Social Anxiety Therapy – Effective Therapies for Social Phobia

Social anxiety disorder is a type of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders that can have severe consequences for the people who suffer from it. People with social anxiety disorder may be painfully shy, painfully nervous around new people, and even occasionally embarrassed about their body language and physical responses to various social situations. A person who suffers from this disorder can have difficulty making and keeping friends and can feel overwhelmingly anxious and insecure about almost every social situation. Because of the incredibly high level of stress and worry that people with this disorder consistently experience, they often have unrealistic worries about common everyday things such as being able to pay bills, driving, and even speaking in public.

When a person has low self-esteem and frequent headaches that keep them from attending social activities, they may want to consider getting some therapy for social anxiety therapy. If a social anxiety disorder is left untreated, it can lead to depression and possibly even suicide. Unfortunately, many people with social anxiety problems do not seek treatment because they think that it will simply go away on its own. While some people can completely overcome their fears through mental therapy and muscle memory training, others need to be exposed to the fears more than once in order to trigger positive change in their brains. Thankfully, many therapists offer these sessions as part of their treatment package.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective forms of social anxiety therapy. The aim of CBT is to gradually help the patient change his or her behaviors so that they can become comfortable in social situations. In the beginning of CBT, the patient will be given relaxation and soothing therapies, such as yoga and massage therapy. This will help the therapist to determine triggers that set off the person’s symptoms of anxiety. Once the therapist has determined what these triggers are, he or she can offer appropriate treatments that will help the patient to overcome these fears.

One of the most successful CBT methods involves helping the patient to discover and replace negative cognitive beliefs about himself or herself and others. Some common beliefs are: I am a poor or boring person; I am unable to control my reactions; my social environment is negative; I am helpless and need to rely on others to take care of me; I am somehow bad or crazy because I have these beliefs. Changing one’s cognitive beliefs is important because they are the root cause of the anxiety that leads to the physical symptoms. Once a patient learns that his beliefs are incorrect, he can learn new ones that promote healthier and happier social experiences.

Social anxiety patients often do not want to be around other people when they are undergoing cognitive behavioral therapy. However, this is a futile gesture as social situations do not have to be controlled by the sufferer. For example, the patient may feel very anxious when asked to speak to a large group of people. However, he or she can comfortably enter into small talk or polite conversation with the same few people that he or she feels more comfortable speaking to. Similarly, the patient can choose to spend his or her time in quieter, more personal situations with fewer people. The point is that the social anxiety is a learned response that the sufferer can change.

When the cognitive behavior therapy for social anxiety disorder is combined with medication such as tranquilizers, the results are even more effective. However, this should only be done under the supervision of a medical professional, as combining medications can have severe side effects. Medication used for this disorder has been shown to help reduce depression symptoms, which means that the patient may feel better and have a better quality of life. It is very important to ask the doctor if the patient is a good candidate for medication, and the doctor can offer information on the side effects and benefits of the various medications. Cognitive behavioral therapy should be used in tandem with prescription drugs, especially sedatives, which should not be taken for extended periods of time due to their potential side effects.

When the patient learns how to identify which hot thoughts and negative thoughts are making him or her feel anxious, cognitive restructuring can then take place. This occurs when the patient learns new, more positive ways of thinking about certain situations. The patient will learn new coping strategies such as thinking positive, replacing negative thoughts with positive ones, and visualizing the best possible outcome. Cognitive restructuring has been proven to be extremely effective for overcoming social anxiety disorder. Many patients report that they no longer feel anxiety in most social situations.

The most important part of social anxiety disorder treatment is facing social situations that bring on feelings of anxiety. In order to do so, patients must first know what feelings they are having and then learning new ways of thinking so that they can deal with these feelings in the proper manner that will lead to overcoming the disorder. For some, it may be helpful to participate in group therapy. Alternatively, one could attend meditation classes, where one can learn techniques for controlling one’s breathing to calm oneself during stressful social situations. Breathing techniques are also helpful because they teach the person to control the rate of breathing in order to calm the mind.

Ann Miller

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