An Approach to Social Anxiety Disorder with Fluoxetine

Everyone at some point in time has experienced anxiety during some social or performance situation. In fact, in one survey, only 5 percent said that they have never been shy at any time in their life. Social Anxiety Disorder is the most extreme form of social anxiety or shyness. In order to be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, an individual must experience excessive level of social anxiety, severe enough to bother a person significantly. It may even interfere a person's daily routine. Often individuals with social anxiety disorder try to avoid social situations that they find uncomfortable.
The basic feeling of social anxiety disorder is being very anxious in the presence of other people. Research shows that social anxiety is the third leading psychological problem in the United States today. It is said that 15 million Americans are affected by this type of anxiety in any given year, and majority of those affected are women. But unfortunately, unlike any other psychological problems, this disorder is not well understood by the general public. More sad note about this problem is the fact that people suffering from social phobia are sometimes labeled as “clinically depressed”, “personality disordered”, “panic disordered”, “schizophrenic” among other misconstrued diagnoses.
If a person has social anxiety disorder one day, it will stay for the rest of his or her existence which makes the situation worst. This disorder does not come and go like some other psychological and physical problems. Without some proper kind of education, appropriate treatment and enough knowledge about the condition, social anxiety disorder can wreak havoc throughout a person's lives.
However, this disorder is usually treated with therapy or medication or a combination of both. It is very important to seek proper treatment as soon as a person finds out that he or she has symptoms so as not to make the situation worse.
There are a number of medications that have proven useful for treating social anxiety disorder. These medications include antidepressants, which are also commonly used to treat depression, and antianxiety medications. In addition, some recent studies have suggested that gabapentin (Neurontin) may be useful for reducing symptoms of social anxiety disorder. Although beta-adrenergic blockers or “beta blockers” (e.g., propanolol [Inderal] and atenolol [Tenormin]) are sometimes used for treating stage fright in actors and musicians, there are no studies supporting the use of these medications in social anxiety disorder.
Fluoxetine is one of the most popular antidepressants. One of the brand names of fluoxetine is Prozac, which is commonly prescribed to treat the symptoms of depression, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Fluoxetine is a member of the antidepressant family known as SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
Fluoxetine is not appropriate for everyone. A thorough medical history should be assessed prior to prescribing this medication. However, Prozac (fluoxetine) is approved for use in children and adolescents for the treatment of major depressive disorder such as social anxiety disorder.