Question:
thanks to everyone for their replies. helps a lot to know others have the same problem 
funny thing is i never see anybody who looks like they’re having trouble walking due to anxiety… maybe we’re all walking just fine and it’s just in our heads. i’d almost rather have it be real, if you know what i mean. i like to trust my own mind! dormant
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: : anyone else out there experience this problem- : : whenever i am in a mall or similar place with a lot of people, i forget how : to walk. seriously. i become superconcious of my walking and i start : screwing it up. i realize they aren’t looking at me any more than i am : looking at them but for some reason i am always stricken with this inability : to make walking a background task. i start walking around all jerky and : stiff-legged and i KNOW they are looking at me then. this of course makes me : feel pretty stupid. : : No one has ever mentioned this here, I am so glad you did. I have done this : too. The more I concentrated on walking the more I messed up. I seem to do this : when I am having hard time with anxiety and don`t want anyone to notice I am : anxious. Take care. : : I had this too although it’s many moons ago. And I had something even weirder which : IMO had nothing to do with other people: I had times when my legs just wouldn’t : work properly and I could hardly walk and felt close to paralysis. I get this too from time to time. Somedays it’s so bad that I can have a real problem with stairs and have to ascend or descend slowly while carefully clutching a railing. As with memory problems, I believe this has something to do with some neurotransmitter imbalance which interferes with motor control. I also experience arthritic joint pain at times which might be related. : I found this : kinda *interesting* (and also kinda fucking annoying 
) because I thought : *neurotic paralysis* had gone out of the window with many of Freud’s ideas. I : thought it had something to do with Victorian society and ideas about *hysteria* : but here I was almost crippled from nothing at all…. Actually, neurotic paralysis was not a product of Victorian theories, but rather a direct observation that such theories attempted to explain. Freud and his contemporaries where strongly influenced by Charcot’s work with hysterical patients in late 19th century Paris. Subsequent attempts to explain hysterical symptoms tended to be somewhat Freudian. Keep in mind that, back then, the term "hysteria" referred to a broad range of conditions which we now call anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the like. : and then there was the day : when I walked to a small railway station in Amsterdam to go home by train. I was : having a PA and a big dog saw me which scared me terribly at the time. This dog : then started to follow me and occasionally bark and jump up to me in a way that was : not friendly at all. It was terrifying. I am convinced the dog felt my anxiety. The notion that some animals can "smell fear" may not be so far fetched. Many animals, like dogs, have a much more acute sense of smell than us humans, and it’s likely that fear may be detectable in the pheromones (airborne hormones) we release. Best Wishes, Arthur
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – anyone else out there experience this problem- whenever i am in a mall or similar place with a lot of people, i forget how to walk. seriously. i become superconcious of my walking and i start screwing it up. i realize they aren’t looking at me any more than i am looking at them but for some reason i am always stricken with this inability to make walking a background task. i start walking around all jerky and stiff-legged and i KNOW they are looking at me then. this of course makes me feel pretty stupid. i learned to walk pretty early in life and it should be like falling off a bike, if you get my drift. curious to see if this is somebody elses problem too i assume it’s part of the "social anxiety disorder", the umbrella under which i apparently fall. dormant Hi dormant, No one has ever mentioned this here, I am so glad you did. I have done this too. The more I concentrated on walking the more I messed up. I seem to do this when I am having hard time with anxiety and don`t want anyone to notice I am anxious. Take care. Jackie
I had this too although it’s many moons ago. And I had something even weirder which IMO had nothing to do with other people: I had times when my legs just wouldn’t work properly and I could hardly walk and felt close to paralysis. I found this kinda *interesting* (and also kinda fucking annoying ) because I thought *neurotic paralysis* had gone out of the window with many of Freud’s ideas. I thought it had something to do with Victorian society and ideas about *hysteria* but here I was almost crippled from nothing at all…. and then there was the day when I walked to a small railway station in Amsterdam to go home by train. I was having a PA and a big dog saw me which scared me terribly at the time. This dog then started to follow me and occasionally bark and jump up to me in a way that was not friendly at all. It was terrifying. I am convinced the dog felt my anxiety. Well, I’ve steered away from the original topic again, sorry…. Philip (hit that send button anyway)
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – anyone else out there experience this problem- whenever i am in a mall or similar place with a lot of people, i forget how to walk. seriously. i become superconcious of my walking and i start screwing it up. i realize they aren’t looking at me any more than i am looking at them but for some reason i am always stricken with this inability to make walking a background task. i start walking around all jerky and stiff-legged and i KNOW they are looking at me then. this of course makes me feel pretty stupid. i learned to walk pretty early in life and it should be like falling off a bike, if you get my drift. curious to see if this is somebody elses problem too i assume it’s part of the "social anxiety disorder", the umbrella under which i apparently fall. dormant
Hi dormant, No one has ever mentioned this here, I am so glad you did. I have done this too. The more I concentrated on walking the more I messed up. I seem to do this when I am having hard time with anxiety and don`t want anyone to notice I am anxious. Take care. Jackie
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::::Snipped:::: This dog then started to follow me and occasionally bark and jump up to me in a way that was not friendly at all. It was terrifying. I am convinced the dog felt my anxiety. Well, I’ve steered away from the original topic again, sorry….
