Social Anxiety Treatment
 Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of many social anxiety treatment options used by medical experts today. Experts believe that cognitive behavioral therapy can be extremely effective in helping patients with social anxiety disorder or social phobia.
Social anxiety disorder affects about 5.3 million Americans. Medical experts are not certain of the exact causes of social anxiety disorder. In fact, social phobia was not recognized as a psychiatric disorder until 1980, and researchers are still learning about the disorder and developing social anxiety treatments. Like other behavioral disorders, social phobia may be hereditary, attributable to a chemical imbalance in the brain, the result of head injury, or related to another medical condition.
In order to understand social anxiety treatment, it is important to learn about the disorder itself. The medical community defines social phobia as a persistent and unfounded fear of social situations. Individuals with this disorder become self-conscious in everyday social situations, such as going to work or school, attending parties, or eating in restaurants. These individuals are afraid they will embarrass themselves or fear they will exhibit symptoms of social phobia, such as stammering, sweating or shaking. Interestingly, people with social phobia know that their fears are irrational, so many of them "face their fears" and "get through" social situations. In severe cases, people may experience crippling panic attacks.
But, there are treatment options available to make life easier for those struggling with these issues. If you experience extreme difficulty in social situations or if you avoid them altogether, you should seek professional help. First see your family doctor, who will likely recommend a therapist. A therapist will probably begin your social anxiety treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy. This type therapy involves "retraining" your brain through practice and repetition and by changing negative thought habits to positive thought habits.
This type of social anxiety treatment may include:
- Exposure therapy. Imagine yourself in the fearful situation until you believe you can face it. Then, a therapist or a friend accompanies you to the place you fear, such as a restaurant.
- Rehearsing or role-playing a social situation with a therapist or a friend.
- Thought-stopping. This is a technique often used for fear of flying and other phobias. Thought-stopping consists of:
- Writing out a list of your stressful thoughts.
- Setting a timer to go off in three minutes. Allow yourself to think the stressful thought for three minutes. When the alarm goes off shout, "Stop." Try it again and whisper, "Stop." Keep doing this until you hear the word, "Stop," in your mind when the uncomfortable thought surfaces.
- Placing a rubber band around your wrist and startling yourself by snapping the rubber band and saying, "Stop," when an uncomfortable thought begins to intrude.
- Vocalizing an unpleasant thought, such as: "I am afraid to go to the party." Then, immediately replace it with a positive image in your mind.
Other social anxiety treatments may include medication, relaxation, regular exercise, and healthy diet.
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