Haven't left my house in 8 months..? Options

[goth-nina]

I'm Agoraphobic, I've been diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder since I was 10.
For the first 4 months in high school, people thought I was a mute. Yeah, i know. I'm very quiet. I wouldn't yell even if I was on fire.

My mom was extremely a depressed person, so I think this was genetic.
During elementary school, it was very hard. That's when the bullying began, in the 3rd grade.
It hasn't stopped since I turned senior in high school. I graduated in June 2008, since July 1st, I haven't left my house.
I start college in Fall 2009, I'm considering taking it online. I just can't be around people. I can't even breathe in a
supermarket. My brother tried to take me Christmas shopping last December, & it was too much people, passing towards me, touching me, looking at me, I just started having slow panic attacks & ran into the car, & just bursted in tears.

I can't live like this. I can't even get across a room full of people. I always have to wait for hours for them to leave, so I can get my bottled water in the vending machine. My dad thinks it's stupidity, not extreme shyness.

So is there any advice anyone can give me? Should i go out, take it slow? Geez, I can't even do THAT, I always duck when a car passes by.

[Maccabee]

I was the opposite for a long time. I was very insecure did stupid things to draw attention to myself. I stopped when i was 10 and im 13 now. Are you nervous talking to your dad or brother at home? Why are you nervous talking others? Im sure you have had lots of time with your thoughts so why dont you just convince yourself to get out there. You can still be insecure, and be scared about what people think but you need to get to the point where you can care about what people think actually in front of them. Not just wondering what they may think.