I have social phobia/anxiety for about three years now so I wanted to ask – can I use antidepressants without seeing a doctor/terapist?

Go to: http://ecouch.anu.edu.au/welcome Select "social anxiety" for free Cognitive Behavio(u)ral Therapy. An exercise which may help you is called "Act as If." When you are in a social situation, act as if you are outgoing. Talk more; smile at people, ask questions, speak in a normal or excited tone, not a meek tone. Watch some of your more outgoing peers, and imitate the style of their social behavior. (PRETEND that you are an ACTOR, PLAYING a PART). Research shows that when you "act as if" continually, your image of yourself begins to conform to your new behavior. In this case, you will gain self-esteem and self-confidence, and begin to see yourself as socially normal, not shy. You will become more socially successful, and this will motivate you to continue your new social behavior until it becomes a habit. A form of therapy is to go somewhere that nobody knows you, and deliberately make an utter fool of yourself: put on a paper hat, and yell out: "I’m queen/king of America!", or something else ridiculous, (make up your own – have some fun, safely) then get back in the taxi, (warn the driver of your intentions, first) or car, and leave. People will point, and say: "Look at that idiot". Or, possibly in the company of a friend, or family member, on a different train, or bus route to your regular one, call out the names, or numbers of all the stops. It will teach you that, although it isn’t actually pleasant, (EXPECT MODERATE DISCOMFORT/EMBARRASSMENT) you will survive; be stronger for the experience, and the next time (should you need to repeat this type of therapy) will be considerably easier. Remember: "A fear avoided is a fear strengthened; a fear faced is a fear reduced." Regard it as your final test: once you have accomplished it, the barrier will be broken; just don’t go too far, the other way! Learn to laugh at yourself, and give a big, cheesy grin when others see you do something foolish, as we all do, occasionally. It is endearing, if you don’t do it too often. Use positive affirmations: for example: "I am very likable and other people feel comfortable around me".

Write down all of your self limiting beliefs; then write down, or print, in large type/capitalisation, the positive counter of them, (exact opposite) and repeat them and imprint them into your mind. Put it in a prominent position, where you will see it regularly. Most importantly: Force yourself to approach somebody and initiate some sort of communication. Start out small by asking the time, or directions and gradually go bigger. Although there are anti-anxiety medications (anxiolytics) available, these come with risks, and the possibility of side effects, habituation, even addiction, and withdrawal problems, and are unsuitable for young people. Try having a cup of "Tension Tamer", (from supermarket tea, or health food aisles) or make some at home, and cool, then bottle, and drink as needed. C(h)amomile tea tastes better. As with all herbal/green teas, use lemon/lime, and/or a little sweetener (NOT ARTIFICIAL!!!) but no cream, or milk. Xylitol, or Stevia is preferable, from health food stores. Valerian has also been recommended, but some people experience "valerian hangovers". Ensure you know how you react to it, before doing something potentially dangerous, like going out on the roads. The idea is to use the above products like water wings, to provide initial, short term support, while you become proficient in those techniques. Use a relaxation method daily, like http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html or http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/mindbody/a/Meditation.htm or http://www.wikihow.com Meditate or Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or yoga. Give the EFT a good tryout, to see if it helps you. It is free via the searchbar at http://www.mercola.com "EFT" & "EFT therapists" or www.tapping.com (13 free videos). Professional is best. – There is a version for use in public places, (if you want to, you can claim to have a headache, as you massage/lightly tap your temples, but you would then be restricted to subvocalising: saying it to yourself in your mind: "Even though I suffer from social anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself."

What kind of treatment? What modality? Be more specific please.

What worked for me was a therapeutic trick called "Act As If".
In a social situation where I usually would have been paralyzed, I learned to Act As If the butterflies in my stomach were those of excited anticipation. I would watch "normal" people, and observe how they acted in the same situation, and then I would pretend that I was not afraid of some horrible gaff, and MAKE myself smile, and say "hi" to people. I found that if I asked THEM how they were doing, and Pretended that I was interested, they would take the burden of the conversation. All I had to do was an acting job, as if I were comfortable. At first I worried my way through it, and a few times I had to run for the restroom, but after a few times, it became easier. Eventually, all of the phony responses I learned became real, and after a while, I realized I was no longer acting. I actually was comfortable in social situations. It worked for me… Good Luck!

Yes but it takes time and a lot of effort on your part.

I find if you think two much about it that will stress you out just take it a day at a time and set your self some goals and make yourself achieve them

It will disappear with more confidence, just remember, people have hang us of their own going on and are not totally focused on you

Do something to day to start on the road of deleting this worry from your life and start enjoying it instead.

In the past few years anxiety has taken over my life. I’ve always had a touch of anxiety but could always overpower it before. That is not the case anymore. The anxiety makes it very hard to socialize. I really want to socialize and used to really enjoy it. I feel like I do not have any friends anymore because of my anxiety and it makes me depressed. This seems to create a snowball effect.

The depression and anxiety is up and down. I have the highs and the lows, but lately I’ve been having more lows than highs. It is becoming unbearable. I’ve tried Zoloft before but it made it worse. I’m scared to try another prescription medication.

My question is, if you have had experience (good or bad) with a certain prescription medication and/or herbal treatment, could you give me some advice? I’m open to almost anything.

I should add that I do the typical things for depression such as working out, taking vitamin D3, getting enough sleep, fish oil, etc. The only thing that seems to be lacking from this approach is the social aspect, which is something I cannot avoid at this point.
Ginny Jin, I agree. I would rather stay away from prescription meds because of the risks and side effects, but I’m desperate at this point. I’m ready to have my life back.
Effie Hogarth, your website link didn’t work
Thanks for the great answers. I wish I could choose all 3, as they were all very helpful. I am going to choose ginny jin’s answer because I think I will use her advice the most.

