Am planning to apple to medical school at oxford or cambridge in december but i am suffering from quite bad social anxiety disorder. I never speak unless sum1 talks 2 me and am really anxious in class and around people . I need to start more extra curricular activites, volunterring, work experience etc but my social anxiety makes this so difficult. What should I do ?
Try to force yourself to think about it so much, like think about something else..try talking to yourself, and tell yourself "you can do it" over and over inside your head..and try to make overcoming your fears one of your goals. Just think about this whats the worst thing that could happen if your put yourself out there, not everyone will always like you, but so what who cares about everyone, and if anything happens people are usually so worried about there own problems they forget about others..You can do it I believe in you..Remember u only live once u mind as well make the best of it, dont have anything like anxeity take over your life you gotta to be stronger then that and just think positive, and if you start thinking alot about one thing try to just shut yourself, you just gotta to force yourself and challenge yourself..I hope this helps, now this should work, but if you want the easy way out I guess you can go on some anti-anxiety pills, but u have to kno they dont fix the problem if anythin theyll add a new problem since all pills come with side effects/
My first video of generally speaking about my social anxiety.
Duration : 0:7:16
I’m 16 with a pretty bad case of social anxiety. My mom has agreed to use medication, though she is alittle hesitant because of repots that this type of medication gives suicidal thoughts to people under 18.
I’ve been to therapy and though it gave me some good pointers that I use everyday to help me through the social part of my social anxiety, it doesn’t get rid of that "worried" filling that I can sometimes feel continuously. That feeling actually consumes my whole mood at times. The therapy has only helped with talking to people, and even then it has only helped alittle.
But I would like to know more about this type of medication before I actually take it. I’m sure my doctor will tell me some stuff too, but how does it actually work? How will it make me feel better?
Hello ‘Dreamer’,
The fact that you have social anxiety disorder is comforting. Your diorder is considered part of a neurotic condition (disordered mood) as opposed to a psychotic condition (disordered thinking/thoughts). The former is easier to treat some believe, and is a less severe diagnosis partly because your symptoms of acute and chronic anxiety in public or social situations is a less severe defecit in functioning than bi-polar disorder (manic depression) or schizophrenia (thought disorder).
Don’t mind the language, so far your symptoms are less severe and obvious to the ‘man on the street’ than other more serious mental disorders. Before we talk about any specific drugs used to treat your disorder, let’s understand two things:
1. Some drugs prescribed by psychiatrists or other medical expert benefit more than one type of mental helath condition. So some drugs used to treat bi-olar disorder also work with schizophrenia, some drugs used to treat depression also have an anti-anxiety effect.
2. Anti-anxiety medications are generally necessary when cognitive/psycho-therapy alone is not successful in enabling the socially anxious person to feel ‘normal’ i.e. much less anxious in social situations (around people or requiring successful performance on some task, like a test, dealing with school, talking up in class, relationships etc).
Some times persons with social anxiety are not completely diagnosed, meaning they are demonstating panic, phobia or signs of a genralized anxiety condition which is persistent worrying or anxiety regarless of whether the socially anxious person is facing a challenge of not. In other words the socially anxious person may have several symptoms which need to go into remission.
Drugs along with therapy further enable symptoms to go into remission or disappear altogether, at least where neurotic disorders are concerned and often cases of psychosis as well. Where social anxiety is concerned the etiology/cause/mechanism of the disorder suggests:
1. A genetic predispostion which strongly suggests aberrant/untypical gene activity at some point of the developmental process or after birth.
2. This in turn creates the biological conditions (defective genes), along with your environment/family life or other circumstances to foster the presentation of mental illness in your case, social anxiety disorder.
What these drugs do is to powerfully alter the unusal symptoms and so tranquilize the nervous system, alter diseased neural pathways, chemical activity in the brain spinal cord and peripheral nervous system activity. In social anxiety you may have an overactive pituitary gland and hypothalamus which along with the endocrine system creates the feelings of fright or flight by producing an overactivity of the endocrine hormone called adrenalin, (the fear hormone). A persistent sense of worry is also linked to thought processes at the subconscious and conscious levels in the brain. Again the drug(s) your doctor will prescribe will function to quiet down your nervous system, make you feel more relaxed and generally happier in terms of your mood generally. You however need to alwasy take your drugs and at the appropriate time in order to reap the maximum benefit from them (and despite any unpleasant side effects tha tmay occur). In most cases they are not a permanent cure and some symptoms can return once you stop drug therapy. More specifically the drugs either increase or prevent the the over-production or under-production of certain chemicals in your brain which migrate between neural cells and neural complexes carrying messages. The cells in the brain are called neurons. Two major neurochemicals tageted in your brain for stabilization of their function are dopamine and seratonin. (please read up on these neuro-brain chemicals) because they do influence your mood and so have to be stabilized.
Hope this helps and was not too medical. Please read a psychology book and look at the section/chapter on abnormal behaviour/psychology. It should help you with easy reading on your condition. I don’t have the time to talk to you about depression i.e. clinical depression. The drug(s) prescribed for you will effectively treat your depression as well as the anxiety. Everybody gets anxious at some time or another so you can improve and possibly eventually
come off your meds. 40% of persons or more also have a down time or depressive episode at some point in their lives . So clinical depression also can disappear. Again talk with your doctor if you feel comfortable to do so. Part of your healing will depend on educating yourself as best you can.
Best of luck and God bless,
Barry H
When did I first find out I had social anxiety disorder?
What were some personal experiences?
It might be confusing that I found out when I was a junior in high school, yet I had it for more than eight years. The thing is, for the longest time I just flooded myself and faced my fears – socializing with immense anxiety – and then it came to the point where I couldn’t fake it anymore. Hope that clears it up. 
Please ask questions, or comment so that I know to add you and watch your own videos!!
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This is part one of a bajillion videos I’ve made talking about SA so if you need an outlet at the end of the day *subscribe* and I’ll keep you company! :O)
Duration : 0:9:0
What is social anxiety Disorder? Is it simply a severe form of shyness? Join Dr. Granet as he talks with leading expert, Dr. Murray Stein, about this disorder that affects approximately 5% of the general population. Find out the symptoms and latest treatments that are available. Series: “Health Matters” [3/2007] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 12228]
Duration : 0:28:10
I get very very nervous around people i don’t know, and I would really really like to be more social but i end up getting anxiety about it, due to my stutter, as i do have a severe stutter. I never had social anxiety till after stopping the anti anxiety meds, in which i was on for general anxiety disorder.
Hi B,
I am so glad you got off the meds. All the things I have read about meds for anxiety and other disorders will just add other medical problems, like RLS.
It is not easy, but make your self get out at least three times a week,, in a mall, movie, park, just get out. Everyone has some kind of problem, and remember you are very smart. By typing this in here shows me you are brave. This place people are so judgemental, so if you get dumb responce in here just tell your self that person has a problem or he or she would not put you down, that should make you feel better knowing you are not along.
Good luck!!