Social phobia or social anxiety disorder (SAD) is an anxiety disorder, which causes extreme fear of everyday social interactions in people. They fear of anything happening in the public: dining in a restaurant, talking to strangers at the party or being in the center of attention. Even just thinking about those situations may trigger the anxiety.
Common symptoms of this disorder include: blushing, excess sweating, nausea, shaking and panic attacks. If left untreated, this disorder could lead patients to alcohol abuse, medications or drugs, in order to ease the condition. Medical practice usually treats people suffering from social phobia with psychotherapy, and/or medications.
Herbal Remedies Used in Social Phobia
Herbal remedies are not scientifically proven to resolve the social anxiety disorder. Prior to use any of these herbal supplements, consult your doctor and consider taking psychotherapy or some medications.
Chamomile tea is often drunk at bedtime, to calm and soothe the body. There are not enough data to support the use of chamomile in anxiety treatments. However, you might try to drink the tea before a social event. If it calms you down, it is the remedy you needed.
Valerian root is known to help resolving sleeping and nervous disorders, indigestion and many other problems. There is not enough of valid scientific information that could prove the use of valerian in social anxiety disorder, but patients have reported reduction of tension and stress in social situations.
This herb is native to southeastern North America. It’s a climbing vine, which leaves, flowers and stems are used to make the herbal remedy. This supplement is recommended by some herbalist, to be used in treatments of sleeping and nervous problems, and social anxiety disorder.
This plant is also known as artic root or golden root and comes from Siberia. Rhodiola rosea is an adaptogen, which means this is the herb especially useful to treat any kind of reaction to the stressful situations.
This herb is also known as Indian ginseng, ashwaganda. It has been used for centuries to minimize effects of physical and emotional stress to the body.
This herbal remedy is mainly used in depression treatment. These days, this herb is popular medication for social phobia, too, although there are not enough scientific data to back up this use.
Some herbalist practitioners recommend this plant to be used in anxiety therapy. Be aware it is banned in some countries, because it may damage your liver. Therefore make sure you consult your doctor and avoid kava kava if you have any previous liver problem or using a medication that affects the liver.