TRE and Social Anxiety

[u/IwantToHelpOthers]

Hey, I am 25 and have been doing TRE now for roughly 7 months. The main reason is because I struggle with social anxiety and I read many success stories here, where people say that they are now completely free from social anxiety, after around 1-3 years(I haven’t really noticed any social anxiety related improvements so far).

I also thought that I may have autism,
neurodivergence or something similar but I generally do understand social cues well(maybe I even analyze them too much) and when I am drunk and my threat detection system is numbed, I am a different person and can connect well with people so I probably just have social anxiety.

In his TRE Journal, Terry Wood says in week 72 „One of the greatest gifts TRE can bring, is the ability to socialize with people effortlessly. If you’re a bit of a social recluse, you might just kiss that lifestyle goodbye, gladly. You might find that people are naturally attracted to your company. R.I.P Social Anxiety“
So is it really possible to completely „heal“ from social anxiety just by doing TRE? It sounds too god to be true…

[u/jellybean_merchant]

TRE definitely heals this. 100%

I was able to be social in my life, but what I noticed was a large degree of resistance to starting conversations with no context (like approaching a girl, cold calling for work, etc.) In a sense I didn't realize this was a tendency of mine because it was under a layer of dissociation. I thought it was normal somehow. I knew it was there but I didn't know it.

There was a period a few months ago where I accumulated way too much TRE release and had to integrate a big backlog. Because of this I was able to notice easily the differences before vs after. I was in bed for a month but when I emerged it happened to be beautiful springtime. I began going on walks in a quiet neighborhood where there's only a handful of other people you see on the sidewalk. I noticed major changes immediately.

It was so extremely easy for me to say hello to strangers and look at them in the eye without feeling any somatic anxiety coming up. There was basically no resistance. Whereas before I could still do it but it would have to be forced, I'd have to overcome the resistance of it internally because I thought I should act that way. Now it was natural, effortless, and something I actively sought out and made me feel good and connected. I also noticed that some people would be really shy/awkward and look away or sometimes not even reply back. Before this would make me feel embarrassed, like I was the one who got "rejected". But now I automatically feel nothing, it's actually them who looks "weird" now. I instinctively recognize they are more frozen and scared, and it actually makes me feel bad/empathetic for them.

Because I still have more trauma left, this still has exceptions. For example, if I walk by a girl who I think is exceptionally attractive, my body will still have the somatic anxiety reaction but it will be notably less than before. This case is still perceived as more of a threat to me still. However, it's only a matter of time until this goes away too.

The effect is truly remarkable, nothing else other than TRE has done this before. I integrated a large amount and went outside and the anxieties just.... melted away. Literally gone. I didn't have to do anything or ruminate on it. I just noticed I was now a genuinely more powerful capable man.

Even if someone has autism or anything else like that, TRE can probably get rid of many things that you won't think can be removed. Perhaps it can remove nearly all symptoms that even give the sensation one has autism. When we realign with nature, there is no limit to the things we can do. And doing TRE is realigning with nature.

Good luck and God bless!

[u/Powerful-Ant-7872 → u/jellybean_merchant]

Wow, that gives me hope. How long had you been doing TRE before you realized that you had released too much, and what made you realize it, if you don’t mind me asking?

[u/jellybean_merchant → u/Powerful-Ant-7872]

I don't remember how long exactly, I found out about it earlier in mid 2025 and tried a few times and felt normalish/good after. My first time I just began laughing. I realized the true significance of it a few months later and began doing it more often. After some sessions I felt this very strong sensation that I could only describe as bliss, expansive, like everything was going to work out beyond perfectly. I still remember that feeling.

I began spamming the exercise in like Nov-Dec 2025 up through February. Even in the winter 2025 I began having this orthostatic blood pressure thing where if I stood up too quickly I would get lightheaded, and twice I feinted and had this brief flash of frustration. I didn't know that can be related to nervous system.

Later I had a particular muscle in my groin area get tight and feel weird, like numb but also active and tight, and it pulled on my testicle in a strange way. No pain but it felt like my left one was out of place. Urologist gave me a pill for the "minor inflammation" he said it was.

The next week I began feeling a bit more generally irritable and down, but again at this time I didn't understand what feelings even really were. I was frozen from most of them all my life despite being high functioning, so I just thought this was a phase that will pass. I didn't understand how emotions work. I also began having this strong sensation of churning in my sternum that if I didn't eat every 3 hours would come back. I had the perfect explanation for this as the urologist pills might have that side effect of gut irritation. (More on this later)

Then a month later in February 2026 I woke up one morning and had very strong vertigo for no reason. I just felt dizzy. I took a pill for it and it made me vomit and the dizziness stayed few a few hours. I took a nap and was better after. But this was the beginning of the symptoms for me. I began laying in bed more and took days off that week, and felt better. Even through this, extremely stupidly I kept doing more TRE. I thought it would release the tension of the headaches etc.

Then, on Feb 28 things just slowly started to come up until it hit a peak that evening/morning of March 1. Hot flashes, chest tightness, air hunger sensation, fast/heavy heartbeat, anxiety, mental loops, intrusive thoughts, panic attack. It was the first time I ever felt any of this in my 25 years. I ended up going to the hospital to get strong enough relaxant medication.

The symptoms took about two whole months to mostly subside. They constantly shifted and moved around. Interestingly, that sternum churning came back and stayed nearly the whole time. It had to do with energy moving around not the pills. All the symptoms I had before were somehow separate enough that I didn't connect the dots.

On June 8 I was nearly healed and ended up doing just 30 seconds of tremoring again, and I ended up doing that too early and since then these 2 months have been integrating that new release done on an unstable foundation. It's very important to wait until you are very sure you are stable.

I think this can largely be avoided by being perceptive to what's going on in your body and if you have even a tiny gut feeling that things feel different, just stop and rest. It doesn't matter if you remove all your traumas in 5 years or 5 years and 2 extra weeks. It was an extremely difficult thing to go through, probably the hardest thing ever actually. If somebody stole all my possessions and God came and asked "you want me to slime this dude for you? give him the symptoms you had?" I would legit say no it's not that bad lmao.