A.  A marked and persistant fear  of one or more social or performance situations in which the person is exposed to unfamiliar people or to possible scrutiny by others.  The individual fears that he or she will act in a way (or show anxiety symptoms) that will be humiliating or embarrassing.

B.  Exposure to the feared social situation almost invariably provokes anxiety, which may take the form of a situationally bound or situationally predisposed Panic Attack.

C.  The person recognizes that the fear is excessive or unreasonable.

D.  The feared social or preformance situations are avoided or else are endured with intense anxiety or distress.

E.  The avoidance, anxious anticipation, or distress in the feared social or preformance situation(s) interferes significantly with the person's normal routine, occupational (academic) functioning, or social activities or relationships, or there is marked distress about having the phobia.

G.  The fear or avoidance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition and is not better accounted for by another mental disorder.

I am prescribed Paxil for this.  I have been on it for about 2 months on 37.5 CR.  Still not feeling much better with my social fear.  Has anyone had success with any other meds for this?

I take zoloft for this as well as for depression and ocd.

How lond did it take for the Zoloft to start to work?

I take Lexapro for depression and anxiety and social phobia was always a problem, anyways.  Anything new was not on my agenda.  I think the Lexapro helped me to be less anxious in all types of situations, including social.  I think I was on the way to developing phobias, too. Especially, places like stores and malls.  It's all in the past now...

                                                     Jkm

I've heard moclobemide (Aurorex &co.) should work good on social phobia.
I was taking it for depression for a few months but it wasn't effective enough so I had to switch meds. Maybe you could ask your doc about it?
Just a thought, though. I haven't had much experience regarding social phobia- seems like one of very few phobias I don't have...

Thanks for everyone's replies.  I actually have a my first pdoc appointment in two weeks so hoping that it will help.

I used to suffer from this quite severely through one of my many stints of depression. I found overcoming it came from ceasing marijuana and maintaining positive thinking and trying to involve yourself in a conversation regardless of how you may feel, because with continued silence in a social phobic situation it is only amplified as your silence continues. Hope this helps   :)

Thank you zertek.  I totally understand what you mean.  I am working on it.  Still haven't figured out about calming myself down in the car.  When stopping at lights and when riding next to someone I freak out.  I turn bright red and start to sweat and I shake, feel sick, can't breathe right.  This is wearing thin considering I drive an hour back and forth to work everyday.

Silent Scream,

What a name!  I thought about that a couple of times, when my anxiety was through the roof.  I had a 45minute drive to work for awhile and it got the best of me.  I went from the shaking, sweating symptoms, right into the panic attacks while driving.  I had the symptoms of depression floating aroound for at least 1 yr., and tried to ignore them, and as a result I ended up with depression and panic disorder.  I'd talk to a doc about this and not let it get too out of hand.  I tried to do anything to keep my mind off the anxiety while I was driving from listening to music, eating candy, drinking water, taking back roads, going over unfamiliar roads, taking the bus, you name it, but it eventually caught up with me.  It was not good while going on.  What a difference meds make for this.  No one should have to suffer with these illnesses like we allow ourselves to do.  See a doc, even a medical doc can help you out with this.

                                                                  Jkm  :inlove

Thank you Jkm!  I actually have my first pdoc appointment in about 3 weeks so I am praying it will help or at least maybe he can give me an accurate diagnosis and ajust my condition accordingly.  I have seen my reg doc and he put me on Paxil and Wellbutrin.  Have been taking the Paxil for about two months with no noticable results.  ?  

~Derek

HI there.  I've been thinking about my behavior recently and I think it can be categorized into social anxiety.  I mean the other night I told my friend that I couldn't hang out with her because she was bringing someone new.  I was truly scared and overwhelmed by questions and doubts such as: what will i talk about, how should i act, i don't want to say something or look stupid....and the list went on.  
I didn't always have this fear, it just sort of appeared a few months ago, for no reason that I can really think of.  I was diagnosed with depression about a year ago, but I don't know if the two can coincide.

Depression and anxiety often go hand in hand.  Some of the anti-depressants work on anxiety, and some are energizing.  I don't know what you are on, but you can always talk to your doc and see what he's willing to do.

I don't know if you are in therapy, but it can help change the way we think about things, thus changing the way we react.  It can also help us begin to look at our own behavior and how this contributes to depression.  It's easy to avoid things, like standing up for oneself, and asserting, that can really set the funk in motion, from my own personal perception.

Depression can sure wreck one's social life, too.  If you keep turning down the invitations, soon people will assume that you are not interested in them, and let you be.  After awhile, this gets into the social phobia where you start questioning your behavior, appearance, ect.; things you never worried about in the past.

Anxiety is a difficult thing to deal with, but there are ways to fight back.  New coping skills, therapy, meds.,.....you are not at it's grips, unless you choose to be.  Asking for help once you are able to identify it is the second step.

                                                Love, Jackie

:wave:

Hey all,

Fellow social anxiety sufferer here.

I just dropped out of my group therapy because I couldn't handle speaking about my problems with the rest of the gang.  They're really nice and genuine people, I'm sure, but I just didn't feel comfortable.  It was hard enough waiting for people to stop sharing their story and then waiting for my turn to come around.  I'd usually make a quick and brief summary about my week, but wouldn't elaborate much on my feelings like many other people did.  

It was just too much.  I can't sit amongst strangers and share stuff, and then you get this short, prepared, redundant speech from the therapist at the end.  It seemed she was more concerned about how the group was running, instead of how individuals were coping and dealing with the stresses in their lives.  It was like the 'group' became a 'living person' itself.  At least that's how I began to see it.  

Another thing about this therapy that I didn't really like was not feeling validated experiencing some legitimate emotions, like being angry at somebody for intentionally hurting me.  (I had a lot of verbal and emotional abuse when I was a kid up to my teens).  I couldn't exactly sit there and explain all that to 12 other strangers who each had a personal crisis of their own to deal with.  Five minutes of sharing time just isn't enough.  So, I decided to quit.  I'm hoping to get personal therapy somewhere where it's not very expensive.

Cheers.
OutKast

Outcast,

Welcome to the Anxiety and Panic Room!

Sorry about your experience in the group therapy.  I think it's hard to be around any group of people when your anxiety is running high, even if it's friends, much less strangers.  Hopefully, you'll find yourself a good therapist, and they will help you feel better.

Seems that I saw your name on the old forum.  People are slowly transitioning over to the new board.  Feel welcome to discuss your problems with anxiety, here.

                                         Sincerely, Jackie

Thanks for the welcome, Jkm.  

Yeah, I'm crossing my fingers about future one-to-one therapy.  Good therapists are a dime a dozen nowadays, it seems.  

My anxiety isn't so obvious to many people.   I hide it well, but inside I'm a nervous wreck.  Maybe I have agoraphobia too?  I picked up that I get tense around large crowds of people, such as walking around campus at university.  I feel like dodging everybody and finding a nice quiet trail or path to walk upon, just to get away from people.  Yeah...maybe it's agoraphobia too...hmmm...

You have yourself a great day, JKM.  



:wave:

Hang in there, Outkast.  =)    Social anxiety sufferer here as well as OCD.  ;)  

I know what you mean about being out in large crowds, etc.  

I have to hand it to you for atleast trying the group therapy thing.  I'm not sure I'd have the cajones to even attempt that, yet.  Kudos to you!  I'm sorry that it didn't quite work out for you, or meet your expectations / needs.  But still, good on you for the effort, mate.  =)