On overcoming social anxiety: A short guide
On overcoming social anxiety: A short guide
Written by SaturdaysChild for 7Cups community
I am going to introduce you couple approaches that have been useful for me personally and to some members as well. Some of them are scientific and some of them are not. Feel free to experiment and dont be afraid to combine. All of these approaches I find to be truly helpful.
CBT – challenging your thoughts (cognitive-behavioral therapy)
This is the most common approach to SA based on notion thoughts cause feelings, not events which is the cornerstone of cognitive therapy. Here we will work with the weak points of social anxiety structure: „patterns of thinking, safety behaviors and self-consciousness (Butler, 2009, 88). So basically we will try to:
1. Change our faulty thinking*
2. Cut out safety behaviors = Exposure
3. Get out of our heads = reduce self-consciousness
*(10 Cognitive distortions: All-or-nothing thinking, Overgeneralization, Mental filter, Disqualifying the positive, Jumping to conclusions a) mind reading b) The Fortune Teller Error, Magnification or minimization, Emotional reasoning, Should statements, Labeling and mislabeling, Personalization.(Burns, 2008, 43))
ACT – accepting your thoughts (comprehensive distancing, little modified by me/some parts are omitted)
This approach operates with notion that you cannot change your thoughts, according to latest research in neuroscience and from evolutionary standpoint. (Harris, 2010) What we will try to do is:
1. Defuse from our anxious thoughts
2. Observe them and Accept them
3. Become aware of the present
Elkrief's method:
I tried to put his method into couple sentences but it turned out looking very weird so in order not to do it injustice I'll put a link here, his video is long but worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ-D-8aCRR4
Things to consider: caffeine intake, sugar intake – there is evidence that these two can aggravate symptoms or even start anxiety.
Please ask me questions.
Message me if you need in-dept explanation or a social anxiety listener.
Helpful books:
BUTLER Gillian: Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness
FENNELL Melanie: Overcoming Low Self-Esteem
GILBERT Paul: Overcoming Depression
HARRIS Russ: The Confidence Gap
CACIOPPO: Loneliness
