Now that we have covered all of the various types of social situations, you will develop a situational exposure hierarchy. Which types of social situations do you fear the most? Is it one specific theme like public speaking, small talk, or being the center of attention, or is it more general in nature (everything)? Make …
The more you expose yourself to the social situations you fear, the easier they will become. You will eventually learn and internalize that you do not have to fear these situations. Once you get comfortable in these situations, you will want to continue pushing yourself to the point where you can say something stupid on …
Now that you have a good understanding of what to do for exposure practices, let’s look at the various types of social situations you can practice. Many of these situations may seem too difficult for you, but over time, as you grow and push your limits, you will be able to handle these seemingly impossible …
Preparing For Exposure Practices First, do an initial self-assessment. For you to plan the appropriate exposure practices, you must know what kind of situations and sensations you fear. Consider your short term and long term goals. How can you tie in your practices to best meet these goals? Next, develop a social anxiety hierarchy. Lastly, …
If you have tried exposure practices in the past, there may be a couple reasons why it hasn’t worked. 1 – You weren’t armed with the knowledge of how anxiety works/ or you didn’t understand the 3 components of anxiety/ or how to use cognitive therapy to change your anxious thinking patterns. 2 – The …
It’s no surprise that when you are anxious or scared, you do things to try and protect yourself and stay out of harms way. You either avoid the situation completely or do what you can to get out of that situation as soon as possible. It’s human nature. It may seem like avoiding a feared …
Now that you have learned how to identify, challenge, and change your anxious thinking patterns, it is time to move into the next phase of your treatment plan – facing your fears head on. You are going to put yourself into the social situations that you fear. It may sound scary, but now that you …
A Social anxiety thought record is a great tool to help you examine the thoughts you experience when having a social anxiety attack. Filling out these journals/records is necessary at first because it will train you to pay attention to your thoughts and it will constantly push you to challenge and change your thoughts. You …
Changing your thoughts and expectations seems like the logical thing to do when attempting to overcome your social anxiety. The question is, how do you do that? 1 – Identify your anxious thoughts and predictions. You can’t change these thoughts if you haven’t identified them, so you must really be clear about the types of …
Strategies for Changing Thoughts and Expectations Read More »
Negative Core Beliefs Besides the various types of anxious thinking, you may also want to examine your core beliefs. I’ve mentioned it before during your self-assessment and where do our fears come from? You may want to revisit that before examining your core beliefs in conjunction with your anxious thinking. Behind your anxious thinking lies …