[whatshisface]

A lot of social technique advice is useless because anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence would discover it themselves, provided they have the right brain chemicals for naturally spending a lot of time around people, which obviously most of the people who don't already do that don't. The first step in a realistic guide would be something about how to overcome or change one's inner nature. If you wanted to help people who weren't already successful you'd really need to start by telling them how to overcome their depression/anxiety/health problems/sleep disorders/whatever else is biasing them against getting out there. Someone who is completely healthy will start talking to people out of boredom and will not need advice on how to do it.

[kjeetgill]

As someone who needed this advice thread in my youth, i have to heartily disagree with you. Projecting my own experience here:

> anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence

...can talk themselves into feeling apprehensive about pretty much anything. Not advice for OP necessary, but getting out of your head is definitely advice many of us needed.

All this jazz about brain chemicals is just as much a distraction. Just another "intelligent excuse". It can be harder for you, and depression or other conditions can make things even harder, but buying into this intrinsic sense of this is what I am is what reenforces these traps.

Edit: You've since elaborated, but I'll let my original post stand. I agree with you much more now!

[whatshisface]

Talking yourself into feeling apprehensive about everything sounds like anxiety, which I think we're agreeing, while using different words, needs to be overcome before anything else can happen - but afterwards the rest will probably fall in to place. The neurology vs psychology thing is a semantic issue, really, whatever solves the problems works, and the problem is the same whatever we call it.