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Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

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Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#11

Post by ajarmst »

ajarmst wrote: post #8
hndude wrote: post #2

I've spent lots of time studying neurotransmitters and their relationship with various mental illnesses and amino acids. It has been my understanding for a while now (from the book 'The Mood Cure' by Julia Ross) that too much of a neurotransmitter can have the same symptoms as too little. That book also seemed to indicate that dopamine and serotonin have an antagonistic relationship with each other, so too little (or…

One thing that has become increasingly clear is that the simplistic "too much x" or "too little y" theory of Mental illness as a "neurotransmitter imbalance" is flawed to the point of uselessness. Neurotransmitters certainly do mediate synapse growth and activity, but the brain is a complex adaptive organ, and it will adapt to modifications to neurotransmitter levels. This is why antidepressnts become less effective…

Full disclosure: there is pretty good evidence that some of these drugs (like SNRIs) are effective for short-term mitigation of symptoms, although not a great deal above active placebo. Some other therapies are very promising, particularly Cognitive Therapy and a guided Mindfulness program (although study quality on the latter is suspect. DO NOT MODIFY YOUR MEDICATION WITHOUT THE ADVICE AND MONITORING OF A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL FAMILIAR WITH YOUR CASE.

Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#13

Post by RivieraKid »

deepnet wrote: post #10

excitement and anxiety are the same state just differing perception. it is more about imagined outcomes this is exciting and will work out well I feel safe this is exciting and i may come to emotional or physical harm the excitement is the same so long as you don't fear fear itself, that is a feedback loop.

Definitely not, it's not the same mental state, one is pleasant the other one not.

Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#14

Post by deepnet »

RivieraKid wrote: post #13
deepnet wrote: post #10

excitement and anxiety are the same state just differing perception. it is more about imagined outcomes this is exciting and will work out well I feel safe this is exciting and i may come to emotional or physical harm the excitement is the same so long as you don't fear fear itself, that is a feedback loop.

Definitely not, it's not the same mental state, one is pleasant the other one not.

There is no disagreement, that is what I said.

Mental state is perception, and this can change from one moment to the next but the excitement/ fear being a hormonal state takes time to subside.

Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#16

Post by DanBC »

martijn_himself wrote: post #12

I don't usually have any problems with social events- I just don't sleep the night before, so I am exhausted on the day. Does anybody have any tips/ suggestions how to deal with this?

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - a short course of between 6 to 14 hours (one hour per week). Find a reputable therapist (in England you'd look for BACP).

Or meditation and mindfulness would probably help.

You may find sleep hygiene helps, but if you're not having trouble the rest of the time it might not.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Insomnia/Pages/Treatment.aspx

For rare events, not trying to cure insomnia, consider zopiclone (or any of the Z drugs). You'd take one before the event; you'd get a good night sleep; you avoid the addiction problems that are risked if you take it every night.

(Obviously I'm not a doctor and this isn't medical advice).

Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#18

Post by pja »

plausibility wrote: post #4
henderson101 wrote: post #3

Hmmm.. having been on an SSRI (at the time I was depressed) and suffering from a mild to middling social anxiety disorder (which stems from a chronic childhood one which lessened as I reached my mid 20's), for me SSRI's made me feel indestructible and fearless. But they also made me feel like I had no emotions at all and removed sexual desire and affected pleasure, so I stopped taking them and instead dealt with the…

I've had a similar experience. Taking SSRIs (Sertraline, initially 50mg/daily, now 100mg/daily) for social phobia and depression. They definitely helped increase my baseline for positive feelings (i.e., I don't spend as many days curled up in bed feeling hopeless), but it's true that it brings down other aspects of life. Decreased sexual function, loss of emotion in other areas, stuff like that. I wonder whether sero…

I wonder whether serotonin is really the magic trick to increasing moods or whether it's just a stop-gap solution that works well enough for most.

You’ll find a stack of articles on this topic in amongst the others at http://slatestarcodex.com/ Maybe start with http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/07/ssris-much-more-than-yo... ?

Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#19

Post by richmt »

Eduard wrote: post #9
henderson101 wrote: post #3

Hmmm.. having been on an SSRI (at the time I was depressed) and suffering from a mild to middling social anxiety disorder (which stems from a chronic childhood one which lessened as I reached my mid 20's), for me SSRI's made me feel indestructible and fearless. But they also made me feel like I had no emotions at all and removed sexual desire and affected pleasure, so I stopped taking them and instead dealt with the…

> I still get bouts, but I have a mechanism in place to handle the symptoms and they mostly dissipate. Can you tell me about the mechanism that helps you?

Not OP, but the biggest thing my therapist recommended me was practicing mindfulness through meditation. The idea is that it makes it easier to fall back in that same mental state when suffering everyday anxiety.

Another thing she recommended which I just started doing was exercising regularly. I just started lifting a few weeks ago with a friend at the gym, and already its had a huge boost on my confidence levels.

Sorry if you've heard these before, but they do help a ton, trust me.

Re: Individuals with social phobia have too much serotonin

#20

Post by superplussed »

DanBC wrote: post #16
martijn_himself wrote: post #12

I don't usually have any problems with social events- I just don't sleep the night before, so I am exhausted on the day. Does anybody have any tips/ suggestions how to deal with this?

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - a short course of between 6 to 14 hours (one hour per week). Find a reputable therapist (in England you'd look for BACP). Or meditation and mindfulness would probably help. You may find sleep hygiene helps, but if you're not having trouble the rest of the time it might not. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Insomnia/Pages/Treatment.aspx For rare events, not trying to cure insomnia, consider z…

I have had exactly the same issue, and have used a meditative technique that I learned in Nepal to help with sleeping:

Count from 27 to 1 with each inhalation. If you miss a number, ie between 15 and 14 you lost your focus and thought about something else, and missed the count, start over.

My experience is that generally I will fall asleep before I get to 1, and on extreme cases it will take going from 27 to 1 more than once, but it always ends with sleep.

The only difficulty I have now is being disciplined enough to not think "I got this" and try to sleep without the technique. Often what happens when I think that is I toss and turn for 3 hours before I just give in to the technique and finally fall asleep.

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