I had social anxiety disorder (which it sounds like you might have) so bad that I couldn’t even eat in my school cafeteria because I felt like everyone was watching me. At times in class I would have to go hide in the bathroom to keep my calm because I felt that I was being judged, looked at, etc.–that was how bad it was (usually after raising my hand to answer a question, but sometimes for no reason at all). Public speaking? Oohhhh, no. Couldn’t do it. I would have such intense panic attacks that I would literally pass out. I developed acid reflux disease at a young age because I was constantly stressed out and afraid, and had no friends. Even with all this, they didn’t put me on medicine . . . they had me in therapy, and what do you know? I got better. It was a slow process and extremely difficult for me (because it took longer for me to believe things were working when they were). I probably could have done well to get on medicine. But I got through it.

In your case, you have a clear trigger, so congnitive-behavioral therapy would probably be best for you. Basically the idea is to find out what gets you so panicked and do everything you can to reduce that panicked feeling. This includes telling yourself positive things, practicing your presentation in front smaller groups of people, etc. I’m not a c-b therapist, so I wouldn’t know exactly what to do to help you . . . it’s been a while. :P Then if you need meds, they’ll put you on meds.

I seriously recommend going to a psychologist before jumping to meds, because 1) it’s better for you in the long run (because what happens if you have to come off your meds for some reason? what if you have major side effects? what if it just stops working?–they do that sometimes!) and 2) it’s most likely better for you in the short run. This is for a few reasons . . . for example, did you know that Prozac can take up to a month to have its full effect? That it has bad side effects in some people, ranging from mild to debilitating? Not to mention, sometimes it just doesn’t work . . . sometimes you need one of the other eight SSRIs, or you might need an MAOI, or an SNRI . . . there are over 58 different medicines to deal with this problem, and some people take as many as six or seven different combinations of medicines before they get the right one. If you were one of those people, just think, it’d take you more than six or seven MONTHS to get the right treatment. And you’d have withdrawal symptoms coming off of the medicines, so it’d take a long time, did I mention that? ;p Seriously, you should only take medicine as a last resort. That’s my thought, anyway. ;) Feel free to ignore me, as it’s your life and all.

(BeTeeDubs, hun, you don’t have serotonin reuptake inhibitors naturally in your brain, so they couldn’t be working properly [or improperly, for that matter]. ;p Prozac is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor [SSRI] that makes serotonin stay out in your neural pathways for longer than normal, so that your neurons get more stimulation than they would otherwise.)