Speaking About Social Anxiety Disorder

In this episode, we delve into the science and struggle behind social anxiety disorder. This condition affects millions of people and often begins in childhood. We explore how the brain’s fear circuitry becomes overactive, and common treatments like SSRIs. We also highlight an intriguing new treatment being tested: a nasal spray of pheromone-like compounds aimed at calming fear responses.References:Leichsenring, F., & Leweke, F. (2017). Social anxiety disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(23), 2255-2264. https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJMcp1614701American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Social anxiety disorder. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Stein, D. J., Lim, C. C., Roest, A. M., De Jonge, P., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Al-Hamzawi, A., ... & WHO World Mental Health Survey Collaborators. (2017). The cross-national epidemiology of social anxiety disorder: Data from the World Mental Health Survey Initiative. BMC medicine, 15, 1-21. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12916-017-0889-2Grant, B. F., Hasin, D. S., Blanco, C., Stinson, F. S., Chou, S. P., Goldstein, R. B., ... & Huang, B. (2005). The epidemiology of social anxiety disorder in the United States: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 66(11), 1351-1361. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16420070/Fox, A. S., & Kalin, N. H. (2014). A translational neuroscience approach to understanding the development of social anxiety disorder and its pathophysiology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(11), 1162-1173. https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14040449Stein, M. B., & Andrews, A. M. (2015). Serotonin states and social anxiety. JAMA psychiatry, 72(8), 845-847. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2319710Williams, T., McCaul, M., Schwarzer, G., Cipriani, A., Stein, D. J., & Ipser, J. (2020). Pharmacological treatments for social anxiety disorder in adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Acta Neuropsychiatrica, 32(4), 169-176. https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2020.6Kaminski, R. M., Marini, H., Ortinski, P. I., Vicini, S., & Rogawski, M. A. (2006). The pheromone androstenol (5α-androst-16-en-3α-ol) is a neurosteroid positive modulator of GABAA receptors. The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 317(2), 694-703. https://jpet.aspetjournals.org/article/S0022-3565(24)32659-X/abstractLiebowitz, M. R., Salman, E., Nicolini, H., Rosenthal, N., Hanover, R., & Monti, L. (2014). Effect of an acute intranasal aerosol dose of PH94B on social and performance anxiety in women with social anxiety disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(6), 675-682. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24700254/Monti-Bloch, L., Jennings-White, C., Dolberg, D. S., & Berliner, D. L. (1994). The human vomeronasal system. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 19(5-7), 673-686. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0306453094900493Share with a friend. Rate, Review, and Subscribe to MedEvidence! Articles to be notified when new episodes are released.Follow us on Social Media:FacebookInstagramTwitterLinkedInTiktokYoutubeFor more great content, including discussions by physicians and clinical research experts, check out the MedEvidence! Podcast and MedEvidence.comThank you for listening!