Words

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Does anybody have a problem with words disappearing from their mind when anxious? For me when I get anxious, my thoughts become visual instead of word based. The more stressed I am, the brighter the images in my mind and the fewer words I have. I am still able to speak, but my words come out jumbled as I try to translate the images in my head to words. As can be expected this leads to be a big root of my social anxiety issues. Starting a conversation or asking for help becomes almost impossible.

Yep. I'm much less verbose in real life. I know plenty of words and I can use them quite comfortably when writing but anxiety shuts down all that and I don't speak much and if I do, it's much simpler.

I don't know if my thinking becomes more visual though. I'm just kind of...blank. It's not like I'm thinking of lots to say and not saying it, I'm just not thinking. It's not unpleasant, actually.

I certainly used to have trouble finding the words when there were problems with bosses at work. There's this weird assumption in real time conversation that everybody has to speak then or forever hold their peace. In practice it's usually possible to say something like "I'll need to think about that and get back to you," but when I'm put on the spot, my brain can't easily jump out of the detail and into the overview to see such possibilities.

I've become more articulate over time, so it's easier now than it used to be. I used to even have trouble putting my thoughts into writing, but that's become easier still, especially if I have time to sleep on a matter. I try to stick to the written word these days.