Update: My boyfriend did some research and bought me kava kava and rhodiola rosea. I have some black cohosh and will try that if these others don’t seem to work. If all else fails I will try another antidepressant.

I take Spirulina (google it). This is a Superfood they give people in hospices to give energy. It was recommended to me by a health professional. For mood try St John’s Wort. Black Cohosh is good too.

For me – Prescription medication = liver damage

don’t know.

but since the first and maybe the second are already approved for other human problems/diseases, your doc could prescribe them to you now, if he/she felt it was appropriate.

I’m not asking this for people to tell me to google it, or to see my gp.
I’m asking for people with experience in their own lives for advice and knowledge. I don’t want a list of symptoms of a website, I need to know if I relate to actual living breathing people.

And treatment – is it true that medication should only be as a last resort? You wouldn’t recommend it? And the medication itself – is it only available in tablet/pill format? I can’t swallow pills (N)
=/

Thanks.

I’m actually kind of nervous right now talking about my anxiety so I’ll just say this: I swear to god, I experience every symptom on the list. When I still had to take gym class in elementary, I would absolutely refuse to do it because I thought I would look stupid and my classmates would make fun of me. I get so nervous talking in front of a large group of people or giving presentations and will purposely fake sick to miss class for an entire week if I have to just to avoid it. In school, when I forget what class I have first (our periods rotate on even and odd days) or I’m late, I’ll skip them because I don’t want to walk in to the wrong class or be the center of attention for 5 seconds. I avoid using public bathrooms when someone else is in there because..well, I don’t want them to hear me pee and think that I pee weird or something. I know that’s completely ridiculous, but it’s just something I can’t help. I always avoid calling people on the phone or making small talk with a cashier at a store or talking in front of people I don’t know because what if I say something stupid or embarrassing? I’m constantly worried about what other people, even strangers, think of me. I can’t go out without these negative thoughts. I remember doing something very embarrassing in 3 grade and I still think about it every now and then and get mini-Panic Attacks. If there’s a possibilty of being teased or critizied, I’ll avoid it. The less contact with people who will judge me, the better. It’s funny too, because I read mel’s answer above mine and she said she’s known as the "loud and crazy one"…and it’s the same with me. I’m actually pretty outgoing and I know lots of people were suprised to know that I have social anxiety and am intensely self conscious. It’s almost like I have two personalities: the normal me and the me with social anxiety.

As for treatment..it’s different for everybody and every situation. Some people find exposure therapy or cognitive therapy works for them and others don’t. Personally, I found exposure therapy to help lesson the anxiety for some things but for others, not so much. I refused to take medication for my anxiety, so now I’m learning to deal with the more stressful things in a healthy way. I think you should explore all your options first, try them and if they don’t work, then go for medication. I’m not sure if they have to be in pill form but I know when I was taking Prozac, it came in a liquid form and I took that because I have trouble swallowing pills too. (That’s another things I’m anxious about, actually.)

Anyway, best of luck to you. I highly recommend exposure thearpy, because I know that helped me a lot.

For me, a few milligrams of Diazepam twice a day on school days (where my anxiety actually noticeably affects my life) works alright. My prescription is 5mg twice a day, but once I was in a bad mood and took 15mg at once. I had a mood lift about a half an hour later and a confidence I don’t normally experience for about 3 hours after that… then just mild anxiety for the rest of the school day.

I’m going to see a psychologist that will hopefully be able to teach me how to teach myself not to need the medicine anymore. I hope it helps. If therapy doesn’t work, I see myself popping Hydrocodone and Benzodiazepines when I’m older.

i’ve had a mild case of social anxiety for years now and feel like its time to get treated for it. I don’t fear going out into public but when i do i get shaky, cant sit still, sometimes i lose coordination. I want to get treatment but would like it to be descreet. how can i go about in doing this? where do i go? i am under my parent’s medical coverage with Kaiser and i don’t want them to find out that im going to get treatment for this. will they find out? will this be on my medical record?

This is not uncommon and it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it or embarassed about it. You need to go ahead and talk to your parents about seeing a counselor. Usually, the Company doesn’t handle its own insurance clams. They hire a company to do that. It will be on your medical records, but it isn’t mental illness and the company they work for probably won’t see it anyway. This is just anxiety and a counselor can help you get over it. Good luck!

I might be going to the doctors (although I am really nervous about it) to talk about social anxiety. My sister has been about her social anxiety but said that they barely helped her and the medication is pretty useless as well as short term.

What has worked for you? What medication have you tried? Is there anything I can get without having a prescription?

Cheers!

I have generalized anxiety disorder and have pretty bad social anxiety as well (ha, as well as post traumatic stress) so I know a little bit about coping.

Medication, especially in the short term, is not always the most helpful thing. I took cymbalta for a while and for the first week, as with most anti-anxiety drugs, it makes your anxiety worse before it gets better (which for some people, is too much to handle). For me the best thing has been going to counseling. For someone with anxiety, it’s hard to talk about what exactly is going on but going to therapy helps you understand for yourself and learn methods of coping.

So yes, I’ve been on medication, but I think the best route is a combination of therapy and medication. For me, the therapy helped more than the medication. You can’t get any sort of anti-anxiety medication that actually works without a prescriptions. When it comes to mental health, they’re cautious about medication because sometimes it can make a person’s situation worse.