Treatment of Shyness

By: John Scott
Submitted: 2008-05-16 13:01:16
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About eleven years after Xanax first came on to the market, a one-act play called "Tone Clusters" by Joyce Carol Oates was staged. One of the repeated lines was, “He was such a shy boy.” — it was how the parents understood their son. Oates based the play on the real world case of Robert Golub, a young man who murdered a 13-year-old girl living next door. Not the best way of trying to overcome your shyness with the opposite sex.

If you look at the roll call of celebrities who claim shyness as children, it may seem like an epidemic but it reflects a more serious truth. At some point or another, most children will feel shy. There are always going to be moments when they doubt their abilities to do something. If there is an audience, this performance anxiety can become more intense because, even as adults, we feel hurt when our best efforts are mocked by our peers. Which makes it all the more surprising that so many who have worked in the theatre or films were encouraged to overcome their shyness by performing in public. It feels “counterintuitive” until you consider the alternatives.

The ordinary social situations should all become “safe” territory for us as we gain experience and advance into adulthood. But, so many of those who do feel more seriously anxious are being encouraged to accept the idea that their first reponse should be to take medication. There are three classes of possible “help”: beta blockers, one of the benzodiazepines like Xanax or one of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors like Paxil. These and other antidepressants are more likely to be covered under health insurance schemes in the United States whereas behavioural therapy and psychologists are not. Even the waiting times to see regular doctors are growing longer as fewer opt for general practice as against the higher status (better paid) world of hospitals. The consequence is that prescriptions following minimal consultations have become the norm. No more preventative medicine. Just a booming pharmaceuticals industry and hospitals when the people or the medications fail.

When time was cheaper, more might have tried therapy. Now it is try self-help. If that does not work, try Xanax. The problem is that no medication is without side effects, and it is often the case that once you start on a pill, it becomes a crutch that has to carry you for a long time. The question is going to be how badly your life is being affected by the current levels of shyness (which is nothing more than anxiety applied in social situations). Some doctors argue that starting you on Xanax early is better because it also relieves some of the symptoms that might develop into more serious depression. If you are less depressed, you may do better with self-help. In other words, Xanax does not cure your social problems for you, but it makes them more manageable so that you can do something about them through self-help or therapy.

When you start to take Xanax, you have to practice in social situations. The more you interact without problems, the more your self-confidence will grow and the more your social anxieties will ease. As role models, check out the list of Hollywood celebrites who overcame their problems by rehearsing and so learning how to act on stage. You can do the same on the stage of everyday life. Xanax is a means to this end. If you make Xanax the end, the likelihood is that you will become dependent on it and face all the personal, medical and legal problems that go with addiction as in the sad case of Heath Ledger, a celebrity who lost control of his addiction to Xanax.

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