Are you wondering what social anxiety therapy would be like? Are you wondering what a psychologist actually does to help you with social anxiety symptoms? I am a clinical psychologist specializing in counseling for people who find social anxiety is interfering with their lives. The point of this article is to answer some of the most common questions that people have about social anxiety therapy.
The idea of psychotherapy dates hundreds of years back. One of the most famous psychotherapists was Sigmund Freud
(don’t worry, if you know anything about Sigmund Freud and his ideas, our methods for beating social anxiety have almost nothing to do with that these days). Basically, Freud was a medical Doctor who found that medicine wasn’t enough to be helpful for many patients who had psychological problems. He used methods of psychotherapy that are still useful for a select group of people today, though his methods were designed around patients who had extreme forms of psychological dysfunction. His methods are based on uncovering unconscious conflicts that caused people to have extreme symptoms.
(don’t worry, if you know anything about Sigmund Freud and his ideas, our methods for beating social anxiety have almost nothing to do with that these days). Basically, Freud was a medical Doctor who found that medicine wasn’t enough to be helpful for many patients who had psychological problems. He used methods of psychotherapy that are still useful for a select group of people today, though his methods were designed around patients who had extreme forms of psychological dysfunction. His methods are based on uncovering unconscious conflicts that caused people to have extreme symptoms. Since Freud’s time, our understanding of how the brain works has improved dramatically. We now know a lot more about how our thoughts interact with situations that cause anxiety. The most powerful methods for beating social anxiety come out of a system of psychotherapy that was invented and refined over the past 30 years. The system is called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
. But be forewarned, just because a therapist says that they use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy does not mean that they have the specialization of therapy skills to be your best bet for getting help with social anxiety. When picking a therapist, you need to work with someone who has an in-depth understanding of the specific patterns of thoughts and brain reactions that are common to people who experience social phobia. Often, an inexperienced therapist will fail to even notice the importance of your social anxiety symptoms, and they will tell you to just stop worrying about it. They only say this because they don’t understand how powerful the social anxiety symptoms can be. When looking for a therapist, be sure to actually ask them if they have knowledge of any therapist in their community who specializes in the treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder. This is a polite way of asking whether or not they have social anxiety specialization without making it sound like they have failed, or let you down if they say that it’s not their area of specialization. Don’t settle for a therapist without specialized skills for social anxiety treatment.
. But be forewarned, just because a therapist says that they use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy does not mean that they have the specialization of therapy skills to be your best bet for getting help with social anxiety. When picking a therapist, you need to work with someone who has an in-depth understanding of the specific patterns of thoughts and brain reactions that are common to people who experience social phobia. Often, an inexperienced therapist will fail to even notice the importance of your social anxiety symptoms, and they will tell you to just stop worrying about it. They only say this because they don’t understand how powerful the social anxiety symptoms can be. When looking for a therapist, be sure to actually ask them if they have knowledge of any therapist in their community who specializes in the treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder. This is a polite way of asking whether or not they have social anxiety specialization without making it sound like they have failed, or let you down if they say that it’s not their area of specialization. Don’t settle for a therapist without specialized skills for social anxiety treatment.If you have already started your search for a therapist, you may be confused by the different kinds of professional mental health practitioners. There are psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and others depending on how your particular state has set up the licensure laws for offering psychotherapy. Psychiatrists are medical doctors (M.D.’s) who went to regular medical school and then completed a residency to specialize in psychiatry. These days, psychiatrists primarily prescribe medication, and it’s rare to find a psychiatrist who will take more than 15 minutes to do in-depth therapy with you. Someone with a master’s degree in social work (MSW) has obtained a practical two or three year degree that covers a lot of issues to prepare a person for work in the field of social work, which could mean anything from helping impoverished people find government resources to working in a hospital as a therapist. Most MSW’s have not had a significant degree of supervision or training in the actual practice of psychotherapy and diagnosis. However, many of them have personally sought out training that goes beyond their degree in order to become good therapists. Licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT’s) have a master’s degree that focuses training on counseling methods for people struggling with marriage and family issues. Their training appears to be stronger for general issues regarding relationship stress, and weaker for helping people with actual clinical disorders that affect the mind or emotions.
Psychologists are doctors of psychology who train for the longest period of time in learning about the mind, emotions, motivation, behavior, statistics, and brain function. Psychologists do not prescribe medication because they are not physicians. Psychologists are experts in mind and behavior. All psychologists have completed both a masters degree and a doctoral degree (although a few states allow “school psychologists” to call themselves psychologists with only a master’s degree). If you can find a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder, you are in luck!
When a psychologist uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), they are applying methods that scientific research has found to be effective. CBT for social anxiety involves talking about mental perspectives, belief systems, assumptions, behaviors, and brain patterns that affect your anxiety. Usually a psychologist will meet with you for around 45-minutes at a time about once per week.
I think meeting with a psychologist is the absolute best practice for resolving social anxiety symptoms because of the individualized focus and coaching to keep you motivated. But if you are a fairly intelligent person, and the kind of person who can absorb and apply self-help information, you may be able to resolve symptoms using a system that I have designed for people like you. The system has the advantage of costing less than half of one psychotherapy session, and it contains some of the most powerful and specific information you will find on social anxiety. Better yet, you can start applying your new-found knowledge immediately because you can download the audio and e-book system right now. Click on the self-help system for social anxiety link to learn more.
Be Courageous!
On of my anxiety therapist Nashville recommended me neurofeedback treatment system. Do you know something about it? Does it really work? Thanks for your help!