Posted by med_empowered on December 3, 2005, at 18:32:18
In reply to Re: Which SSRIS is better for social anxiety ?, posted by blueberry on December 3, 2005, at 17:11:56
yeah...social anxiety is a kind of odd disorder, and there are so many varying degrees of it..you have mild social avoidance to total reclusiveness and selective mutism. My personal advice would that if you're going with an SSRI, start with Paxil--its the standard treatment it seems, and it works OK. If you take the normal (not CR) version, you might want to split the tab and take it 2X daily, since the half-life is so short (same goes for celexa). Benzos are a good choice if you're unable to leave your house or otherwise pretty severely handicapped by this, at least in the short-term. Ideally, you could do 4 weeks or less of benzos while an AD starts to work. Some people need extended treatment...if that happens, Klonopin would probably be the tranquilizer of choice.
BuSpar isnt great for social anxiety, but it does help reduce SSRI side effects, boost the AD response, and reduce overall tension...for *some* people, this improves the overall picture (mood and anxiety symptoms and side effects). Be warned..about 10% of people who take BuSpar end up discontinuing it b/c of side effects.
Personally, I hate antipsychotics, but some people with social phobia like them, so that could be an option. Benzos and AD should probably be used before antipsychotics, though.
Finally, self-help and/or therapy/couneslling can be tremendously helpful. Please pursue something along these lines.
poster:med_empowered
thread:584285
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051203/msgs/585130.html