Hi Philip, I believe you when you say that dog sensed your anxiety. I have a big old lab and he is very sensitive to my anxiety. When I was really bad during my last setback, my dog would have this really bewildered look on his face. He would also stay by me when I sat on the couch. I know he sensed my distress. My cats on the otherhand couldn`t care less<VBG. Take care. Jackie ~~"I’ve never understood why women love cats. Cats are independent, they don’t listen, they don’t come in when you call, they like to stay out all night, come home and expect to be fed and stroked, then want to be left alone and sleep. In other words, every quality that women hate in a man, they love in a cat~~
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I just wanted to tell you that I sort of have the same problem as you. Because of my panic disorder I for some reason tend to walk stigg legged. Like I can’t bend my knees at all it is really strange; and because of this I have the most painful leg cramps ever at night. I am always wondering if people notice that I walk like this. I think it is because I always feel dizzy and I think I need to be as stiff as possible to be balanced. As a reprocussion of this I end up walking clumsy a lot or forgetting how to walk per say. Well just thought I would let you know you aren’t alone. Anavette – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – anyone else out there experience this problem- whenever i am in a mall or similar place with a lot of people, i forget how to walk. seriously. i become superconcious of my walking and i start screwing it up. i realize they aren’t looking at me any more than i am looking at them but for some reason i am always stricken with this inability to make walking a background task. i start walking around all jerky and stiff-legged and i KNOW they are looking at me then. this of course makes me feel pretty stupid. i learned to walk pretty early in life and it should be like falling off a bike, if you get my drift. curious to see if this is somebody elses problem too i assume it’s part of the "social anxiety disorder", the umbrella under which i apparently fall. dormant
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Hi, I’ve had that problem a lot in my life and its a part of my social anxiety. I’ve felt many times that I cant keep walking, that I need to sit down when around people. Right when I think I’ve got the rythym happening I suddenly feel like Im losing control of my legs, and its terribly embarassing. However I have not had this particular problem in quite a while (but I sure have replaced it with others). I’d say don’t become too obsessed with it though, its not the worst thing in the world to feel like your gonna go arse over. Its a really hard thing to just stop doing, it seems to become the standard response in these kind of social situations. I just learnt to put up with it, and its not bothering me anymore. Luke Before you buy.
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Hi Dormant, i had to reply because i definitely know how you feel!! I do that "jerky-walk" thing when i get self-concious, too! But, i don’t know if it’s noticeable to anyone but me.I notice some one looking at me, or feel someone walking behind me, like in a mall, and boom! i can’t walk.I get so stiff,and overly involved in each step…LOL….it’s awful when it happens, isn’t it? I’ve been doing this for years, in fact i can’t remember a time when it didn’t happen in a crowd, i know this doesn’t help you much, but i wanted you to know your NOT alone!!! *"Never look down on a person, unless you’re helping them up"* *Sharyn*
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anyone else out there experience this problem- whenever i am in a mall or similar place with a lot of people, i forget how to walk. seriously. i become superconcious of my walking and i start screwing it up. i realize they aren’t looking at me any more than i am looking at them but for some reason i am always stricken with this inability to make walking a background task. i start walking around all jerky and stiff-legged and i KNOW they are looking at me then. this of course makes me feel pretty stupid. i learned to walk pretty early in life and it should be like falling off a bike, if you get my drift. curious to see if this is somebody elses problem too i assume it’s part of the "social anxiety disorder", the umbrella under which i apparently fall. dormant
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