Posted by 3 Beer Effect on March 25, 2002, at 13:20:12
Old School writes:
"3 Beer Effect, what you describe is indeed a pathetic and poor reason to see a psychiatrist. If you had no major mental illness to start, you have no reason seeing one. If you only wanted some klonopin or an SSRI to try for social anxiety disorder, you could have easily gotten that from a family doctor instead of a psychiatrist.It sounds as if your main problem is more personality problems (shyness) and social inhibition. Which are personality traits rather than mental illnesses. I would suggest just pulling off the psychiatry stuff totally, cut off all ties and save yourself. Find other ways to build up your self esteem and confidence.
Being that you now have been to a psychiatrist and taken psych meds, the military is out of the question. Unfortunately the military is very narrowminded towards accepting individuals who have taken SSRIs in the past. However, the military is an excellent place to gain self esteem and confidence. To develop your leadership abilities. A stint in the Marines, even the Marine reserves, would do wonders for your self confidence. Or a few years of Army ROTC could help you come out of your shyness and make you more self confident, more decisive, etc. However, once you have "psychiatrist" in your medical record, you can forget about the military. Its a shame though cause its probably exactly what you needed.
Another avenue to building up your self confidence is heavy weight lifting. Working out hard, particularly free weight type activities, can do wonders for the confidence of a man with low self esteem.
I hope if you have no significant mental illness like the rest of us you will cease your relationship with this psychiatrist. And find other, non pharmacological ways to increase confidence, meet girls, etc.
Psychiatrists are for people with serious and oftentimes severe psychiatric illnesses. It doesnt sound as if you have any of this".Old School-------------------
-------------------------------------------------3 Beer Effect response:
This type of misguided attitude is why Social Phobia has been neglected as a psychiatric illness for such a long time. Social Phobia is the most common anxiety disorder & the 3rd most common psychiatric disorder in the US. Social Phobia has a very high prevalence of comorbid disorders such as panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. Most disturbingly, lifetime alcoholism rates among social phobics ranges from 10-40% and most often social phobia preceded alcohol use- i.e.- alcohol abuse was used as a form of self-medication. Substance abuse hovers at around 15% for this disorder. (Source text: "From Social Anxiety to Social Phobia- Multiple Perspectives, Hoffman/DiBartolo.)"Millions of americans never come of out their shell, living a life a quiet desperation- When you have Social Phobia, you don't feel like you are being the "real" you- Social Phobia often results in passed up chances for work promotions, salary increases, dating, marriage, & friendships.
In my particular case I would binge drink in social situations, usually 2-3 times per week on the weekend. Unless I was drunk, I retreated into my shell & couldn't talk to anyone.
I quit drinking with the help of the SSRI Zoloft- otherwise I was headed down the road to a lifetime alcohol abuse problem (raising serotonin decreases alcohol intake in both human & animal models- I went to some AA meetings but the AA alcohol relapse rate hovers around 70-80%. I also found it hard to relate to people that drink by themselves or drink in the morning, I only drank to be sociable. I think many people in AA would greatly benefit from Revia (Naltrexatone) which takes away any pleasure derived from alcohol, and also an SSRI, but the sponsors in AA outright discourage the taking of medications, which I think is an misguided attitude especially since depression & anxiety disorders are very prevalent in alcoholics. - I've done much better on my own with the help of my psychiatrist & psychiatric meds)."Why didn't I just go to a family doctor for an SSRI or Klonopin?" I did, but eventually because of the severity of my problem combined with comorbid severe depression & possible ADD he properly referred me to a psychiatrist. Do you really think a family doctor is going to prescribe Klonopin, an arguably addictive & unfairly "demonized" benzodiazpine, in the high doses (2-4mg/day) required to treat Social Phobia?
Granted, Social Phobia is not as serious as say Bipolar I, but ironically the best medicines to treat Social Phobia are one of the most fatal class of drugs in the history of psychiatry- Nardil & Parnate (the MAOIs).I don't see why seeing a psychiatrist should be reserved "for people with serious & often severe psychiatric illnesses, as you put it,"- I have private health insurance, my seeing a psychiatrist isn't draining your resources/funds to see a psychiatrist- this is not welfare, I am not draining Medicaid funds.
