Stop Anxiety and Panic Attacks

I’m looking for any information on Social Anxiety Disorder or any help from people who suffer from it, or information on varying cures. Also, if anyone knows any good websites giving additional info or group support, please let me know.
Also, if anyone has experience with being put on benzodiazepines, information on the effectiveness and personal experiences with them would be extremely useful.

There is a huge amount of information available on the Web about Social Anxiety Disorder. Check out my previous "best answer" to a similar question:

http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20081114201103AAe3jDa

Regarding the use of benzodiazepines, I do have personal experience and opinions about them. I believe them to be:

1. VERY effective in lowering anxiety, there are also known as tranquilizers.

2. Useful as a short-term measure and as a last resort if anxiety levels reach unbearable levels, or if sleep is not possible.

3. Highly addictive, and may do more harm than good long term if you
do not address the SA directly with therapy and/or SSRI’s.

In short, it is very easy and tempting to rely on tranquilizers, using them as a "crutch", and then never learning to "walk" with out them. Avoid their "regular" usage, you can, and if you must use them, be very careful…

Good luck on your healing journey. You CAN do it!

i have had social anxiety disorder for a few years and was wondering if hypnotherapy helps. i have been prescribed medication but would quite like to try and get over it with out that.

not really. CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is the best therapy having over 90% success rates. Together with the medication you should be able to function better or remove all symptoms of your Social Anxiety Disorder. Ask for a referral to a psychologist from your family doctor.

I’ve had social anxiety disorder since I was about 7 years old (I’m 20 years old now) but the past year it’s gotten so bad that I don’t even leave the house because I don’t want to communicate with or be seen by anyone. I pretty much wake up (3pm) use computer till about 5pm, play xbox360 till dinner, then computer till about 5am.

What are some ways to help improve me being "normal"?

Go to church, esp ones that promote greeting its members. Attended their single Bible study, if it’s a big one, you will get over this. Don’t seclude yourself, that is the worse thing you can do. Surround yourself with people that like you or with people you think, will like you.

Start calling people up on the phone, use the yellow pages if you have too, go to meet up groups you might find on the web. Volunteer. Call churches and ask to be placed on their prayer list or ask for some counseling. I suggest a Baptist, or Evangelical, or Assemblies of God Church, Spirit filled Churches where God’s love is.
Don’t follow the world, their NOT NORMAL, (the world is a sick place!) you may have been right all along to stay to yourself under those circumstances!
Good luck to you, take care.

how do i handle social anxiety disorder with panic attacks? how are you supposed to handle any social situation with this disorder?

The main way to combat social anxiety disorder, as with most, if not all, of the anxiety disorders is utilising Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) (and in combination with meds is usually a good idea at first too).

Exposure therapy basically works like this.. You think of a list of situations which make you anxious.. You rate them in terms of how anxious they make you feel from best – worst.. and then you work on them ,starting at the least anxiety provoking, you start to do those things- this may be asking a stranger for the time, right up to asking someone if they’d like to go to a movie with you..etc.. And basically you complete these tasks, you feel the anxiety and you also realise that the anxiety fades with time, until you are desensitised.

Utilise this in combination with CBT – that is looking at you rthoughts – why do you feel anxious abt social situations?

Social situation –> thought —> Response (anxiety)

So if you can alter the thought to a more functional thought, you can also alter the response, so it is no longer anxiety.

i.e. I see a good looking guy -> he will think I am stupid if i tlak to him –> anxiety and avoidance..

v.s.

I see him –> what have i got to lose talking to him, who cares what he thinks, he’s not worth it if he judges so fast –> calm enough to talk to him…

That is in it’s most simplistic terms.. If your Social Anxiety is really a huge issue and impacting on your life then consider seeing a Psychologist to work on it – and you’ll probably utilise the techniques above.

Good luck!!

what im mainly asking is can Generalized anxiety disorder/social anxiety make you less aggressive to people in a physical way, because it is drawing attention to you and doesnt generalized anxiety disorder make you think MORE?

Jason, not quite sure what you are trying to get at, but some people with GAD and SAD can suffer from frustration which at times may bring out aggressive tendencies, while at the same time its more common to find a person who has GAD and SAD to be basically shy and non-assertive in interactions with others.

GAD makes you WORRY more, which is not the same thing as thinking more. Many of your thoughts (until you learn to counter and change them) are catastrophic or wrong thoughts, even paranoid to some degree.

