[Eleny]

I am on Lexapro for HA and have been for nearly 2 years but recently have been experiencing social anxiety which has been causing me a lot of distress.

I feel a lot of shame and embarrassment following social gatherings and have flashbacks to things I've said or done and feel like everyone is thinking terrible things about me.

Shouldn't my meds be keeping these feelings at bay? Would changing meds help? Is social anxiety treatable with anti depressants?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Skeezyks]

Hello Eleny: Well... personally I've never gotten much benefit from antidepressants. So, from my perspective, no... I would not expect Lexapro to be of much benefit when it comes to social anxiety. But that's just my personal perspective. The other thing though is that psych med's do have a tendency to "poop-out" after a while. So it is possible that what you're experiencing is simply related to the fact that you've been on the same med for 2 years. Everyone's experience with psych med's is different. If it was me, I would be talking with my prescribing physician about what I'm experiencing. Good luck!

[Nike007]

Hello. I am on Lexapro and it helps me with my social anxiety. But I developed OCD while being on it (I mean, it wasn't caused by OCD, but changed what it was affecting, so I was DXed with OCD while on this). So I believe it's possible to be diagnosed with more things while being on medication. Happened to me. I'm sorry social anxiety is with you. It's my biggest problem. Presentations :/ . I can't stand them. Along with LOTS of other things... My pdoc wants me to changed to Prozac, but my mom doesn't like Prozac due to her experiences of making her zombieish. If you want to, you can change medication. Mine benefits my social anxiety enough. I want to add a PRN medication though for the panic attacks I get because of social anxiety. Anyways, good luck with medicine .

Social anxiety disorder, GAD, OCD, and panic attacks

Lexapro, 10 mg

[Rose76]

As far as I know, nobody has yet invented medications that keep negative thoughts "at bay." I was on Lexapro in the past and I didn't find it helpful for either depression or anxiety. I don't know of any other antidepressants that would give the effect you're looking for. (I've been on many.)

For thousands of years people have found that alcohol can reduce social anxiety, while you are drinking it. But it doesn't prevent self-recrimination afterwards. Benzodiazepines can work similarly.

I had pretty severe social anxiety growing up. The best treatment, IMO, is to deliberately "socialize" yourself. That means desensitizing yourself by repeatedly exposing yourself to social situations. That's what I did. It can seem like a slow process, but, with experience, you get more socially competent.

Another help, I believe, is to challenge your own thinking. So, after feeling I interacted in a way that might have come across badly, I've asked myself what real harm did I cause anyone. Also, I tell myself that I have a right to make mistakes.

I think you kind of need to talk yourself through these episodes of feeling bad about your public performances.

[AncientMelody]

Sometimes anxiety is an illness or a disorder. Sometimes anxiety is a symptom. While you certainly want to discuss this with your physician and see if a med adjustment is needed, you might also want to consider what else may be going on in your life that may have been a trigger.