LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Social Anxiety Disorder: Patients
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Social anxiety disorder is often associated with other anxiety disorders and depression. Many patients may abuse recreational or prescription drugs and alcohol in attempts to control the anxiety, which eventually causes substance abuse problems.
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There are numerous types of medications used to reduce the frequency and intensity of anxiety in social situations and help decrease anticipatory anxiety and avoidance behaviors. Research indicates about 70% of social anxiety disorder patients have some measure of success with medication therapy. The amount of improvement with medication varies from person to person, and some patients treated with medication do not benefit. It is currently impossible to predict who will improve on a particular medication unless they have previously benefited from that medication. If you are thinking of medication therapy, discuss options, success rates, risks, and side effects with your doctor.
Physiological effects, similar to those in other anxiety disorders, are present in social phobics. Faced with an uncomfortable situation, children with social anxiety may display tantrums, weeping, clinging to parents, and shutting themselves out.[10] In adults, it may be tears as well as experiencing excessive sweating, nausea, shaking, and palpitations as a result of the fight-or-flight response. The walk disturbance may appear, especially when passing a group of people. Blushing is commonly exhibited by individuals suffering from social phobia.[9] These visible symptoms further reinforce the anxiety in the presence of others. A 2006 study found that the area of the brain called the amygdala, part of the limbic system, is hyperactive when patients are shown threatening faces or confronted with frightening situations. They found that patients with more severe social phobia showed a correlation with the increased response in the amygdala.[11]
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When it is diagnosed and treated, though, people with social anxiety disorder can look forward to major improvements in their lives. Saeed's patient, Peter, has seen his career take off after treatment for SAD. Hoehn-Saric describes a high school student whose social phobias were so great that he couldn't even enter the cafeteria at school; after struggling at several colleges, with treatment he found a small New England institution that understood his needs and is excelling academically and socially.
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The NDA for LUVOX CR seeks marketing approval for the treatment of obsessions and compulsions in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and for the treatment of social anxiety disorder (SAD). LUVOX CR is an extended-release formulation of fluvoxamine maleate, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.
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Treatment of social anxiety disorder typically depends primarily on behavioral therapy, but may ... include a combination of medication, such as antidepressants. Relaxation techniques and coping strategies are used to help the patient develop an understanding of what triggers their anxiety.
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