What are the most effective nootropics for social anxiety?

I don't know about social anxiety. But WORK anxiety. Aniracetam is the bomb for me. Some say Noopept.

Many noots/supps treat the symptoms for a brief period but that's all. Even medication stops working for anxiety/phobias after a while.
For a substantive permanent solution you need a long course of at least several months of CBT

I take a daily stack that includes Noopept, vinpocetine, choline and adrafinil. This combination has the potential to bring on a little anxiety, and I find phenibut to be the perfect supplement to take the edge off. I also take colloidal gold, which has an incredible calming effect.

Psilocybin mushrooms have been shown to have long term, positive personality changes taken once to several times annually. Google the studies. Illegal in some countries however legal in Holland, Malaysia etc.
Several theories with strong evidence suggesting they played a crucial role in the mind of lower hominids evolving into that of modern mans. Our separation from such substances could cause a deficiency that is the cause of many mental disorders, including humanities collective insanity and disregard/disrespect for nature.
Check out Food of the Gods authored by the legendary Terrance McKenna.
Luke Sumpter Also the cannabinoid (derived from the cannabis plant) CBD is great for anxiety, stress, depression and a host of other physiological and psychological ailments. Well worth looking into the research, cannabinoids work very uniquely and effectively within the body as they mimic molecules already present in the body that heal and create homeostasis (anandamide). CBD is not psychoactive, it's actually anti-psychoactive, hence why it is so powerful at countering anxiety etc. and brings our minds back to a base line function.

Anxiety: Coluracetam and Tianeptine
Social anxiety? A shot of Fireball!

bacopa for anxiety (it boosts gaba), however some people it makes them tired or anxiety worse, so see if it works for you. Green tea + green tea extract for COMT inhibition, this will help you to have higher levels of norepinephrine and dopamine.

Nootropic wise, i think bromantane which is an anxiolytic (anxiety reducing) stimulant that works as a mild serotonin/dopamine reuptake inhibitor, BUT some people said it exacerbated their stomach issues.

You may want to look into zeolite powder which can help remove heavy metals. ... Actually let me find a big link for you to look into.

In regards to L-theanine and coffee - I cannot comment on it fixing negative effects of caffeine, as I never really get any, I find it does help with my social anxiety like nothing else I have tried. Not in a benzo way, obviously, but significantly. That, on top of assisting greatly with concentration and motivation, it is a winning combination. If you can't stand the coffee and have access to matcha tea then make the switch - it's chock full of l-theanine and anti-oxidants, as well as making a surprisingly tasty late. I haven't tried it, as I don't react well to things that mess with my serotonin receptors, but tianeptine can have good results with anxiety.

As for short term/ long term memory enhancers - the racetams seem to be a mixed bag in terms of results. Some are fat soluble (aniracetam), some are water soluble (piracetam) and what works varies. Personally, noopept works for me so long as I keep the dose low enough not to go over. An initial side effect of noopept can, ironically enough, be short term memory loss. Hopefully someone else can give you more concrete advice in that area, as I'm purposely being rather vague. I just don't know enough. One thing I will say - be careful about dosing choline if you go down the nootropic route - too much can equal a dive into deep depression, and mood swings. I had this with my piracetam/ choline experience. It's not nice, to put it mildly. Be safe.

Ashwagandha, L-theanine, phenibut, noopept.... best for me is Ashwagandha for social situations

Magnesium supplements are recommended by some for anxiety. I recently started taking magnesium and it appears to be working.

injectible n-acetyl selank is the only non-behavioral solution i have found. also there are many behavioral solutions

Tianeptine is my preferred poison, but most will probably say phenibut. Your healthiest bet is breath work and meditation.

The big four are tianeptine, aniracetam, coluracetam, phenibut

For Anticipatory anxiety, Alprazolam (0.5) will help, though it's not a Nootropic.
Propranolol, if you have physiological reactions during Social Anxiety

Brahmi MAY act as a supportive therapy here.

