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.

[karmakiller]

One step at a time. I have horrible anxiety, but trying to figure out how things will be in the coming years and weeks only make it worse. There's probably a lot of places that you don't like to go, so don't start out on a large scale. Find something that comforts you... or someone, like a family member. Let it (or the person) be a distraction for you when you go out. For starters, just think about why you're there and focus on that instead of the people. Some people might not like it that you're not talking to them, but don't worry about it. I think it would be good for you to be in a classroom setting at college rather than an online course. If you take courses online you're only giving into the anxiety of going out and talking to people instead of confronting it. College is a lot different than high school... if you're in class and feeling overwhelmed, step out for a couple of minutes. It'd probably be a good idea to let your college know about this, because they will be able to better accommodate you.