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Social Phobia

Popular Medications:

• antidepressants / deprenyl

Popular Supplements:

• St. John's wort / Oxytocin

Alternative News:

• Reduction in behavior problems with omega-3 supplementation in children aged 8-16 years: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, stratified, parallel-group trial - J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2014 Aug 22 - "a community sample of 8-16 year old children were randomized into a treatment group (N = 100) and a placebo-control group (N = 100). The supplementation consisted of a fruit drink containing 1 g/day of omega-3 or a placebo consisting of the same fruit drink without omega-3 ... Findings provide initial evidence that omega-3 supplementation can produce sustained reductions in externalizing and internalizing behavior problems" - [Nutra USA] - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Oxytocin promotes social behavior in infant rhesus monkeys - Science Daily, 4/28/14 - "The infant monkeys inhaled an aerosolized dose of oxytocin in one session, and a dose of saline in the other ... Overall, the monkeys were more communicative after receiving oxytocin, more frequently making facial gestures, than they were after receiving the saline ... After oxytocin exposure, the strong imitators were more likely to look at caregivers and stand close to them than they were after the saline. Looking into a caregiver's face and remaining in close proximity to a caregiver are indicators of social interaction and social interest ... In another test, the researchers found that after exposure to oxytocin, monkeys had lower levels of cortisol in their saliva. Cortisol is produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. Lower cortisol levels after oxytocin exposure indicate that oxytocin may also function to diminish anxiety" - See Oxy Pro (Oxytocin) Nasal Spray at International Anti-aging Systems.
• Oxytocin blunts social vigilance in the rhesus macaque - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 24 - "Exogenous application of the neuromodulatory hormone oxytocin (OT) promotes prosocial behavior and can improve social function ... in the absence of competing task demands or goals, OT increased attention to faces and eyes, as in humans. By contrast, OT reduced species typical social vigilance for unfamiliar, dominant, and emotional faces in two additional tasks. OT eliminated the emergence of a typical state of vigilance when dominant face images were available during a social image choice task. Moreover, OT improved performance on a reward-guided saccade task, despite salient social distractors: OT reduced the interference of unfamiliar faces, particularly emotional ones, when these faces were task irrelevant. Together, these results demonstrate that OT suppresses vigilance toward potential social threats in the rhesus macaque" - See Oxytocin 24 x 20iu sublingual Troches at International Anti-aging Systems and Oxytocin Factor.

News & Research:

• Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin -- not too little - Science Daily, 6/17/15 - "Social phobia is commonly medicated using SSRI compounds. These change the amount of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. Based on previous studies, it was believed that individuals with social phobia had too little serotonin and that SSRIs increased the amount of available serotonin. In a new study published in the scientific journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers from the Department of Psychology at Uppsala University show that individuals with social phobia make too much serotonin ... Serotonin can increase anxiety and not decrease it as was previously often assumed"
• Selegiline transdermal system promising for social phobia - Clinical Psychiatry News, 6/26/13 - "Twenty patients participated in this 12-week, open-label, pilot study. They were treated with the selegiline transdermal system (Emsam) at a dose of 6 mg/24 hours. They demonstrated a significant mean 7.1-point drop from a baseline score of 17.6 on the avoidance component of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, as well as a 6.6-point drop on the scale’s anxiety component, a result that just missed statistical significance ... Selegiline is an MAO-A and -B inhibitor. Its transdermal administration bypasses the GI tract and liver, thereby essentially eliminating the risks of hypertensive crisis and dietary interactions with tyramine-rich foods, which have demoted the traditional oral monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors in antidepressant treatment hierarchies ... In addition to the favorable results on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale over the course of 12 weeks, participants also showed statistically significant improvements on the Social Life/Leisure Activities domain of the Sheehan Disability Scale, the Clinical Global Impression Severity of Illness Scale, and the Clinical Global Impression Change Scale" - Note:  Emsam is the patch form of deprenyl (also called selegiline) which has been touted for anti-aging since around the '70's.  See deprenyl at International Anti-aging Systems.
• Shy people are better at reading facial expressions - MSNBC, 8/20/12
• Social Phobia Is Distinct From Shyness - Medscape, 1/6/12
• Genetics has a big impact on how a person operates in a social group - Science Daily, 11/10/10
• Shyness Gene Teased Out - WebMD, 3/3/08
• Shyness Tied to 'Junk' Genes - WebMD, 6/9/05
• Anti-social behaviour 'inherited' - BBC News, 5/24/05
• Venlafaxine May Be Effective in Social Anxiety Disorder - Medscape, 2/10/05
• Social Phobia? Drugs, Therapy Work Equally Well - WebMD, 10/4/04
• Venlafaxine and Paroxetine Both Relieve Social Anxiety - Clinical Psychiatry News, 9/04
• Venlafaxine Effective for Social Anxiety Disorder in Children and Adolescents - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/04
• Controlled-Release Paroxetine Appears Effective, Safe in Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 3/25/04
• Study Shows Paxil CR (Paroxetine) Is Effective, Generally Well-Tolerated For Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 2/17/04
• Social Anxiety Can Linger After Recovery - Psychiatric News, 2/6/04
• Do Word-Processing Problems Cause Social Anxiety? - Psychiatric News, 1/16/04
• Fluvoxamine CR is a Safe and Effective Maintenance Therapy for Generalised Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 11/21/03
• Anxiety and Shyness Fall Through the Cracks With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity in the Spotlight - Doctor's Guide, 10/24/03
• FDA Approves Paxil CR (Paroxetine HCl) for Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 10/17/03
• Social Anxiety Disorder Much More Prevalent Than Previously Thought - Medscape, 10/6/03
• Citalopram Therapy Effective in Treating Social Anxiety Disorder and Comorbid Major Depressive Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 7/4/03
• Shy Child, Shy Adult? - WebMD, 6/20/03
• Venlafaxine XR and Paroxetine Improve Physiological Symptoms of Panic Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 5/29/03
• Venlafaxine XR and Paroxetine Combination Improves Physiological Symptoms of Panic Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 5/23/03
• Clues to Shyness May Lie in Our Genes - Psychiatric News, 5/2/03
• Topiramate Shows Efficacy in Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 4/1/03
• Nefazodone No More Effective than Placebo for Treatment of Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 3/31/03
• Depressive Symptoms Linked to Poor Outcome in Patients Treated for Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 3/31/03
• Sertraline Effective for Treating Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 3/31/03
• Escitalopram Effective in Social Anxiety Disorder for Up to 36 Weeks - Doctor's Guide, 3/31/03
• Venlafaxine XR Similar to Paroxetine for Treating Social Anxiety - Doctor's Guide, 3/31/03
• Venlafaxine XR Remains Effective for Social Anxiety Symptoms for Long-term - Doctor's Guide, 3/31/03
• Children with Attention Deficit and Social Anxiety Disorder Show Major Deficits over kids with ADHD Alone - Doctor's Guide, 3/30/03
• Two More Drugs Approved for Social Anxiety - Clinical Psychiatry News, 3/03
• FDA Approves Effexor XR (Venlafaxine HCl) For Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 2/12/03
• FDA Approves Zoloft (Sertraline) For Treatment Of Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 2/11/03
• Paroxetine Is an Effective Long-term Treatment for Social Anxiety Disorder - Medscape, 1/6/03
• Amygdala Active When Generalized Social Phobics Face Contempt - Doctor's Guide, 12/5/02
• Anticonvulsant Topamax (Topiramate) May Be Effective in Treating Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 11/3/02 - "The researchers noted that while all patients experienced some adverse effects -- weight loss, agitation, headache, fatigue, cognitive impairment or gastrointestinal upset, among others -- only four left the study as a result"
• Venlafaxine XR Data Shows Expanded Option for Social Anxiety - Doctor's Guide, 10/11/02
• Sertraline Improves Symptoms and Quality of Life in Patients with Moderate to Severe Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 6/26/02
• Results From A New Study Show Zoloft (Sertraline) Effective In Treatment Of Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 5/21/02 - See Zoloft
• Lexapro (Escitalopram) Significantly More Effective Than Placebo in Social/Generalized Anxiety and Panic Disorders - Doctor's Guide, 3/22/02
• When Does Shyness Become a Disorder? - Psychiatric Times, 3/02
• Antidepressants Have Various Effects on Social Behaviour - Doctor's Guide, 1/30/02
• Pharmacotherapy and CBT for Social Phobia Is Ideal, but Rarely Practical - Clinical Psychiatry News, 1/02
• New Ways of Looking at Wallflowers - WebMD, 12/21/01
• Zoloft (Sertraline) Effective in Treating Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 5/16/00
• Anxiety disorder -- a problem beyond simple shyness - CNN, 4/6/00
• Third most common mental disorder in U.S. is extreme shyness - Intelihealth, 1/17/00
• Social phobia: More common than you think - CNN, 9/13/99
• Paxil Effective Treatment For Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 8/6/99
• Neurontin Reduces Symptoms Of Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 7/12/99 - "The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) was employed to gauge patient improvement with gabapentin and showed a 28 point decrease on the scale (87.7 versus 60.3) as compared with a 12 point decrease with placebo (83.5 versus 71.4). This difference was statistically significant"
• FDA Approves Paxil In The U.S. For Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 5/11/99
• Paxil Approved In Canada For Social Anxiety Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 5/6/99
• Luvox Effective For Treating Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 4/30/99
• Paroxetine Shown To Be Effective In Treatment Of Severe Social Phobia - Doctor's Guide, 8/25/98