Medication Treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder: The Hard Facts

Social Anxiety Disorder is one of the most neglected and under rated brain disorders in the world today. People often times refer to it as excessive shyness or there is something wrong with the mind of a person afflict with Social Anxiety Disorder. But there are many ways of treating a person with this disorder. Medication is one option of a comprehensive plan.

Medication has been proven to effectively lessen the intensity as well as the frequency of anxiety attacks as well as the avoidance behavior of people with social anxiety disorder. Medication can also decreases the occurrence of anticipatory anxiety in people. The good thing about this kind of treatment is that it is relatively easy to do. Simply, taking their medicine regularly in order to produce the results is the first step. But many patients have complained of different side effects associated from taking these drugs and this can lead to them stopping the treatment altogether. The sad thing about this is that the good effects may also fade and disappear when one stops taking the prescribed medicine.

Research has shown that taking the prescribed medicine can give positive results to the patient. Studies show that around 70% of patients who take the medicines have reported positive gains due to the therapy. The study tried giving placebos to these patients and less than 30% have reported having positive effects, so the medicine appears to be effective in improving a patient’s condition. There are also different reactions to these different medicines. Some patients may react so well that with continued use, the symptoms of social anxiety disorder may disappear completely. Other medicines do not have any effects on patients. There is still ongoing study on which type of medicines are fit for different people and there still has been no way to determine how well a person will react to a certain drug.

Currently there are 5 major categories used to combat against social anxiety disorder.

These are:

SSRIs - Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

SNRIs – Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors

Benzodiazepines

MAOIs - Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors

Gabapentin

There is a sixth major category for medication therapy, the beta blockers. This is used to treat performance anxiety or non-generalized social anxiety disorder. All of these types of medication have been found to be quite effective in many systematic studies as well as controlled clinical trials.

Though doctors still can’t figure what the best medicine is for different people with social anxiety disorder, doctors typically prescribe which medicine a patient should take first, and then adjust accordingly. The FDA has approved 3 medications for the treatment of Generalized Social Anxiety disorder. These are Paroxetine(Paxil), Sertraline(Zoloft) and Venlafaxine(Effexor XR). The FDA has only approved Sertraline for use over a long period of time. But clinical research has pointed out that the other 2 medicines; Paroxetine and Venlafaxine are as effective for long-term usage, though not yet approved by the FDA.

Consult your doctor first on which medicines to take. Each one has its own benefits and shortcomings so an informed choice is essential.