Social phobia/anxiety and drugs/meds [long]

[belfort]

can someone please explain the difference between being SHY and having SOCIAL ANXIETY???im thinking that social anxiety is basically the phsych communities "label" for shyness, am i correct??

i agree with the pro-drug peeps, as CBT can only go so far...i mean, i know of several people that have everything going for them(well, for the most part), they look great yet they are basically nervous wrecks...i have anxiety but these people drive me crazy when im around them...they have started taking meds and seem much much better....they went the phsychiatrist route forever and it didnt seem to help much at all...i mean, when yer in the middle of a panic attack, there is only so much one can do...breathing exercises can help only so much..

especially for a guy, the stigma of having this dirorder(anxiety depression) is very strong...hurts yer ego bigtime..basically destroys it...

 

[dehmmy]

I wonder, does Neurontin work for anxiety like a benzo, only more long-term/with less tolerance/WD issues?

neurontin (gabapentin) is a joke. like popping candy

edit: my brother was on it for pain management at close to 1 g (1000mg) which did jack. My doc uses it as a last resort like a prayer from god... just a real life example..

 

[Amebix]

Regular Intensive Cardiovascular exercise of at least 30 mins duration, 4X/week, pure diet with supplements where neccessary, counselling/therapy, yoga, nature treks.
This will sort you out.

ill vouch for that ekercise i feel great!! And social anxiety is cognitive. getting fucked up will cover it up but itll always be there no matter how many drugs you take when you come down, usually worse. Get professional help.

 

[fastandbulbous]

^ Yep, one of the treatments that will not burn you out (which psychostimulants will eventually) in conjunction with cognitive behavioural therapy is your best bet. Unlike depression, phobias are a learned response, so will respond to CBT if given the chance. The reason it's not always successful in cases of depression is that some are due to a biochemical failt to which depression is a secondary symptom (eg in manic-depression).

I know this is an old thread, but as quite a few people come on here complaing of social phobias, I think it's still a relevant thread.

 

[Dolomiti]

can someone please explain the difference between being SHY and having SOCIAL ANXIETY???im thinking that social anxiety is basically the phsych communities "label" for shyness, am i correct??

To me it's not just a label at all. There is a clear difference that I can't really explain. I'm not shy but I'm a social phobic. I am somewhat introverted though, but I'd be somewhat outgoiong if I didn't have the anxiety.

Here are a few wikipedia exerpts: "Social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia, is a diagnosis within psychiatry and other mental health professions referring to excessive long-lasting social anxiety causing relatively extreme distress and impaired ability to function in at least some areas of daily life. The diagnosis can be of a 'specific' disorder (when only some particular situations are feared) or a generalized disorder. Generalised social anxiety disorder typically involves a persistent, intense, and chronic fear of being judged by others and of potentially being embarrassed or humiliated by their own actions."

"Shyness differs from social anxiety, which is an experience of fear, apprehension or worry regarding social situations and being evaluated by others."

"n humans, shyness is a feeling of insecurity or awkwardness that certain people experience while being among others, talking with others, asking favors of others, etc. In zoology, shy generally means "tends to avoid human beings"; see cryptic."


"In a sample of 14,263 people, of the 2.4% of persons diagnosed with social phobia, 16.6% also met the criteria for major depression.[23] Besides depression, the most common disorders diagnosed in patients with social phobia are panic disorder (33%), generalized anxiety disorder (19%), post-traumatic stress disorder (36%), substance abuse disorder (18%), and attempted suicide (23%).[24] In one study of social anxiety disorder patients who developed comorbid alcoholism, panic disorder or depression, social anxiety disorder preceded the onset of alcoholism, panic disorder and depression in 75%, 61%, and 90% of patients,"

Correlatiion with depression and drug use That must add to difficulty in treating it - the depression. This may be why drugs like SSRIs are common

 

[Jamshyd]

Locking yourself at home for weeks and not answering the phone is not exactly shy, is it?

Being shy does not make you react to people as if they were a swarm of pirana's charging straight at you.

Being shy does not make you unable to have a job or do well in school because these things involve those horrific entities, viz. humans.

