By Dr. Richards, director of Social Anxiety Institute *I found this handout yesterday and it gave me an aha as to why my progress was not moving faster. We need the cognitive material really, really sunk into our brains before going out and doing extreme high exposure. Hopefully this will give you some insight into how CBT works. (HUGS!) to everybody who needs one.
Why Behavioral Therapy Alone Does Not Work for Social Anxiety
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#1 by cillysunt on February 20th, 2009
As the video says, exposure alone will do nothing but make you feel anxious.
You need the correct tools to take into that situation for it to be of any benefit. I have recently started therapy again after an unsuccessful attempt 5 yrs ago. This time the therapist is much more helpful and I am slowly being able to leave the house.
Don’t write it off like I did, it is wasting your life if you do.
#2 by charliepenguin on March 6th, 2009
Janey, every single one of your vids turns lightbulbs on for me. This one especially, because I think this is a key point in overcoming this little problem we have. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway just isn’t enough. My SAD disappeared for 3 years between 18-21, then came back after a change in environment. Why? because I still thought the same way about myself.
#3 by vincent4500 on April 14th, 2009
social anxiety is far more complicated than single phobias, which are more ‘ one dimensional’ compared to social anxiety.. in our world people are around us everyhwere…we’re exposed to people all the time, whether having to buy food in a shop, or buying a dvd..and we don’t get less anxious by doing these things..single phobias don’t often have depression and other comorbiditys (other co-existing ailments) but social anxiety is often hand in hand with depression and other problems..some ‘real’
#4 by vincent4500 on April 14th, 2009
eg most people with arachnophobia have jobs and successful love lifes, (not with spiders tho
), whilst social anxiety tends to ruin a persons career potential and love life potential, not uncommonly, as in my case, leaving a person stuck in dead end jobs offering less self-esteem, and looking back at 37 yrs of age thinking how it is that i’ve only had one girlfriend for 3 months in all that time & now find myself drowning in self doubt and the aging process..loss of a life…
#5 by swastedcat on May 4th, 2009
i take Vilift and it really cured mine anxiety. i love it’s effect on me and really great coz there are no side effects.
#6 by SkepticScepter on May 9th, 2009
Perhaps one thing that many SAers aren’t aware of that there are two types of avoidance: total and subtle. Total avoidance is not being in the social situation at all, like cutting from school, not going to job interviews, not approaching women for dating.
Subtle avoidance is the avoidance of certain aspects of a social situation. For instance, wearing plain clothes to not attract attention or to wear overly flashy clothes to avoid harsh fashion criticism.
#7 by SkepticScepter on May 9th, 2009
Other examples are appearing to be busy like reading a book so that you don’t get into a conversation and giving standoffish response to people’s questions.
The main reason why exposure therapy wouldn’t work for some SAers is because they probably weren’t aware of their subtle avoidance (aka safety behaviors).
#8 by bwelmhouse1 on May 26th, 2009
That is absolutely true when you talk about exposure therapy needing more angles than just simply facing it. It must be coupled with the proper coping techniques. And that strategy has worked for me, pulling me from the depths of fear and avoidance. I have come a long ways, but still have a long ways to go.
#9 by Luv4Learning on May 29th, 2009
Hi Janey,
I was a participant in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy a few years back, and it jump started me to where I am now. I sometimes look back at how I might have approached a situation a few years back, and I am amazed by my coping skills and ways of seeing things now. I still have the workbook that I used during this time. It’s good stuff
.
I heard you mention rational thought–Have you read Albert Ellis’ books?
#10 by EpirotFiqi on June 7th, 2009
Dr Richards is awesome..
Thats the reason people isolate themselves..
They know they have to face their fears, everybody is telling them to do that! But still after every attempt, even successes, still anxiety occurs on new events.
Thanks a lot.
#11 by cyberfennek on June 9th, 2009
what would you do if the world treated you like f….. every time you try to open for your inner most feelings….people don´t give a f…. who you are or if you are hurt every time….you still believe in good but it simply dosnt happen to you… what would you do ?
#12 by firstredmoon on June 22nd, 2009
this is exactly the experience i had with psychiatric therapy. my psychiatrist wanted to go straight into graded exposure, without any cognitive therapy. definitely didn’t work. what does work for me is if i do the work before i go into an anxiety-triggering situation (e.g. staying overnight somewhere i’ve never stayed before). that’s the only way i can cope (and i usually experience almost no anxiety). if i go into a situation without doing the work, i experience extreme anxiety.
