I have SAD and I recently went to see my doc about it-he has prescribed zoloft as a daily med and Klonopin for when I feel really anxious about going into a certain situation. I have only been on it for 2 weeks and so far have not noticed a change, but I am hoping for the best. Good Luck~

well when i told my doctor i was having anxiety problems in combo with feeling kinda down sometimes he gave me Wellbutrin, but in terms of getting to that point you usually just have a conversation lasting about 10 minutes or so describing the way you feel, me being a young guy with a social life it was easy for him to assume i was trying to get xanax or something(wasnt)…… now that i feel mentally better and still have anxiety issues he pretty much told me life is tough and i am going to have to live in the moment and not worry about things till they present themselves, it is really hard to get a doc to believe you on anxiety issues because anxiety meds are widely abused, just watch the movie The Departed, Leo DiCaprio has his anxiety problem an he had to flip out to get meds for it, sure it is a movie but its pretty accurate on how hard it is to get them to believe you

ive tried zoloft which gave me hypotension , and paxil which was too scary to stay on for a long time and celexa which was horrible..any other got stories.?

lexapro cause awful gastrointestinal problems and prozac made me crazy but i love welbutrin i think its the best…

The PTSD in question is related to a case of sexual harassment (but not sexual assault). It could also be qualified as an OCD.

Do you think the followingg methods are good?

1)Hypnotherapyy
2) Past life regression
3) Medications
4) Cognitive Behavioral Therapyy
5) Psychoanalysis
6) Other treatments (please specify)

I also have PTSD and one effective type of therapy that I have discovered is called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). If you have insurance, this is definitely one to check out. But, even if you don’t, many EMDR therapists will work with you on pricing. Here’s how it works.

It seems odd…but you use a light board and/or a pulsing tone which goes back and forth between ears/eyes/hands (a pulsing vibration)…it’s hard to explain. But it focuses and relaxes you sort of inducing a dream-like mind state (a bit like hypnosis, but you are fully conscious). You’ve probably noticed that PTSD causes lots of dreams/nightmares? Well, EMDR helps you process memories in a similar state of mind.

Anyway, a therapist can explain it better… but it is very effective for your type of past. It is also often beneficial to take some sort of medication for at least a short time because EMDR means facing your past which generally is upsetting at first.

If you want more information check out
http://www.emdr.com/

But as someone who has gone through it, I can say that it is difficult but effective

I need a medication that has been well tested and confirmed to have none or very little side effect

You ask too much. Begin with psychotherapy and ask a doctor for a tranquilizer

A psychologist, rather than a psychiatrist, is able to help you. (Cheaper, too.) They’ll discuss what situations make you anxious and teach you coping strategies. You may be offered medication options, with the cooperation of your doctor, but their use would be short-term, to help you learn how to manage anxiety-causing situations. Once you’ve learned, you no longer need the meds.

There are Social Anxiety workbooks and such. Consider buying one and doing the exercises in it. Most seem easy to people who don’t have SAD, but are hard for you, but you can do them, starting easy and working up to the most difficult.

My mom doesn’t want me on pills. I have done everything like exercising, praying, meditating, watching crappy DVDs, I have gone like 4 days without even thinking about much anything but I still had that worry feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Are there any herbal treatments for this?

Poor thing, I have been where you are and its not pretty….

Definitely see a natural therapist who can give you a herbal mixture to take to ease your stressed out nervous system. I can’t remember what was in mine (hawthorne, ginger etc springs to mind) but I had to take 5ml x 3 times a day. It worked wonders for me. Additionally, my naturopath put me on fish oil, protein shakes (helps with serotonin production), magnesium and B Vitamin supplement in one.

I also saw a psychologist to talk about why I was so stressed/anxious which really helped. I think this is really important also, as the herbal treatment won’t work unless you are mentally ready to tackle things.

This seemed to help for me, hope it does for you too. Good luck!

I started taking it about a week ago, my doc upped my dose to 20 mg today. Seemed to have helped the anxiety a pretty good deal, tonight. Looking forward to even better results.

That’s great. Celexa didn’t work for me. Lexapro is the only thing I have found that really helps me. Its just a newer version of Celexa.

medication + sleep/behavioral/nutritional/cognitive/one on one therapy

I have mild O.C.D and more than mild Social Anxiety Disorder. There is a facebook page for people with anxiety disorders which gives them advice and support here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anxiety-Disorder-Treatment-and-Help/224804056292?v=app_2373072738#/pages/Anxiety-Disorder-Treatment-and-Help/224804056292

Please Join.

I Do! It’s called emetophobia which means that im scared of thowing up. What I do is try to get my mind off of it by playing on the computer, or do something fun, and soon you’ll forget about it. It works most of the time. you can also close your eyes and take ten deep breaths.