Can I treat my social anxiety with placebo?

Question

I read somewhere that the difference in treating depression/ anxiety with SSRIs or placebo is very small. Is this true? Could you please give references of sources/articles where the difference in efficacy is researched.

Please give references where SSRIs are compared to placebo.

Answer 1

The beauty of the placebo effect is that people aren't aware that it's a placebo. The placebo effect indicates that people show improvement because they believe they have been prescribed the real drug. So, I don't think you can knowingly treat social anxiety with a placebo.
I suppose that by really believing that a "sugar" or "dummy" pill and doing a lot of positive thinking may cause a small placebo effect, but most researchers believe that it exists on an unconscious level.

Answer 2

if you find that a certain drug has a small difference from the effects of a placebo, that only means that people believed in the effects so much that changes occurred without the drug being present in their system. placebos are used in trials and experiments...they aren't prescribed. maybe if you have a family member who needs medication, you could get the doctor to prescribe the placebo (just a sugar pill) for your family member. you couldn't get the doctor to prescribe the placebo for YOU, because you would know that the placebo wasn't the real thing. it's not the placebo that is effective; it's the BELIEF (your mind) in the placebo that is effective.

think about it...if a sugar pill gives you the same effect as a drug for SA, then is the drug for SA really worthwhile? probably not. here's a quote:

"If we take these SRI FDA studies at "face value" - about 80% of patients GET NO BENEFIT AT ALL, and 20% notice at least some mild benefit. In the real world, it truly is difficult to find anyone at all who reports long-term high efficacy using an SRI (taken alone) for primary SP. Indeed the vast majority of those who try SSRI's (standalone) for the treatment of Primary Social Anxiety Disorder remain quite discouraged and symptomatic. "

i was diagnosed with mild SA last year, and went through group cognitive therapy for it. i didn't try any medications. although there is some success with medications for SOME people, i decided that cognitive therapy would be better for me. and it really was....

Answer 3

The crucial fact that you are missing is that neither test group knows for sure if they are getting the real drug or not. So that means that if a person knew they were getting a placebo, the ignorance that allows them to 'mentally' create the positive results would be false.

The only way a placebo would be able to work would be if your doctor, unbeknownst to you, proscribed a 'new' drug for you, gave it some medically-sounding name (Alliswell), said it worked just the same as SSRI's only with little to no side affects, and gave you a presecription for sugar-coated aspirin instead, which you had to fill at their pharmacy only (since its still in the experimental stage).

Since giving 'false' treatment is, I believe, forbidden under the code of medical ethics (and probably not legal either), your doctor would have to tell you what you are really receiving, which sabatoges the whole point.

Answer 4

I doubt it ... I'm sorry I don't have the sources, but I can tell you from life experience that
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cognitive_b... worked best for me. I suffered from social anxiety for over 15 years. I've tried meds, individual therapy, and group therapy and studied psychology for 10 years, as a profession, but also with the hope to cure myself.

Depending on your comfort level, you could go to a psychologist that practices CBT and specializes in anxiety disorders, seek a group therapy, or create one. Usually those that do attend the group therapy are a bit more high functioning because as you know, it can be difficult to speak in a group.

Another idea is to see if there are any local research studies being conducted that you could participate in.

The program that finally worked the best for me is this one: http://www.socialanxiety.us/findinghelp.... and I was lucky enough to have a structured behavioral group to go along with it. Sometimes the people that actually attend this program come back home and form groups.

Any questions, let me know ... I can't tell you how much this has improved my life!

Answer 5

The difficulty about the placebo effect is that you will know that it is a placebo, which is not really "medicine," but depends upon the mind to work. Placebos work when the patient is convinced that he or she is taking an effective medication.

Answer 6

Eliminate Social Anxiety Shyness - http://SocialAnxiety.uzaev.com/?Mgmt

Answer 7

No, but even if you could, the effect, if any, would not last