Social phobia is a marked and persistent fear of eating, drinking, trembling, blushing, speaking, writing or doing almost everything in front of people due to concerns about embarrassment or being scrutinized by others. There are two specifiers for social phobia: the circumscribed, for those who just fear one situation; and generalized, for those who fear almost all social situations. The clinical features of social phobia are the anticipatory anxiety, the physical symptoms, the avoidance and the low self-esteem. Depending on diagnostic criteria, it is reported a lifetime prevalence ranging from 5% to 13% of the population resulting in different degrees of occupational and social limitations. The ideal treatment should use antidepressant drug and cognitive-behavior therapy. Beta-blocking drugs (atenolol, propranolol), monoamino oxidase inhibitors - MAOI (fenelzine, tanilcipromine), reversible monoamino oxidase-A inhibitors (moclobemide, brofaromine), benzodiazepines (clonazepam, bromazepam, alprazolam) and serotonin selective recaptors inhibitors - SSRI (paroxetine, sertraline, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine) and some other drugs (venlafaxine, nefazodone, gabapentin, clonidine) have been shown efficacy in several studies with different methodology. The tricyclic antidepressants ( imipramine, clomipramine), valproic acid and buspirone have shown negative results. Paroxetine is the most studied substance in double-blind trials with good results and well tolerated. Nowadays the individuals with social phobia can have a efficacious treatment to get an assertive behavior in social situations.
Social phobia; social anxiety disorder; pharmacological treatment; review
