First, identify what you are afraid might happen in social situations. For example, are you afraid that you will embarrass yourself? Say something inappropriate? Have nothing to say?
Next, identify a social situation that has very little risk of confirming your identified fears, along with the potentially positive outcomes. For example, you might consider saying "hello" to the grocery store cashier. The worst outcome might be that he/she doesn't return your "hello" or scowls at you. It is very unlikely that anything worse might happen. On the flip side, it might be that the cashier smiles and returns your "hello". In fact, it might even be more likely that the cashier would do this than your feared outcomes.
The next step is to face that situation. You should fill your mind with positive, encouraging words, such as, "I can do this. Many people do this every day. I want to do this." Also remind yourself that there is a high likelihood that you will have a good outcome in the situation (e.g., that the cashier will smile and return your "hello"). When you are in the situation, your only task is to do a few simple things: make eye contact, smile, focus on the other person (rather than on your fears) and push yourself to be successful in the situation (rather than running out of the situation or excusing yourself before you've accomplished your task). These simple rules apply to any social situation.
After the situation has been completed, you should identify what you have learned from the exercise. Likely, you learned that you can make eye contact with somebody and smile, and that nothing bad or terribly wrong has to happen. In fact, you have likely learned that this task was easy enough to do on a regular basis and would be easier with each practice.
Once you have learned that you can have success in a social situation, continue to practice that situation. When you realize that you have mastered a particular situation and you no longer feel much anxiety in it, you should continue to gradually face increasingly more intimidating situations. Always start with the easiest and work your way up.
Finally, if you had a great deal of difficulty doing the above exercise, then there are a couple of things to consider. Did you start with a situation that was so intimidating that you couldn't follow through with it? If so, reconsider starting with an easier task - it should be one in which you feel only a little bit afraid of doing, or at least one that you believe has a relatively good chance for a positive outcome. If, however, you cannot imagine any scenario that might have a chance for a positive outcome, then it would be helpful for you to have a professional who can assist you in overcoming your fears. It is likely that a professional will take similar steps as those outlined above, but it can often be comforting to have another person who is working alongside you through this process.
Social Phobia Social Anxiety Disorder
There are many other strategies to overcome social phobia in patients. One of the alternative methods is the use of audio therapy. Audio therapy was designed to help sufferers understand their disorder, the varied treatments, assess the degree of the suffering/personal history, the time period needed to heal and what strategies they can use personally to defeat this affliction.
According to audio therapists, this treatment strategy does work for a lot of people with mild to medium severity level social phobia. It has proven that it is possible to rewire the way one thinks, preserves things and situations, and how one responds to any given social situation or experience. This therapy has also been shown to make a marked difference in the quality of life that each sufferer has by helping them to overcome their anxieties and enjoy life to its fullest without fears of embarrassment or ridicule as a result of their actions, words, thoughts or how they appear to others.
Audio therapy strategies employ the use of worksheets, instruction booklets, physiological diagrams of the brain, and what it looks like when a patient changes their thoughts or chemical/electrical pathways inside their brain. In fact, each step of the therapy teaches patients:
? Calming techniques for socialization situations
? Self-control techniques for socialization situations
? Recognition of negative thought techniques
? Negative thought interception techniques
? Negative thought revaluation techniques to create more positive thought patterns
? How to use positive reinforcement techniques and statements to lower the occurrences of irrational and negative anxiety feelings
? Strategies to eliminate irrational and negative anxiety feelings through positive statements
? How to combat the recurring negative thought patterns that have become habitual in social phobia attacks
? The types of calming and relaxation methods used to defeat anxiety and how they work in all social and non-social situations
? The reasons we need to stop negative thought patterns that lead to social phobia and how this has resulted in life as we know it
? How gentle action versus quick and sudden actions to combat social phobia works
? How to avoid anticipatory doubts, concerns, uncertainty and worry that cause us to achieve actions that trigger social phobia
? How to analyze ourselves personally, the world we live in, what thoughts and experiences have led us to the point of anxiety and how we can become realistic and rational by using actions that will not be considered unfriendly or irrational by others
? How to use positive statements during social phobia affects to deflate the emotional experience
? How the process of treatment strategies for social phobia is done in a series of steps, a few forward and sometimes a couple backwards, but then a few more forward
? How to develop a more realistic view of ourselves and the world around us
? How to use our current beliefs and perceptions to change and eliminate social phobia
? How to stop exaggerating our fears
? How to change how others view us in a realistic and self-confident fashion
? How to accept ourselves for who and what we really are irregardless of what others may think
? How to switch from neutralized negative thoughts to positive thoughts and actions
? How to socialize with others through activities and speech
? How to converse with new people in a comfortable fashion
? How to distinguish between truthful and false emotions and thoughts
? How to put worry out of our minds and move into a more productive and happy lifestyle
? How our brains were programmed into getting social phobia and how we can use the same techniques to reverse the process
? How to think and act positively, taking even the most negative situation and turning into something positive
There are many forms of strategies that can help anyone overcome social phobia, but audio therapy has proven to be the most effective for most people. In fact, audio therapy is not unique and definitely not used for just treating negative thought processes. It has been used widely even by people to achieve more in their lives, including top athletes, academics and many other successful people. Fear of failure and embarrassment are normal to a certain degree, but when it controls everyday life, it has then become social phobia and needs to be treated by a medical professional.
Both Tamas Gloetzer & Gary M. Miller are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Tamas Gloetzer has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, self improvement and motivation and Cure Anxiety. To learn more about anxiety, you can sign up for a at this website:. Tamas Gloetzer's top article generates over 1600 views. to your Favourites.
Gary M. Miller has sinced written about articles on various topics from Religion, Web Development and Sleep Disorder. Gary Miller was so scared that he actually passed out during a presentation and couldn't talk after due to numerous social anxieties. To learn more about his journey to recovery and weekly FREE Social Anxiety coping techniques, you can visit his web site. Gary M. Miller's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.
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