Aniracetam and bacopa are what I take daily for minimizing general anxiety.

But for anxiety related problems, Benzos has been more beneficial than any sort of Nootrpic. After all, Anxiety is all about less GABA and Benzos are all about increasing GABA and it's sensitivity.

Beta-Blockers may work wonders if anxiety symptoms are leading to physiological discomfort like palpitation, excessive sweating, shortness of breath & etc.

i like the classic, 4 seconds to inhale, hod 4 seconds, exhale for 4 sec, and wait other 4 seconds to the next cycle. it takes about 4 or 5 cycles to feel some less anxiety, works for me when important business meetings and public speech.

Miller Phenibut sparingly. What works perfectly for me (social anxiety paralyzed and crippled me) is noopept 15mg sublingual BID, aniracetam, magnesium, and vyvanse.

sunifiram +aniracetam+ magneisium + meditation + physical activity , if you have good self control add phenibut

Kava Kava works by lifting your mood. Ashwagandha helps by making stress easier to handle. Theanine helps by inducing alpha waves to relax you. Magnesium helps in many ways. Aniracetam is good too.

Valerian root always chilled me out, but I didn't test it by going out and being social. It was more for if I just felt worked up a bit.

Kava is good for anxiety. It's like nature's valium. It can.be found in some vitamin & herbal supplement sections.

Theanine, picamilon. Not sure if you can find them at a retail store but they work. Kava works well for anxiety if you don't overdo it.

I take 4-PMPD because it is such a strong dopamine releasing agent with Tianeptine because of its antidepressant effects. I find the combination highly euphoric and motivating, and I'll dissolve both into a glass of water and place it next to my bed for washing down my morning pills.
Once I'm finally up, I drink Kratom mixed with Rhodiola and Ashwaghandha. It tastes terrible lol
Well 4-PMPD has a good dopamine to norepinephrine ratio, so it shouldn't make you anxious like caffeine or Prolintane. The Kratom and, to an extent, the Ashwaghandha are good for anxiety, but I can't openly recommend Kratom because there are withdrawal symptoms if you use it every day and then stop.

The best thing i have seen for sudden anxiety and depression is probiotics. seriously. I noticed a correlation for myself after a bad reaction to antibiotics and then noticed there have been a bunch of studies done. Worked fast too. Took the RAW 100Billion capsules.

Ani is wonderful for anxiety, piracetam, IMO is a must.
About to try oxy for work tonight. I'll report back tomorrow.

I've been on Zoloft for 5 years now for social anxiety and haven't experienced significant side effects. It was weird for the first few weeks, but once I started seeing the benefit they leveled out. I'm also on a very low dose (50mg daily), but was as high as 150mg a few years ago.
Before Zoloft I sometimes had to hide in the bathroom at work when the library got too crowded or busy. Going out for dinner with my wife on a weekend was a nightmare. Going to the grocery any time but the middle of the night was unthinkable. These issues really crescendoed in my mid-20s. Not saying Zoloft is the best solution for you, but it's helped me a lot.

Niacin mega-dosing. Read up on it. It has helped with my anxiety a lot.

Sulbutiamina has anxiolytic effect in social anxiety.

My main goal with nootropics/supplements was to help my social anxiety. I experimented extensively and here is what I found most helpful:
-Bacopa - completely kills anxiety, but doesn't make you more talkative
-Caffeine+l-theanine- Makes me insanely talkative and confident. Completely different than either by itself
-Noopept - Makes me very confident and outgoing. Greatly reduces anxiety, but also blunts emotions in general
-Etizolam, phenibut, alcohol - It's like if Satan had a Holy Trinity. Stay aways from these as much as possible. The first two made my anxiety worse than it has ever been before

Nootropics will only get you so far for this stuff, the rest is down to practicing, exposing yourself to scenarios that would normally cause stress and conditioning the brain that, hey, nothing bad happened. They can be a great boost to get you out the door though. To that end, I'd recommend a simple combination of l-glutamine and B6, which the body will synthesise into GABA, the 'relaxation' neurotransmitter (benzodiazapines bind to GABA receptors and increase its effectiveness). Some people take GABA directly, but it's very very hard to get across the blood-brain barrier, so you'll have to take grams of it and that's no good for your liver and kidneys.
5htp might also help, if you think you're also low on serotonin, but always be careful with increasing serotonin in your system, it can become poisonous.

