How to Handle Social Anxiety With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) can be debilitating. Unfortunately, it often goes undiagnosed for far too long. Untreated social anxiety can lead to self-damaging behaviors like overeating, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, depression and even violence. If you or someone you know exhibits these symptoms, please seek medical advice.

The most effective way to treat social anxiety disorder is through medication – or more often both – and, in some cases, cognitive behavioral therapy as well. The goal of social skills therapy is to train the sufferer to learn how to manage their fears of social situations. Together, with medication, social skills therapy offers the best chance for long-term treatment. Teamwork is crucial in social anxiety therapy.

Most sufferers report learning new coping skills for social anxiety while taking CBT. The course includes learning how to recognize various symptoms of social anxiety, breathing techniques, muscle relaxation and cognitive restructuring. The intention of this cognitive behavior therapy is to help sufferers gain greater control over stressful situations by learning new ways to respond to them. Once the sufferer has learned how to control their breathing, they can learn how to calm themselves down when they feel a strong fear, for example. At the same time, they learn new ways to deal with difficult situations that arise in social situations.

Cognitive behavioral therapy offers other methods of controlling anxiety, as well. They teach sufferers how to self-manage themselves in potentially stressful situations. Learning positive thinking techniques can help them better manage stress and anxiety. They can also use humor to help cheer up a person who may be feeling a bit down because of a social event. This type of humor can help patients relax and increase their feelings of self-worth.

It’s also important to remember that while learning new social skills are important, it’s not the end of the world. No one wants to become a prisoner to their social anxiety. No matter how much a person tries to ignore it, social situations will always arise. The key, then, is to learn how to cope with them, even if they don’t want to. If you can do that, then you have won half the battle.

CBT might require weekly sessions or even monthly ones. In either case, the goal is the same: To control anxiety and change behaviors that lead to panic attacks. CBT does this by slowly exposing sufferers to their feared situations until they can handle them without fear. In most cases, this involves attending weekly group sessions with a cognitive-behavioral therapy group. You may also want to consider seeking additional support from your primary care doctor or a mental health professional, especially if your social anxiety becomes too intense or lasts for longer than a few weeks.

During these sessions, you’ll learn new ways to think about yourself and situations that bring on anxious feelings. You’ll learn new tactics for coping with social anxiety disorder in public, such as how to put on an honest face, avoid embarrassing situations and answer the question with confidence. By learning to think in new ways, you can also learn how to stop focusing on past bad experiences. While it’s normal to think about past misfortunes, dwelling on them robs you of present happiness. Cognitive behavioral therapy can teach sufferers how to handle everyday situations that bring on anxiety without resorting to panic.

Of course, there is also the possibility that social anxiety disorder could develop into a more serious condition. If you find yourself avoiding many social situations, or even dreading them, then it’s possible that you have a more serious problem. In these cases, it’s best to seek out the help of a mental health professional.