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/NEJMcp1614701
American 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/s12916-017-0889-2
Grant, 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.2014.14040449
Stein, M. B., & Andrews, A. M. (2015). Serotonin states and social anxiety. JAMA psychiatry, 72(8), 845-847. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2319710
Williams, 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.2020.6
Kaminski, 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/abstract
Liebowitz, M. R., Salman, E., Nicolini, H., Rosenthal, N., Hanover, R., & Monti, L. (2014). Effect of an
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