If you want to get rid of anxiety you need to expose yourself to the stimuli that causes you anxiety and desensitize

Aniracetam has worked well for my social anxiety, mine isn't that pronounced but i've used it to smooth out some very uncomfortable situations. The verbal fluency helped a lot.

I have issues with occasional anxiety and tianeptine helps (I've stopped taking it), it's no miracle drug though.. Look into fasoracetam, it helps a lot with my anxiety. I've been going to group therapy (alongside actual therapy), it's focus is on building interpersonal relationships. It has definitely given me a lot of exposure to "awkward" social situation; some of the members had social anxiety issues which also greatly improved. My college offered this, not sure if you can find a way to do this.

i cant believe no one suggested the greatest of them all for anxiety relief and a boost, only stimulant to lower anxiety period... i speak of course of BROMANTANE

a great deal of anxiety is often caused by vitamin/nutrient deficiencies and lack of exercise, but you already knew that.

It was/is my social anxiety that brought me to nootropics.
I started with aniracetam, have tried phenibut have even tried Kratom & Kava Kava.
What has actually helped me most is Noopept, at first without even realising it! It has helped me be the me that I truly am inside.

PHENIBUT twice a week and TAINEPTINE. These two work great and in an apparent way.

I am prescribed propranolol, but save it for extreme anxiety / panic attack situations (public speaking!) only as I experience side effects from it & feel it lowers cognitive free thinking abilities.

Alcohol and Good Music

i found theanine then exercise gives one hell of a runners high...100% anti anxiety

Anxiety is an ilussion, is just evidence of the imaginary, its about whats goin to happend next, it doesnt exist, if you are suffering about the non existencial that is true stupidity. Just think about what you are thinking about when you are starting to create this inner strategy in your mind to create the anxiety and change the structure, trust me it works, you are more powerful than you imagine, just use your mind correctly, for big things , not for small shiet.

Sorry for my english i hope you understand my message.

I like L-theanine. Also, not a noot (I know, I know!), but the ketogenic diet has been shown to increase GABA. When I was on it, I transformed from basically a hermit into someone who actually enjoyed social situations. It was incredible.

I take Faso and Colur [racetam] seems to help A LOT (especially with caffeine). It's as if anxiety is swapped with enjoyment and excitement. Instead of having to talk to people I get to talk to people. Everyone is different I suppose. Also kind of new to 'tropics myself, so this may not be the best suggestion, but it works for me.

Try basic meditation training for treating social anxiety. You will need a guru or the like who can guide you. It should take two weeks to learn the tools required to dissolve the glitched defence of the phyche allowing new processes. Any suppliment will be useless in treatment and will maintain the condition at best..

Passionflower is great for daily anxiety, over time it's found to be as effective as Valium for anxiety. I use chamomile, passionflower, kava, valerian, bacopa, ashwagandha, even tianeptine, Noopept, and phenylpiracetam

For bandaids chems, but CBT would rewire the fears and see them in a new light. This is the only CURE. Social Anxiety is a misunderstanding of social external stimulus, you would need to override your programming by inputting a new way of seeing things. That's where CBT comes in.

Moclobemide its prescribed for social anxiety.i strongly recommend it.

Ashwaganda at night
prior to even:
Aniracetam++
teacrine (fun for energy!)
alpha gpc
omega 3s (of course, cant ever miss that!)
Sulbutiamine, if you notice anything......i stopped taking it after i noticed it not doing anything.....may have also cause depression, but not totally sure still
Bacopa helped over time.....

