Behavior Therapy For Social Anxiety

Behavior Therapy for Social Anxiety

If you are someone who suffers with social anxiety then no doubt you may experience:

• Uncomfortable physical sensations, such as panic, fast heart rate, shallow breathing.
• Shyness around other people you are unfamiliar with or those who intimidate you
• Thoughts of self doubt and self-judgement around others
• A tendency to be passive when it comes to stating your opinion to avoid confrontation
• A hard time accepting compliments and asking for favors

For this reason Behavior Therapy that involves Assertiveness training can help overcome many of the symptoms of social anxiety.

For instance, knowing how to be assertive can help with speaking with your boss or someone else who you might finding intimating.  The following are a few Behavior Therapy tips on being more assertive when you are socially anxious.

Tips for Assertiveness Behavior Therapy for Social Anxiety

• 1. Organize your facts. When you want to assert yourself focus first on the facts you are working off of. This  helps you to keep emotions out of it. “Yesterday  when we met we talked about xyz and you said…..”
• 2. Next, state your point of view. Next it is best to express your personal thoughts and feelings. “From this conversation my take away thoughts were ” and “my feelings are”.
• 3. Finally make it known to the other person what it is you want behaviorally from them. Be specific in asking for what you want in that will give you a better result.

Of course you asking someone to do something for you doesn’t always workout successfully on the first try. Often you are met with resistance from the other person and therefore you need to be persistent in your behavior assertions.  Following are a few behavioral therapy strategies for managing assertion refusals:

• Asking the person to clarify their point of view. “the other day when we spoke, I understood you to mean, can you please clarify this?”

• In addition another method of being assertive is requesting the other person offer a compromise if they  don’t like your initial idea or coming with an idea together.

• Take a break. Acknowledge each person’s point of view then take a break before it gets heated.

• Go on your own . Often if someone can’t meet your needs, thank them for their efforts and move on. Assertion is not always about being verbal it is mostly about standing an important position.

For more information about Dr. Jayme Albin’s Programs for Behavior Therapy social anxiety, EMDR for trauma and CBT depression and  mental performance contact us today. Call us at 212-631-1133 or email us at info@cbt-newyork.com