Do I need to explain social anxiety more?

 

[adder]

Paroxetine helped me a lot in my social phobia but caused a lot of side effects, both physical and psychological. But I will never forget that rush when I could walk up to anyone and talk about anything.

An obvious choice are benzodiazepines, especially diazepam. It's so good at 10mgs that I don't feel it messes me up and there's no more anxiety.

Another drug that helps me get read of stupid thoughts is codeine. If I take it after 2 weeks of soberity, 150mgs is a good dose just to chill out and not think about other people's opinion.

Sertraline, Milnacipran, and Fluvoxamine were useless.

Herbs are even more useless.

Stimulants make it even worse when they stop working (any drug does, I mean after a few hours).

Also, how are you supposed to run, ride a bike or whatsoever if you feel so weak you can't get up in the morning. That always wondered me so such pieces of advice are always irritating.

 

[Dolomiti]

Also, how are you supposed to run, ride a bike or whatsoever if you feel so weak you can't get up in the morning.

How could you possibly be that weak? Are you bed ridden with a dehabilitating physical illness or something? Riding a bike can be easier than walking.

 

[Jamshyd]

Benzos are actually only good short-term for social phobia. In the long run, they tend to make me isolated and antisocial.

GHB is THE BEST drug for social phobia - unfortunately, its dependence is WORSE THAN BOTH HEROIN AND BENZOS COMBINED. I stopped a habit more than a year ago and I'm still suffering from it.

Dexedrine is the second-best drug for social anxiety, but also only short term - if you keep using it, you will slowly turn into an asshole but still think that people love you because you're the most awesome thing since elvis. Then you get the psychosis, and you know the rest.

Buprenorphine works well too, more so than any other opiate even, but at the end, it is still an opiate itself...

Low-dose Ketamine works works well for my depression, which means that it makes my social anxiety more manageable, but it doesn't abolish it.

One thing that worked surprisingly well was Tianeptine. There are two problems with this one though: 1. Its unavailable in North America (of course, because its a good medicine 8(), 2. It has a short halflife, and so 3. It is very expensive.

Another thing that worked slightly well was Gabapentin and its relative pregabalin. Unfortunately, they stop working very quickly.

SSRIs/SNRIs are useless, and so is that poison Buspar. I'd like to give Bupropion a try, but I doubt it will do much.

So I'll stick with low-dose Ketamine for now whenever I have it, since its the only drug that never hurt me and made me a better person.

How could you possibly be that weak? Are you bed ridden with a dehabilitating physical illness or something? Riding a bike can be easier than walking.

Did you read my last post above? You obviously never suffered anxiety before. As a very good friend described it yesterday, it can get to a point where you want to commit suicide but feel too weak to do it!

 

[fastandbulbous]

How could you possibly be that weak? Are you bed ridden with a dehabilitating physical illness or something? Riding a bike can be easier than walking.

Have you heard of the word psychosomatic - it means a state of mind giving rise to physical symptoms. It's not the sort of thing you can just 'pulll yourself together over' - just look at how crippling PTSD can be for some people (esp combat veterans & survivors of big disasters), Psychological states can lead to blindness & paralysis with no obvious physical cause; what used to be called, in less enlightened times, hysterical blindness & hysterical paralysis

 

[ebola?]

>>Unlike depression, phobias are a learned response, so will respond to CBT if given the chance. The reason it's not always successful in cases of depression is that some are due to a biochemical failt to which depression is a secondary symptom (eg in manic-depression).>>

I don't think you can draw this sort of distinction between biology and personal history. Both are interlocked in reciprocal interaction. Fear needn't stem only from traumatic events.

ebola

 

[fastandbulbous]

Fear is a learned response though, unlike some illnesses that are carried in the genes. If it's a learned response then it can respond to cognative behaviour therapy (CBT) if approached in the right way. on the other hand, something due to genetic factors isn't likely to get more then a slight improvement with CBT

 

[Dolomiti]

I don't know but the general impression I've had in knowledge of social anxiety is that at least sometimes it may be a combination of genetic succeptability and learned experience.

