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
If I wasn’t afraid to take medication for my anxiety/depression I would have been diagnosed long ago. I don’t want to take any pill that changes my personality.
References :
medication for anxiety and depression can vary or there are meds that cover both. its good that you are in therapy because meds aren’t a cure all. they work best when you take them and still engage in therapy.
Depression meds take about a month to see any results, taking them regularly every day. They basically help level out your thoughts but cant fix everything.
Anxiety meds are usually take as needed.They are more there to just calm you down.
Ive am currently on one type of med that is for anxiety and depression, it is called celexa. I def noticed a small change after a month of taking it. I feel less on edge, a little less worried and calmer. I also have xanax for anxiety attacks. If i feel an attack coming on and it basically calms me down within 20 minutes.
Starting meds can be scary. Dont go on line and do a lot of research because there are a lot of sites online that obsess about side effects and random negative cases. The doctor will make the best decisions about what you need and will prescribe the meds that are most beneficial for you.
It may take some trial and error. I have had some negative effects from a few different kinds of meds. But working with a doctor or therapist they will be able to monitor you to see if you need changes. some people have success with certain brands and some dont.
As for how the drugs work, basically they deal with receptors in your brain, nothing dangerous. Anti depressants just work on elevating your mood by targeting receptors in your brain that might not work as well as they’re suppose to be. Dont worry about how it works, spend you time focusing on getting healthy, good luck.
four years of constant therapy and medication.
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Me
Usually anti-depressants work by trying to raise serotonin levels in your brain. Serotonin is a hormone which is associated with a happy mood or disposition. I don’t blame you for feeling hesitant in taking prescription medication to cope with your social anxiety. Have your parents investigate cognitive behavioural therapy or bio-feed mechanisms as alternatives to medication to help decrease your anxiety episodes. These are ways of remodifying thought patterns associated with a disorder, with either minimum use or no use of medical prescriptions.
You or your parents can conduct online research for more information, as well as consulting your general practitioner.
References :
I feel for you sweetie.Ive had anxiety most of my life and im 43 now.I take medicane and without it i dont think i can cope at all.Been on it since i was 26 and it works really well for me.What kind are you going to be taken? If you want you can email me at my address and ill see if i can help you through this.Its a bad thing to have when noone in your family have it.
References :
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
References :
Has someone made you fear speaking out in front of other?
If not then what are you afraid of being heard or saying something stupid.
Listen to the President of the United States he can even make sense half the time so relax.
References :