Advice with medicine for social anxiety/ anxiety

[Insanewoman389]

In your experience does medicine help with social anxiety? Have you been able to get off it and still do well? Do also do therapy with the medicine?

Same questions for Anxiety: In your experience does medicine help with anxiety? Have you been able to get off it and still do well? Do you also do therapy with the medicine?

I'm just curious cause I have yet to see a therapist (trying to find one) or been on any medication but I am going to see a therapist and I really think getting some medicine will help me but a lot of people say that it's just a temporary fix and its better just to do therapy. I'm the kind of person who if I don't feel good I take something so to hear this kind of upsets me but I understand that the medicine can wear off and it doesn't always work forever so I was just wondering what everyone's experience was with it and how long they took it for.

 

[aftermidnight]

Interestingly, placebos are quite effective in treating SAD. SSRIs are even more effective, having a clinically significant effect in ~50% of patients. Given their safety and uncommon truly bothersome side effects, I would definitely say they're worth a try.

Personally, I'm a firm believer in the combo therapy of medication and CBT. Medication should, hopefully, make you better able to use what you've learned in CBT. For example, you're hanging out with a group of friends/acquaintances. In CBT, you've learned that your fears, mostly a result of your irrational belief that people think everything you say is stupid, are unfounded. You can easily acknowledge this, when you're at home alone. But in this situation your anxiety still creeps up on you, and you're particularly afraid that it will be self-fulfilling (your anxiety that you'll say something stupid kicks into gear your fight-or-flight response, which causes you to actually say something stupid). Drugs can, hopefully, quell this anxiety, allowing you to successfully interact with people, thus building your confidence that you'll be able to repeat this successful interaction in the future.

As far as scientific literature goes, the dual therapy option seems to be the most effective. If anyone tells you otherwise, it is probably because he hasn't done his research and thus goes with his bias (a psychologist will probably suggest CBT; a psychiatrist would probably suggest meds).

 

[anxiety1408]

I advise you not to go through the medicine route, its a temporary cure and you may become dependent on it. You may start believing that you are only not anxious when taking that medicine, which will make you think that you yourself cannot overcome it. You can make yourself feel the same way without the medicine as you would right after that taking the medicine. I tell you how, believe, that's all. After all, the medicine is most effective only because you believe that once after you take it will take your anxiety away, its the belief that does it, not so much medicine.

 

[glesga24]

If you need a prescribed med that combats the effects of anxiety, such as shaking then i found that propanapol works.

The doctor told me that it inhibits adrenalin, so combats the shaking associated with it. It worked for me on the shaking but my head was still telling me differently.

Definitely combats the physical effects though. I am from the uk so might be a bit different where you are.

hope this helps you

 

[aftermidnight]

I advise you not to go through the medicine route, its a temporary cure and you may become dependent on it. You may start believing that you are only not anxious when taking that medicine, which will make you think that you yourself cannot overcome it. You can make yourself feel the same way without the medicine as you would right after that taking the medicine. I tell you how, believe, that's all. After all, the medicine is most effective only because you believe that once after you take it will take your anxiety away, its the belief that does it, not so much medicine.

These are valid points, but your assumption is that dependence is a bad thing, specifically that it is worse than anxiety. Dependence is only a bad thing if it itself causes physical or mental harm that is greater than the physical or mental harm caused by the disorder being treated.

For example, type I diabetics are dependent on insulin. Would you advise them to stop taking their insulin simply because they are dependent on it? Clearly, the state of dependence alone is not an issue. If the dependence causes greater harm than good, then, yes, there is a problem. This will vary from case to case, so I completely disagree with your advising to not go the medicine route, at least without not knowing a person's exact situation.

 

[aftermidnight]

If you need a prescribed med that combats the effects of anxiety, such as shaking then i found that propanapol works.

The doctor told me that it inhibits adrenalin, so combats the shaking associated with it. It worked for me on the shaking but my head was still telling me differently.

Definitely combats the physical effects though. I am from the uk so might be a bit different where you are.

hope this helps you

Agreed. Propranolol (aka Inderal) does work well at subduing the fight-or-flight response that usually accompanies anxiety. I use it only when I know my anxiety is going to be high. While it does relax me, I don't always want to be relaxed.

 

[this_portrait]

CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy) has helped me by itself in the past, so yes, I would say that therapy certainly does help with social phobia.

As for meds, I can't really say. I'm in the process of getting on an SSRI for mine right now, because I've been through a lot of sh*t and CBT by itself isn't really going to be enough this time around. I can't really judge if meds work or not, but once I get on one, I'll be able to determine if they do.

 

[anxiety1408]

These are valid points, but your assumption is that dependence is a bad thing, specifically that it is worse than anxiety. Dependence is only a bad thing if it itself causes physical or mental harm that is greater than the physical or mental harm caused by the disorder being treated.

For example, type I diabetics are dependent on insulin. Would you advise them to stop taking their insulin simply because they are dependent on it? Clearly, the state of dependence alone is not an issue. If the dependence causes greater harm than good, then, yes, there is a problem. This will vary from case to case, so I completely disagree with your advising to not go the medicine route, at least without not knowing a person's exact situation.

I advise not taking it as far as social anxiety goes. You need to know that you can overcome SA, it causes mental harm knowing you have to take medicine to feel 'okay', it tells you that you are not capable of overcoming the phobia, and that could lead you to relying on the medicine itself. Do you want to feel like you can't overcome social phobia/anxiety, because if you continue to go down the route of taking medicines, deep down you will know that you yourself cannot overcome it.

The medicine may make the SA feel hidden from view, but it stays intact. You never get rid of it, unless you do something yourself. You can't overcome SA from external things, it has to come from within. The medicine will provide a temporary cure, but what will you do about it permanently? in the long run? would you stop taking the medicine even though it helped you feel less anxious and you knew that when you stopped taking it that it made you feel anxious again. It mentally harms you, if the underlying SA is not tackled directly.

If I took medicine and it helped my anxiety and made the anxiety feel non existent, I could not say I have overcame social anxiety. I can only say that I am taking this medicine so my SA doesn't act up.

Some song lyrics that come to mind;
''temporary happiness is like waiting for the knife''

 

[Kiwong]

I have made significant improvements without medication. My preference is to not take the medication route. It concerns me that I have seen doctors who have been so quick to suggest medication, but have not recommended other therapies such as CBT.

 

[aftermidnight]

If I took medicine and it helped my anxiety and made the anxiety feel non existent, I could not say I have overcame social anxiety. I can only say that I am taking this medicine so my SA doesn't act up.

Again, I can't say I don't agree, just that I don't agree with your implications. It would be nice to overcome anxiety without medication, and I fully recommend attempting to do so before even considering medication. HOWEVER, not everyone can overcome his or her anxiety. Let's not fall into this optimism that nothing is impossible. Some things are so unrealistic that they are essentially impossible, and for some people overcoming their anxiety without medication may be essentially impossible. While being dependent on a medication may lead to a sense of failure, so too can repeatedly trying non-medication forms of therapy to no avail. Some people would rather admit to themselves that they can only control their anxiety through medication than have no control over their anxiety at all and be a slave to it. Personally, I'd rather be a slave to medication than a slave to anxiety. Then again, I'd rather not be a slave to either.

I just want to make clear that it highly depends on the person, and I truly do respect that you're showing the side of the picture that I have so far neglected. Being dependent on a medication is not ideal; whether or not it is better than living a life of anxiety should be left up to the person. This person should, however, be aware that there are better alternatives that should be tried first: CBT is a great example.

 

[Remus]

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