#13 by JohnsJams on July 16th, 2009
so truee dude i have SA
#14 by vincent4500 on July 16th, 2009
The thing with conventional medicine is it always looks at things in isolation..for example it’s either ‘mental’ or ‘physical’..when in reality there are several things going on, on the mental, immune system, hormonal systems etc etc.. with a so-called psychological disorder..Reason i mention this is that after having severe SAD/with severe depression for yrs I got CFS/fibromyalgia & things got worse..only after fighting these too I realised that i had underlying physical probs not dealt with
#15 by vincent4500 on July 16th, 2009
what i mean is that conventional medicine is both arrogant, ignorant and corrupt which distorts dealing with certain physical health probs correctly..to explain after fighting CFS for 15 yrs i worked out i had an underactive thyroid condition, tho mainstream medicines tests and treatment protocol don’t pick up many of these probs or treat them with the right medicine..i realised the ‘rabbit hole’ goes deeper than i could’ve imagined..curing SAD is actually curing a person whollistically..
#16 by vincent4500 on July 16th, 2009
and believe it or not I have just got on top of the CFS/fibromyalgia etc..which has underlying thyroid probs involved…and i’ve also been fighting SAD/depression and my life is taking off…like building a house you often have to go back to basics – eg the foundations! if anyone suspects they may have a thyroid condition let me know & i’ll advise you, as research estimates that many people with ‘pyschiatric’ conditions are actually undiagnosed thyroid sufferers, and thyroid probs become CFS!
#17 by cafeduneant on July 17th, 2009
Thanks for sharing! This video gave me some hope. I am going to look into getting some literature on CBT for socially anxious people…
#18 by EFT4MeDebi on August 6th, 2009
Janey My name is Debi I had severe depression Anxiety/ PTSD for over 20 yrs. The worst was soaking wet nightmares. 18 months ago I learned EFT and haven’t had any symptoms, not a single nightmare etc It is free to learn Give it a try. Girlfriend I wish you the best (No more anti-depressants or anxiety meds too)
#19 by EFT4MeDebi on August 7th, 2009
Janey, When we are kids we sometimes take the words of adults too deeply. A parent might say “Joe ,why can’t you be good like your brother John?” Instead what we hear is “Your not good enough” Then we spend a lifetime trying to please everyone else, no confidence. As we age opportunities arrive, we don’t try 4 the better jobs, even if we are smart. Inside the head we still hear “Not good enough,why bother?” These are called false beliefs, They hold us back in life. U can get rid of them…EFT
#20 by puddletinker on August 26th, 2009
*****THIS WORKS!*****
Do this: Stuff some earplugs in ur ears and go to big crowded places, or listen to ur ipod touch while walking around. Trust me it works great u cant even hear ppl making fun of you! and soon u become immune to the reality of being around ppl. after 3 weeks of doing that everyday for a mere 1 hour, let me tell you, you will be more sociable then you ever imagined possible! Try this: for faster results do this for 7 hours a day for 3 days.
*****THIS WORKS!*****
#21 by elxtranjero on August 29th, 2009
listen to momo from the momozone acceptance video it explains a lot. In my experience good comes from within (your thoughts), you BELEIVE but beleive means there is no room for ohh i’m stupid, i can’t do it etc… After you beleive small things that you search will be good. like for example the world has also treated my like sh/t.. but i think it’s something good because it’s just an opportunity to show them how stupid they were for not realizing how great i am..
I’m sure you rock man!!!
#22 by annetomm2 on September 29th, 2009
I believe I have both, Total and Subtle.
I skip school and all my classes constantly, i’d go a couple weeks without going back to school, I have both, i’m aware of. I do little things to avoid those situations as well. Such as being standoffish all the time … I hate this
#23 by yati84 on October 10th, 2009
After watching this, I finally realise why I’m still anxious after straneous training on public speaking some time ago. I was not anxious at that time. But am now. I tried drugging myself with strong coffee before any anxious related situations and it work sometimes. It made me feel ‘high’. I totally forget who I really was. Was I myself? I’m not sure. I don’t want to rely on coffee too much but recently I had it too often and my body seems not to react like it use to anymore.
#24 by doitanywayz on October 11th, 2009
hmmm intestsing
i knew this already after my counselling but i would say that people on the internet only talk about the cognitive side and positive thinking. as you say here the cognitive side needs to be strong positive thinking+the change in behaviour which equals new comfort zones. thats how CBT works, good video.
#25 by DarkRain9000 on October 20th, 2009
LOL