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 want to keep doing the journals until these new thinking patterns become habit. Do the journal before the social situation or directly after.
Monitoring your automatic thoughts
Another social anxiety thought record
Cognitive restructuring practice
Social anxiety thought record example
1 – date/time
2 – situation that triggers fear
3 – anxiety provoking thoughts and predictions – You have been thinking these thoughts so long that they have become automatic, so pay close attention to your thinking during a situation that triggers your fear.
4 – anxiety before (1-100)
5 – alternative thoughts and predictions
6 – evidence and realistic conclusions
7 – anxiety after (1-100)
If these forms are too complex for you, then opt for a simpler form. It’s doesn’t have to be overly complex. The goal is to help you get into the habit of paying attention to your thoughts, challenging your thoughts, and then changing your thoughts.
Now that you know how to identify anxious thinking and challenge those ways of thinking, let’s learn about the next part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – confronting your fears through exposure.
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