Making a Plan for Change
89years. If you are being treated with medication (particularly antidepressants), it is usually 
recommended that you stay on the medication for six months to a year or more before 
slowly decreasing the dosage and eventually discontinuing the medication. If the symp -
toms return, it may be necessary to resume taking the medication or to try a  different 
form of treatment.
Are the effects of treatment long lasting?  As we discussed earlier, the effects of CBT 
tend to be relatively long lasting, although you may experience some bad days occasion -
ally. In contrast, stopping medication treatment suddenly is more likely to lead to a return 
of the anxiety. You can protect against this to some degree by staying on the medication 
for a longer period (perhaps at a reduced “maintenance” dosage) and by stopping the 
medication very gradually. Also, stopping certain types of medications is more likely to 
lead to a return of symptoms than stopping other medications, as reviewed in chapter 
5. It is advisable to discuss reducing or stopping medication with the professional who is 
prescribing it for you before you change the dose you’re taking.
Will you be completely “cured”?  A small percentage of people who have signiﬁcant 
social anxiety are able to reach a point at which they rarely experience any social anxiety 
at all. Similarly, a small percentage of people do not obtain any beneﬁt from either 
CBT or medications. For most people, however, the result of treatment is somewhere in 
between these two extremes. It is realistic to expect that proper treatment is likely to 
lead to a signiﬁcant decrease in your social anxiety, avoidance behaviors, and impairment 
of day-to-day life. However, it is also likely that there will remain some situations that