By To see one in all and all in one is to break
through the great barrier which narrows one’s
perception of reality.
-Thich Naht Hanh.
The illusion of the self and learned beliefs
If you have ever experienced social anxiety intensifying to the point of significant distress or interfering with your goals in life, you are all too familiar with the… Continue reading
By For those struggling with social anxiety, there may be a myriad of different worries that lead to avoiding social or performance events. Worries such as “I won’t be able to come up with anything good to say” or “I’ll make a stupid mistake and embarrass myself” are very common. For some individuals, the worry that brings on the most fear is simply that… Continue reading
By Social anxiety can often contribute to people feeling like they are alone. Automatic thoughts such as, “I’m too awkward”, “I can’t make friends”, and “Everyone thinks I’m weird”, are hallmarks of social anxiety. These thoughts can make it difficult to reach out for help.
Core Benefits of Group Work
Group therapy for social anxiety has been shown to… Continue reading
By What is Your Comfort Zone?
We often go about our day without awareness of why we do certain things. We often create habits that ensure risk is minimized by keeping things familiar and somewhat predictable. Although this pattern might lead to less uncertainty, it also prevents people from creating new experiences and learning new things.
If people… Continue reading
By People are inherently social. We band together in social groups at work or in school, we pair up in relationships and bond with friends over sports games. We even go out of our way to join online games or social media groups themed around a common interest. This bonding is deeply ingrained in our psyche – it’s the connection that allows us to help… Continue reading
By It is common for those struggling with social anxiety to want to avoid social situations that don’t feel good. While avoiding those situations may lessen your anxiety in the short-term, it is not going to make facing those scenarios any easier in the future. In fact, the avoidance can actually make the anxiety worse! Exposure therapy is designed to… Continue reading
By “I’m bad at meeting people.”
“I’m socially inept.”
“People dislike chatting with me.”
“I’m a boring conversationalist.”
“Others can see that I’m anxious which they’ll think is weird, or will make them uncomfortable.”
“I’m an introvert. I shouldn’t be expected to mingle. Chit chat is for extroverts!”
“I hate small talk!”
These are common hot thoughts… Continue reading
By What would you do if a natural disaster were going to strike your hometown in a few days? Maybe you would gather your friends and family and find shelter. When a disaster occurs, it often happens very quickly and people are not able to reach their friends and family particularly low-income families lacking resources. They might not be able to rely on… Continue reading
By Approach or Avoid?
If you have ever noticed your body tense up as you enter a social situation, your thoughts become focused around your self as an object of social evaluation and judgment, your attention scanning for possible signs of danger in the form of negative evaluation, and your emotions telling you to escape or inhibit your behavior, you are… Continue reading
By Opportunity or Apprehension?
Starting college comes with bittersweet anticipation for most students. It’s considered a rite of passage into adulthood and with this milestone comes independence, exploration and personal development.
Some see the social parts of college life as the driving force to enroll. Keg parties, fraternity or sorority life and… Continue reading
By One of the most challenging aspects of social anxiety are the thoughts that come with the experience. People struggling with social anxiety experience a barrage of negative self-judgments and the fear that others view them in that same negative light. Over time, these self-judgments lead to avoidant behaviors such as disengagement in social… Continue reading
By The biggest fear of individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is that of being found to be deficient and judged for the deficiency.
What does one do so that our deficiencies remain undetected and we are not judged for them? How do we remain safe?
The best solution would be to avoid people and situations where you face the risk of your flaws being… Continue reading
By The Cost of Misperception
One of the key components that maintains Social Anxiety Disorder over time is a pervasive negative self-image and related self-critical thoughts that are activated in social situations. Once activated, this negative self-image often leads to overly negative misperceptions of how one is coming across to others during social… Continue reading
By Have you ever suspected that someone you’re close to is avoiding a social situation because of anxiety? Feeling anxious in social situations is common for many of us, but for some people, it can be debilitating. Your friend or loved-one may be suffering from social anxiety. People often hide their symptoms, so if you notice that a friend is anxious,… Continue reading
By “Performance” anxiety, indeed! That’s precisely the problem: thinking of sex as a performance, as something we are doing that is being scrutinized and evaluated by an audience. This performance mindset leads many men to be self-conscious, self-critical, worried, tense and anxious while being sexual. This in turns often results in bringing about… Continue reading