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Leenient
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Number of ratings53 Number of reviews15 Listens toOver 18 LanguagesEnglish, Malay Listener sinceMar 22, 2017 Last activeover 6 months ago GenderFemale PathStep 963 People helped96 Chats345 Group support chats25 Listener group chats50 Forum posts256 Forum upvotes376
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Social Anxiety: Getting an Idea of What Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Is About
Anxiety Support / by Leenient
Last post
 June 12th, 2017
...See more The following is a part of a conversation between Olga Khazan, staff writer at The Atlantic and Stefan G. Hofmann, psychologist and director of the Social Anxiety Program at Boston University regarding cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Khazan: What are some strategies that help alleviate symptoms or combat social anxiety when it starts creeping in? Hofmann: What needs to happen is that people should face their anxiety. What we do is called cognitive behavioral therapy, a non-medication option which is more effective in the long term than medication treatment. You try to identify what kinds of thoughts people have in these situations, what sort of drives the anxiety. Then you gradually challenge these maladaptive thinking patterns by asking people to engage in what we would call exposure practices, where they expose themselves to these situations repeatedly and for a long period of time so that they can realize that nothing bad is happing. It is very effective. We have a response rate of at least 75 percent. Alternative treatments to CBT are medication—primarily with SSRIs. Khazan: So what are some of the situations that you might send someone into? Like, go give a speech? Hofmann: Initially, we use speaking in front of the rest of the group. In the seventh or eighth session, we go on to do more individualized exposure treatments, constructing something that we would call a social mishap exercise. We expose them to their worst-case scenario. For example, if someone is not engaging in any dating behaviors because they are concerned about being rejected, we would ask them to go to a restaurant and ask every woman at the table for her number. And obviously, he would get rejected a lot, and that's the purpose of it. Khazan: Thats crazy! That sounds so intense. What do they say to the women? Hofmann: We script it very clearly. We say, youre going to go in there now, and say the following: Hi, I like your face. Would you like to go out with me? Would you like to give me your number? And she would obviously say, No, go away, you freak, or something, and that would be desirable. That would be perfect. Or other examples might be, inconveniencing people, so lets say go to a coffee shop and you spill your coffee and you say, I'd like to have a new one. Or you go to a book store and ask for a book on the joy of sex. You do something that is over the top that nobody likes to do, that violates their personal social norms and engages them in re-evaluating their maladaptive beliefs. And its very effective. Its very successful. People speak to this treatment, they love it. Read the full conversation here: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/what-is-social-anxiety/411556/
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Acts of Kindness Can Lessen Social Anxiety, Study Says
Anxiety Support / by Leenient
Last post
 August 11th, 2017
...See more "Acts of kindness may help to counter the socially anxious persons fear of negative evaluation by promoting more positive perceptions and expectations of how other people will respond." -Dr. Lynn Alden ​​​​​ ❤ Perform an act of kindness today ❤
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They’re super understanding and comforting.
Amazing absolutely experience. This person gave absolutely good advice and listened patiently. Thank you, Lee.
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Lee really cares about your feelings and gives you awesome support. You can tell that she really cares about the members. She checks up to see if you’re okay.
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I love this listener. She listens to me so well gives good advice and makes me feel so much better
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Very helpful and nice.
Thank you for being there to listen to what I had to say. I''m happy you haven't thought of me as dramatic or boring. :)
very professional and caring at the same time great person to talk to
thank u from the bottom of my heart i appreciate it
thank u for your help wish u the best
This conversation went a lot better than I imagined. Thank you for being understanding.
Very helpful and is good with words :) I'm feeling much better and will always keep his/her words in mind. Thank you
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