Moclobemide, Magnolia bark, Theanine, Picamilon, memantine, selegiline

 Zinc. Anxiety can be caused by high copper levels. If you start cutting down copper intake and ramp up your zinc intake, that will help antagonize the copper. Vitamin C as well.

kratom is amazing for anxiety especially if you are only going to use it a few times a week. you can use it everyday and it will definitely work but you can become physically dependent on it. i am but its a trade off im willing to accept. kratom strangely gives me energy /anxiety relief as well as pain relief and if i stop taking it i wont have a seizure (unlike benzos i was on for a decade) but i will miss a few nights sleep and be cranky as hell. if limited to 3-4 days a week (3 to be safe but 4-5 on bad weeks) you should be fine

 Mucuna pruriens. L-Dopa isolate. I had problems with anxiety/depression for the longest time, the first two days of taking this stuff were like magic. I had giggling fits the first few times, then every day after was zen.

Note: Do NOT source actual clinical grade levodopa. Its used in the treatment of parkinson's, and can cause serious CNS issues. The extract from M. pruriens is fine, as its only 1:25 at the highest isolate from the source itself, in which L-Dopa only consitutes about 3% of its chemical constituents. Negligible amounts in terms of toxicity, but not in terms of efficiency of uptake.

(For greater results, its advisable to take it alongside coffee.)

Ashwagandha, 300mg, 5% withanolides (Jarrow does a product based on the KSM-66 extract, but there will be others). If this doesn't work you can up the daily dosage to 600mg. If your product doesn't state the withanolide content, assume it's just ground up root which may be little better than eating dust.

Kava did wonders for me. I have a natural tolerance to gabaergics though, so I had to use 3/4 a cup of the ground route. I would say Kratom, but that can be addictive. Personal experience. I was taking literally 20 grams for a year straight. I quite for 6 months and now I only use it when I need to. And I have to use at least 12 grams since I screwed up my receptors when I was taking too much. Just take it easy and start with 4 grams for anxiety. Some people find as little as 2 gram helps them.

Reishi mushroom, must be good quality though and pretty high dose around 3-5 g/day. Calms the heart and treats insomnia too. Real mushrooms brand uses Nammex mushrooms from Skye Chilton, grown in Canada, lab tested and probably one of the best mushrooms in the world.

 I have ptsd, and I use cannabis, phenibut, adrafinal, sulbutiamine, aniracetam, l theanine, magnesium, and a few others to treat my symptoms that are cause by the ptsd. Alot of people do not realise how important diet and exercise is with combatting anxiety and depression. One of the biggest comtributors for anxiety is due to diet and nutrition. I have ptsd and was prescribed like countless prescriptions and therapies but didn't once ask what my diet is like. Diet is a HUGE contributor to depression, anxiety, etc. Meditation works wonders as well. You don't have to sit there in lotus position to consider it meditation. Drawing, reading, nature walks, are all forms of meditation. Just do something that take you out of the chaos of life and do something that requires not alot of thinking, and allows you to slip into the flow and relax. That is what meditation truly is.

At this current time, after implementing all of that to my life I am doing and feeling better than I have in 8 years. I was having multiple panic attacks a day, couldn't leave the house/room, on the brink of suicide, battling addiction. Now I am doing so much better. I still have off days and anxiety but it is manageable. 

Sorry if that doesn't make alot of sense, hopefully you get the picture.

Eliminate all sugars, take an anti-Candida/antifungal (Amazon has some good ones--Candex, and Candida Cleanse), take a good probiotic *daily*, in addition to important things others have mentioned: magnesium, stay well hydrated, meditation, etc.

Please read about the Candida/anxiety link. If this is the root of your anxiety, (my anxiety/social anxiety was) other things like meditation, chamomile, meds, nootropics, etc might temporarily address the symptom, but without the dietary/lifestyle changes, it will continue.

