Before a prescription of anxiety medications is made for a social anxiety disorder, it’s important to understand what this sort of disorder actually is. It is not mere shyness, as some people think. Shyness can usually be mitigated with age, experience and perhaps some coaching in certain skills. But a social anxiety disorder is a debilitating fear of interacting with people and looking foolish or being judged in a negative way. If it results in physical and psychological symptoms that make it hard to function in society, that’s when social anxiety disorder treatments become important.
Some of the standard social anxiety disorder treatments involve various types of medications. For example, a doctor’s first prescription for these social fears is usually one of the drugs from the family of medications known as the SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). These include antidepressants like Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft or Celexa. They help to gradually alleviate the symptoms of social phobias, and most often don’t produce difficult side effects.
Cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder involves social skills training, where the person learns to use appropriate behaviors in a social situation, which will hopefully decrease their anxiety. Usually, it’s used in conjunction with drugs to help tone down the anxiety responses while the cognitive work is underway.
Given that there is often a traumatic element in the past of someone with these social phobias, it’s not surprising that some social anxiety disorder treatments recommend delving into any potential underlying causes of the disorder. This is often done in conjunction with the other treatments such as the medications. While the external symptoms are being brought under control, the possible root causes are being explored.
Effective treatment may involve many of these elements working together, so the person can gradually face public situations with a degree of confidence and a reduction in anxiety symptoms.
Visit Panic and Anxiety Disorders for information on a variety of treatments for anxiety, including herbal remedies for anxiety.
categories: social anxiety disorder treatment,social anxiety disorder,anxiety disorders,mental health
