,

I took one of the DBT classes too. In my experience I found the expression of physical activity to be uncomfortable in many ways. Yet I love dancing alone by myself. I was not ready to share that part of myself with the other people, who I thought of as strangers at the time. Plus I wasn't very trusting. I am an introvert, always have been. I was also very shy when I was younger. Does this mean it's part of my illness? I'm not sure. But since I was a shy person in my youth, I attribute it to my personality, or my disposition rather than throw it in the pool of symptoms of the illness.

In any event, if you felt shy, uncomfortable, which ever, maybe think about yourself before, like when you were younger. Have you changed? etc. This may give you some insight.

Good Luck!