Anyways, my weekend binge drinking of 10-14 drinks every Thursday & Saturday night at college, led to a depression that became severe, & also resulted in attentional problems- that amount of alcohol coursing through your brain causes brain atrophy, & premature brain aging/lesions & probably caused me a chemical imbalance. Also, I often missed classes on Friday & couldn't study on the weekend because of hangovers.
After trying Zoloft, I exhibited very manic, insomniac, & self destructive behavior and so am now diagnosed with severe depression w/ social phobia & possible bipolarity/ or ADD. I now take a rather effective combo of Lamictal 100 mg, 4 mg of Klonopin, and Provigil 200 mg & have not drank since September 11th, & I am now am about as social as I was after 2 beers, & my self-esteem, concentration, & confidence are way up (although not quite the same as the 3 beer level/effect). Some minor medication adjustments (increasing the Lamictal & swapping Provigil for Dexedrine), & I think I will be back to "normal".
Every persons' case is different, you shouldn't judge them or deem their disorder as "ridiculous" as you have, especially considering you don't know my case history, & my history of self-medicating with alcohol & illicit drugs and the consequences those choices inflicted upon myself (DUI, brain swelling/edema/concussion after fight when drunk, hit by a greyhound bus when drunk -thankfully at low speed so no damage except broken nose). In fact, your comment made me so angry that I thought about it all night long, & spent an hour writing this response even though I had many things I was supposed to do today.
You made two good suggestions atleast, weightlifting would be great for my self esteem & I plan to keep up with my program but too often procrastinate & miss workouts. I considered the US marine corps before I ever saw a psychiatrist but the pay for an enlistee is ridiculously low & I already had enough money for college saved up from working in high school, & the average salary for my major is $33,000 to start, much higher than the $18,000 the US marine corps pay for enlistees. I considered going to the Virginia Military Institute, an excellent & demanding institution would have been a better choice than the military for leadership training, & could have led to a well paying navy/marine corp officer career, but the tuition for out of state residents at VMI is $14,000 per year, & I am not going to learn to talk to girls or have a normal dating life in a college & a career (military), both of which have a dearth of women. Plus, mental & physical hazing wreaks psychological havoc on those with any kind of mental problems/disorder.
In conclusion, my problem is not natural shyness, but I believe "environmentally induced". As a child I was one of the most outgoing children in my entire school & often the class clown & everyone knew who I was. Unfortunately, my Dad got transferred twice to different states, and the last transfer occured in the middle of the 11th grade high school year when I went to a (public) high school but one that is infamous for its snotty, cliquish, & ridiculously wealthy student body. So basically I was invisible for 2 years and retreated into a shell that I haven't recovered from until I discovered the disinhibition effects of alcohol. Alcohol made me feel like my "real" social self & I didn't care what other people thought of me- which is one of my biggest problems. If you notice on this board where I am anonymous & thus do not care what people think, I am (sometimes brutally) honest, & I write messages (in essence talk) until I run out of room, but in "real life" without alcohol or meds, I say nothing, clam up, especially when talking to those within my peer group & especially girls/women my age where my mind goes blank- because of this i'm too scared to ask girls on a date, & if I do date it never goes well because I can't think of anything to say. Often I don't leave my room or house unless I absolutely have to, & must get all dressed up to, in order to do so, since I guess I am too sensitive to criticism/what people think of me when sober.
I would like to get married in a few years (right now i'm 23), but my shyness/social phobia is really making my life one of loneliness & despair. The most frustrating part is that i've heard many nice-looking sorority girls at my school (U of Texas) think i'm cute/attractive & am one of the only guys that knows how to dress well, but in Texas the girls are still kind of old-fashioned & the male is almost always responsible for initiating conversations & asking for & arranging a date- both extremely frightening experiences for me when sober. Because of my social phobia & lack of self-confidence I haven't asked a girl out, dated or had sex in about 2 years.
If that isn't proof of how debilitating Social Phobia can be, then I don't know what else is!
3 Beer Effect
P.S.- I know some people consider medications to be a "crutch" or "band-aid" for this condition, just like alcohol is but I believe social phobia medication is a useful tool that I plan to combine with cognitive behavioral "exposure" therapy when I return to UT Austin in August.
poster:3 Beer Effect
thread:100046
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/100046.html