[doctorfoo]

> It doesn't just kill physical pain like ibuprofen, it also kills psychological pain, emotional pain and the pain caused by social phobias.

Huh. I've tried quite a few different meds in the search for a chemical cure for social phobia, and always, somebody eventually suggests opiates as the only thing that will truly act as an "off" switch. (Accompanied by the usual dire warnings.)

I don't think I'll ever risk it though. But I can see why some people do. I wish the pain killing component could be separated from the addictive part.

That reddit link was a very interesting read.

[graeme]

>Huh. I've tried quite a few different meds in the search for a chemical cure for social phobia, and always, somebody eventually suggests opiates as the only thing that will truly act as an "off" switch. (Accompanied by the usual dire warnings.)

I've gone from mild social anxiety to serene confidence in social settings. No drugs.

What helped was treating it as a skill like any other. I was anxious because frankly, I sucked at social interactions. I didn't know how to make small talk, eye contact, and the very fact that I worried about how I was doing made people enjoy talking with me less.

So one by one I identified skills I lacked, and worked to acquire them in small, incremental steps.

For instance, talking to strangers. Start by asking a stranger the time. Then do it a few times. Notice that everything goes well. Once you've done that a few times, you've now got that as a skill.

Interacting with strangers. When you're at a store, make a comment to the cashier about something in the environment. They'll respond. Then you respond with something. Note how they react. Do this a bunch of times and it'll become natural.

Etc, etc. Look at people who are good at social interactions. What are they doing differently? What skills can be isolated and learned?

Anxiety itself can be approached laterally, with meditation. I don't recommend this route, but what worked for me was a major health crisis that forced me to confront death and loss. After that, social difficulties paled in comparison, and I'm not afraid of any social interactions anymore. Mindfulness was what let me get through that time of trouble by growing, rather than shrinking into misery.

What's good about social difficulties is that they are very easy to practice. All around you every day are thousands of opportunities to interact with others. If a skill can be practice, and you can get feedback, then that skill can be learned.

[pm90]

Yep. While Im sure there are a lot of people with medical issues that make them become socially inept, I think that social skills in general are just that: skills. You can't start programming like a pro from day one, it takes years of effort. And so does this skill.

[Synaesthesia]

Yes, Opiates can, amongst other things, Make you feel strong and confident, a state of mind free of social phobia. Opiates can also have quite a lot of side effects, such as a drunken, drowsy feeling, nausea etc.

There are drugs that may what you want. MDMA in particular can really reduce social phobia significantly. In some cases MDMA can even cure social Phobia. It does have side effects too. Amphetamines also lower inhibitions, as well as stimulate dialogue.

I believe addiction potential is more closely related to your reason for doing the drug and your economic status. If you are doing a drug to escape from a bad situation for example, you are likely to become dependent.

[methly]

When under the influence of MDMA my social phobia completely vanished, in fact it turned me into the Bizarro version of myself, I became the life of the party. It's no way a long term solution, but I recommend taking MDMA one or two times in your life, as it has a "psychedelic life changing effect", the first couple of times you take it, it seems to hit a reset button on your brain, changing your perceptive on life.

Amphetamines in my experience are superior to opiates for social phobia as well as providing cognitive enhancement, but they come with more side effects. They're psychologically addictive, if you stop taking them, you're in a worst place then you started, tired, anxiety, depression,..etc. Amphetamines are also hard on your body, can cause psychosis, paranoia, delusions, mania, can completely change your personality. Amphetamine psychosis is the worst thing I've experienced in life, it's equivalent of experiencing severe schizophrenia, blurring the line between reality and hallucinations.

[logfromblammo]

I read a series of anecdotal reports about someone who tried to treat his social anxiety by misting an aqueous solution of oxytocin into his nasal cavity.

Reportedly, it worked beyond expectations once the effective dose was found, but it only lasted for about 10-15 minutes. So he used it before entering a social situation, it lasted long enough to break the ice, and then it stopped working.

While the experiment was to test a single drug, if the initial spray of oxytocin were combined with MDMA, the guy probably could have felt almost like a normal person for the whole evening.

[chillingeffect]

heya, just as a personal message, and not knowing your situation at all, I just want to encourage you to be creative and practice going from social anxiety to typical amounts of social comfort without meds... There are dozens of techniques out there, so give them all a try, from meditation to exercise, encouraging youtube videos, to diet changes, etc. Above all, don't be afraid to make mistakes... it's rather a trap for many of us to cease taking the small risks that lead to mistakes once we attain a niveau of success, but small mistakes are the propulsion that maintains that success.

For example, I've been huffing and puffing about learning Javascript since it first came out, mocking it, only seeing the bad sides. Then I got stuck in the loop of hoping it would go away and trying to rationalize not knowing it. When I started to come around, I felt embarrassed because I knew my code would be baby code and I would do lots of dumb things. But I'm pressing forward, trying to modify mapHighlight to do what I need it to do and I no longer give a shit about haters.

Yes, maybe someday people will make fun of me, but by that time, I'll be skilled enough that I'll have thicker skin. When you take the long view, you see that people mocking you is just a test to see where you are. In the case of bullying, it goes too far, but in general, testing one another to see if we're still emotionally sensitive to our failures from long ago is part of how human social bonding works. And fear of not being able to stand up to the test can motivate us to take those chances, write that crappy JS code, embarrass ourselves a little bit in front of our co-workers or potential mates.

And finally, most people are astonishingly forgiving and forgetful. Much more than we deserve. Every now and then you'll have that psycho (a trope the media and movies love to push to keep everyone in fear and anxiety) who remembers some slight for his entire life and uses it to levy revenge on someone, but in actual life, no one simply has the energy and desire to sustain a revenge campaign. They're too busy living their own lives. No one cares if I wrote some sloppy C code in 2004 and in 2024, no one will care if my JS is crummy now. And even if someone says anything to me then, it will just be a big joke in the past to me.

So that's my spiel, friend. If you want any more encouragement, it's $400/hour :)

[doctorfoo]

Thanks for the message. To the others too, who commented.