The good news is GAD and SAD respond well to treatment either with Cognitve Therapy or a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and medications.

I have social anxiety disorder and I wanted to suggest a medication to my doctor, I have tried Zoloft and Paxil and I have mixed results. Zoloft the first time gave me good results, the second time on it I felt no different. Paxil made me a mean person. My S.A. has gotten worse over the past year or so and I’d really like to have a "heads up" on medications and how the results panned out for anyone else?

A slightly lower dose of Zoloft combined with a low dose of Celexa worked great. OK here is the disclaimer I am not a Doctor just been there. Sometimes finding the right combination can take time and is frustrating waiting it out. My doc believes the less medication the better but she has been very willing and creative in trying the two and for me it worked well. I had the same experience with the Zoloft as it worked well the first time then 3 years later I needed to be on it again and it didn’t work so well so my Doc added the Celexa with it. As always you should check with your Doc before starting anything new etc.
Also check out Web MD they have a wealth of information.
Another thing I tried was therapy to try to figure out where the stressors were coming from..just a suggestion
Good Luck!

I think that I have Social Anxiety Disorder, but it hasn’t been proven to me or anything. How do I know and how do I cope with it? I think it’s ruining my life.

Are you getting too nerveous in front of strangers? Maybe even near your friends? Do crowds make you feel uncomfortable? Are you gettin sick, sweaty, dizzy before and during you go out or in crowds? Are you having panic attacks? If your answer is yes to those questions, you have SAD or there is a strong possibility.

I have always been a shy person, but lately I have been feeling even more uncomfortable around people; in some cases, good friends or family that I haven’t seen in a while. I recently took one of those online depression tests, and it said I could have clinical depression. My question is, can depression lead to some form of social anxiety disorder?

They are two separate diagnoses but they can be diagnosed at the same time, meds are different. I am on Klonopin for anxiety and Wellbutrin and celexa for depression plus lithium for mood swings.

I think I might have social anxiety disorder. What should I do?

I have social anxiety disorder i feel awkward my heart race speeds up and I start to feel sick around a lot of people, so what I do is just try to avoid being in places where there isn’t a lot of people and when I am unable to do that I find something and focus on it and soon after focusing for sometime everything around me just seems to disappear

Borderline seems like a different syndrome than Social Anxiety disorder. Some people may have both but not all… Can anyone else elaborate on the differences?

They are completely different disorders although anxiety is a feature of both.

BPD:
* Self-harm (for example, cutting yourself) or repeated attempts or expressions of the desire to commit suicide. This behaviour can only be counted as one of the criteria for diagnosis; it can’t be counted again as demonstrating any of the other symptoms. (See Mind’s booklet Understanding self-harm)
* Frantic efforts to avoid being alone, due to an intense fear of being abandoned. Others may not see this fear as justified, but you may go to great lengths to avoid being alone. For example, you may say that you will harm someone if they leave.
* A pattern of unstable and intense relationships. Feelings often alternating between idolising the other person and then thinking they are really awful.
* A very uncertain, shaky self-image or sense of self. You may feel good whilst you feel loved by someone you think is wonderful. If you later see them as bad, your own sense of self could be affected. You may also have doubts about your sexual identity.
* Two or more areas of your life where your behaviour could cause you harm and be seen as impulsive. Examples would be: spending money extravagantly and having huge debts, having unprotected sex, abusing drugs or alcohol, driving without due care, or binge-eating. (See Mind’s booklet Understanding eating distress.) You may do these things because you’re trying to deal with awful feelings of pain or emptiness.
* You may have moods that are very difficult to come out of. For example, you may go through long periods (usually lasting a few hours) of extreme irritability, restlessness, unhappiness or anxiety.
* Terrible feelings of emptiness.
* Anger that’s inappropriate, intense or difficult to control. You may lose your temper a great deal, experience constant anger or be involved in physical fights. You may feel particularly angry when you think you’re being criticised. Anger is often a very difficult feeling for people to acknowledge and deal with, but may cause particular problems in the life of someone diagnosed with BPD. (See How to deal with anger.)
*

Periods of paranoia or feeling unreal when under stress. This might be accompanied by an almost complete lack of physical sensation. At difficult times, you may experience yourself as having more than one personality or feel you are in a trance-like state.