 

[Jamshyd]

I can tell you that my mother's side ALL have problems with their nervous systems and our psychology. Two of my uncles are bipolar, one of whom is an alcoholic. ALL of my mother's side (my mother and myself included) have anxiety problems, and we all have constant adrenergic-like jitters, with the older ones showing signs of parkinsonism...

 

[fastandbulbous]

Things like phobias learned from parents can sometimes be mistaken for a genetically based illness

 

[Dolomiti]

Things like phobias learned from parents can sometimes be mistaken for a genetically based illness

Mental illnesses can be learned from parents?

 

[ebola?]

>>Fear is a learned response though, unlike some illnesses that are carried in the genes. If it's a learned response then it can respond to cognative behaviour therapy (CBT) if approached in the right way. on the other hand, something due to genetic factors isn't likely to get more then a slight improvement with CBT
>>

I think you are letting the a priori structure of psychiatric typology get the better of you. Specifically, I'm thinking of the designation of anxiety disorders which attach to specific objects as "phobias". Since social interaction is ubiquitous in humans, it could be the case that there is a set of genetic factors that predispose one towards (or even cause!) social anxiety. Alternately, there could be some sort of neuromodulatory predisposition towards phobias in general, and its expression could vary due to circumstance.

All this said, CBT remains the most effective for SAD in the long term, while it won't do shit for bipolar disorder.

ebola

 

[dbailey11]

I've suffered with social anxiety for many years. I was a"shy" kid and it developed into SA/phobias due to certain traumatic experiences. Then deppression followed as a reult of my diminished confidence/trust in my self. But I'm sure there is a link to genetic predisposition and with learned responses. Basically, all of the above from the other posts. In my teens I began smoking pot and was immediately what you call a paranoid smoker. But being young and hanging with a crowd where this was the norm I continued. Then I began using psychedelics like acid and shrooms. I also used to pop the original 25mg ephedrine minithins to get cut; sometimes I'd take up to ten a day. All these factors combined finally led to full blown panic attacks. Then the fear of having panic attacks slowly stopped me from engaing with others and I tried to numb the pain by doing every drug I could get my hands on. This, at last ended in full blown clinical/severe deppression. A few years later I began seeing therapists and taking meds(the only ones I haven't used are prozac and exxexor forr SSRIs)
Never took MAOIS because the docs in those days were pushing only SSRIs. It's been an ongoing battle but at 28 I am slowly coming to accept who I am more and more. And this is KEY. As far as a treatment regimen it' a complete system. Therapy, meds, exercise(yes it is hard to hit the gym sometimes), daily vitamins/supplements, almost nine years of meditation(mostly Buddhist practice) and recently a return to psychedelics(but used with a different intention; again intention affects the positive or negative outcome of use> I've seen this over and over.)Havind good friends is also a great help; and I realise I am fortunate to have good people in my life. In summary, SA and deppression have many causal factors; so the treatment must be equally as encompassing so as to adress as many underlying factors as possible. And finally, and in my opinion THE most important factor of all is to desire so much to be free of these afflictions that you seek out as many ways to put out the fire as you can. Hell is no fun; but as your basic sanity begins to flourish, you may find yourself transformed after all. Take care all.

 

[bluecloudsky4]

Concerta made me VERY socially phobic. I am a very social person and outgoing, but methylphenidate products make me so anxious around others that I isolate myself. Amphetamines help a bit. I'm on Wellbutrin and it makes me more socially anxious. Great for depression, but I get the shakes etc from it when I talk to some people. My anxiety responses are way up on it. Some psychostimulants provide enormous relief, other make it much worse. How about a serotonin agnost like Buspirone?

 

[haribo1]

Mental illnesses can be learned from parents?

Well, according to R.D.Laing they can! I recommend the book 'The Divided Self'.

two things, an antidepressant based on tramadol is in the works, but social phobia is something that drugs will only mask. Basically, CBT (or other specific therapy) is the only real cure. I've been both patient & counsellor in such cases. I would stop spending money on meds & save up, you will get a cure that lasts for life, not just the T1/2 of whatever you have taken.