One simple way to attack social anxiety

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=234839

by syntaxfree • 18 years ago

1 2 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Benzodiazepines.

Sure, they create tolerance, but so does alcohol. Do it responsibly and under medical supervision.

rms• 18 years ago

It would work for one night if you wanted to go out and pick up women, but it's a terrible idea to take benzos every day for social anxiety, because you quickly reach the point where the drug has absolutely no effect but you need it to feel normal. No doctor would prescribe that, you need some type of panic disorder. SSRIs like Celexa/Paxil would be a much better idea.

syntaxfree• 18 years ago

It's not that difficult to discontinuate benzos. You just need to taper off slowly. You'll just be left at the same place you were before.

Many doctors treating depression will actually use benzos in addition to SSRIs as a standard first-attempt protocol. Antidepressants are inespecific for social anxiety, and can actually aggravate general anxiety (hence the SSRI-suicide problem). Sure, if social anxiety derives from low self-esteem or something... but you can work that out in psychotherapy. While on benzos. Or you can work it out by yourself, by interacting with people.

I was actually being provocative about all the pop psychology crap being thrown around. If your head is a mess, then the pop psychology is useless. When unscrambled, you can attempt the pop psychology methods or join buddhism or something.

One simple way to attack social anxiety

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