 Relief is dangerous! you have to face it to overcome! You decide weather anxiety can be a stepstone for becoming stronger or it can break you if you let it. There is also the programming of your childhood traumas and so on... I had panic attacks, depression, was suicidal, was a junky and the only thing that helped me was to Programm my mind anew and ascend. Because anxiety and depression is a deeply unconscious manifested problem of the mind. How you can detox the body you can detox your mind! I been through hell and back. Doctors pills made it worse till I had absolute enough of myself, my situation, I wanted everything to change. I think a real professional therapy helps more than any medicine. At least for long term!

Joe N Jessy Alfonso: Ok, I went through all the responses, tried to add some value to them. Here are some top choices I think were not suggested with BIG ADVANTAGES: Low risk of side-effects no known potential for tolerance or withdrawal and might improve cognition! Worst case scenario, nothing happens: SELANK, EMOXYPINE, AFOBAZOLE and ETIFOXINE. Hope this helps. Good Luck! ;)

There really isnt too much that you can do about severe phenibut withdrawal but anything people use for benzo PAWS could help the symptoms. Lots of Taurine and Theanine wouldnt hurt but using Modafinil really just means that you are going to be more awake. This thread has some good starting research on sustainable options for anxiety://www.longecity.org/.../54028-treating-anxiety-safely.../

Agree with the taurine (3g daily) and theanine (~300mg daily). 


Would also recommend:

- NAC

- GABA

- Ashwagandha

- Passionflower, valerian, skullcap, kava, etc (gabaergic herbs)

- Gotu kola

- Holy basil

- Magnesium Glycinate

- 500mg of flushing niacin (3-4 doses throughout the day). Ease up to 500 or your skin will be on fire. Try 50mg every few days.

- ~60 minutes of medium/high-intensity exercise daily (this has actually helped my SA the most in combination with pushing out of the comfort zone, gradually)

- Eat a healthy diet (paleo, perhaps). Also, 70% of calories from fresh vegetables, 30% from animal products

- Look for mineral/vitamin deficiency symptoms and correct them with appropriate foods or a multivitamin (I highly recommend Life-Extension's Multi Mix Capsules)

- Lots of sunshine

- Vipassana/mindfulness meditation daily for ~30 minutes (very important)

- ~8 hours of quality sleep each night


Best of luck! As for social anxiety, be sure to stay up to date with Quora, Longecity, Reddit, and the SAS forums. Have struggled with this heavily myself, and am still progressing/learning. 


Read:

- How to Win Friends and Influence People

- The Confidence Gap

- Dream Yoga by Andrew Holecek (Self-CBT with lucid dreaming is highly effective)

- Psycho-Cybernetics

- Feeling Good 

- The Chimp Paradox

- The Charisma Myth

- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius/Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

Apart from actual medication (I have Luvox) but am reducing to improve brain fog and so what has worked for me in doing that is life extensions ashwaganda, less booze, running and jumping on a trampoline - just to get past a certain point of comfort and it's like the brain switches / I still prefer not to "people" but am much better at it when I have to :)

1. Expose therapy (talk to people as often as possible)

2. Meditate daily

3. Exercise daily

4. Make sure you're not deficient in anything (vitamins, minerals) 

5. Get outside / sunlight

6. Daily supplements for anxiety: GABA, Theanine, Tyrosine, Lemon Balm Extract, Rosemary Extract, DHA/EPA, Ashwagandha, Holy Basil, Magnesium

Modafinil would most likely exacerbate anxiety. I strongly advice AGAINST it. 

The most effective tool I've found so far for Phenibut Withdrawal is fasoracetam. -25-100 mg once or twice per day- and sulbutiamine. Part of the symptoms seem to be dopaminergic. Another way to go about it is to switch to pregabalin and taper from it. -Long acting, much less abusable-.