AbstractTiagabine, a selective gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) reuptake inhibitor was evaluated for the treatment of patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Adults with SAD received open‐label tiagabine 4–16 mg per day for 12 weeks. Intent‐to‐treat data are available for 54 patients with improvement demonstrated in Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Clinician Global Impression‐Severity (CGI‐S) and ‐Improvement (CGI‐I), Social Phobia Inventory, and Sheehan Disability Scale scores. In all, 40.7% (22/54) of the intent to treat sample and 63.0% (17/27) of the completer sample were considered CGI responders (CGI‐I score of one or two). Tiagabine was generally well tolerated. Results of this pilot study suggest that tiagabine may be an option for the treatment of patients with SAD. Larger, controlled studies are required to fully elucidate the potential of tiagabine for the treatment of SAD. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.