What Can Be Done to Treat Social Anxieties or Phobias?

At Psychological Health and Wellness, located on the Mesa/Gilbert Arizona border, we have found that the first hurdle to treating social anxiety and phobia is to help the sufferer see that people’s well intentioned though harmful attitudes are not meant as criticisms, but that they are legitimate strategies used by others to deal with things, it is just not the strategy that will work for them.  Most  people that suffer with social anxiety have had well-meaning people tell them unhelpful suggestions like:

• Just think about it differently
• Stop worrying so much
• Quit being so negative
• Stop being such a baby
• Grow up

These kinds of well intentioned though misplaced attempts to support the suffering individual fails to recognize that the first challenge is to treatment is a realization that many people, because of the nature of their developmental histories, and traumagenic family dynamics have created a life that is designed to avoid situations the provoke the most intense social anxiety reactions, and that many suffering this disorder will not seek treatment until their ability to adapt and manage life becomes overwhelmed due to changes in demands in work or personal relationships. Many times physicians will initially prescribe a variety of medications, which may ease the symptoms but not necessarily give permanent or needed relief.

Psychological Health and Wellness, located on the Mesa/Gilbert Arizona border, employ those methods of therapy or counseling that seem to yield the most beneficial results with social anxiety disorder.  These include:

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy which helps the client identify injunctions (rules) that generate fears and act as corrosive agents on the identity or self esteem of the individual.  CBT also helps give predictability to an individual to identify patterns and triggers that provoke the anxiety.
• Attunement, relationship enhancement and social skills training. This therapy helps you develop the skills you need in social situations through rehearsing and role-playing. Your anxiety is reduced as you become more comfortable with and prepared for the feared social situations.
• Cognitive restructuring. This therapy give the sufferer the tools to manage their own thinking more effectively and with greater intentional precision rather than reactive formations of fear and worry.

After a successful round of treatment with Psychological Health and Wellness, located on the Mesa/Gilbert Arizona border, our young engineer (as introduced in part 1 of this series) was able to manage things much better.  She expressed relief and a growing competency in her ability to meet the demands of her job and that many things in her interpersonal relationships had also changed.  She was particularly thankful to be living an intentional life rather than the one she had been in living, a reactive life based on fears and horrible future possibilities.  This young woman completed treatment for her anxiety and social phobia with a therapist at Psychological Health and Wellness in eight sessions, with a 6 month single session follow-up.

Don’t let social anxiety keep you from having the life that you want to have. If afflicted by the symptoms of social anxiety and social phobia we encourage you to speak with one of our mental health specialists.