Last time, we had you identify how sensitivity & shyness. Today, we will be talking about how to challenge social anxiety using the following techniques:
Thought records: Keeping a thought record implies writing down the negative thoughts you experience in social situations and challenging them using the 10 questions for challenging negative thoughts exercise posted below.
Exposure work: Exposing yourself to the phobia is key but slowly. This may involve having a friend come over for a short period of time, going out for a short period of time and increasing the level of perceived discomfort with each exposure. To help you along on a list from 1-10 write down the situations, people or places that would make you the least anxious to the most anxious. Next, devise a plan to move you through each level at a stage that is comfortable for you.
Communication skills: Don’t forget to review the way you communicate with others. This is helpful skill in any situation! Learning how to communicate with others will also allow you to engage others in conversation resulting in participation as opposed to monitoring your own negative thoughts.
Good luck! We now invite our members to ask questions!
I'm glad to hear that you consulted a physician in relation to your recent pain. Seeking professional medical advice and adhering to their recommendations should always be the first thing you do.
I want to commend you for reaching out to us. You will soon see that this forum is full of great people and advice. As well as a great online anxiety program you can work through.
What I understand from your post is that you are worried about this being anxiety. Sometimes anxious thoughts are so automatic that we don't even notice they are there. Taking a focused look at the your thoughts in the situations you described to us will be a great first step in effectively dealing with similar situations in the future. In the online program there is a symptom tracker that will be very helpful in honing in on what may be triggering your possible anxiety.
Please write here as often as you like as we will always be here to help and please take a look at the online program.
"As you fall in love with yourself, you naturally get healthier. All the do’s and don'ts of health education can only build a house of straw unless love is the foundation. When you see love in operation in a relationship, you see trust, acceptance of the uniqueness of each person, understanding of differences, and forgiveness of failing."
Excerpt from:
Wellness workbook: how to achieve enduring health and vitality
By John W. Travis, Regina Sara Ryan
Fact: Treatment varies depending on the individual. A lot of people work with therapists, counselors, their peers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, and social workers in their recovery process. They also use self-help strategies and community supports. Often these methods are combined with some of the most advanced medications available.
In general, there are three types of negative core beliefs:
- Negative Core Beliefs about Yourself
- Negative Core Beliefs about the World and Others
- Negative Core Beliefs about the Future
All negative core beliefs can cause problems. Theories also suggest that certain dispositions and certain life events will affect people differently. There are two categories:
- Sociotropic: concerned about relationships, concerned of the possibility of disapproval, ones sense of self- worth is based on acceptance & love from others, wants to maintain close relationships & worries about being unlovable.
- Autonomous: have a high need to be independent and reach goals outside the relationship, sense of self worth is based on productivity, achievement and control, overly concerned with the possibility of failure & worried about being incompetent or unable.
According to theories such as by Beck, the matching between dispositions and life events could affect the severity of impact the life event will have on the individual. ۬۬For instance, a sociotropic is more likely to be negatively affected by a break-up whereas an autonomous by being fired from his/her job.
I'm glad you are here. This is a great forum; it is full of friendly advice from its members. There is also a online program that can help you along the way.
Please take the time to walk through the program. Specifically, the program has a step by step guide to helping with your exposures, although I strongly recommend your try to complete session 1 through 9 as these sessions contain many valuable tips.
Please take your time with the program...there is not need to rush through it as it is full of information that will require some digesting.
Please keep posting and feel free to ask any of the members or health moderators any questions.
Once you’ve identified your negative core beliefs you can begin to
challenge and change them. This means that you’ll be challenging the
source of your depression. However, in order to challenge your negative
core beliefs you need to identify and test out some new positive
core beliefs.
Instead of focusing on the negative core beliefs you have about
yourself, the world, other people and the future, we’re going to get you
to focus on developing new and more positive core beliefs. In order to
do that, we want you to think about how you’d like to be, how you’d like
the world and other people to be, what you’d like the future to look
like.
As the first step towards developing more positive core beliefs
we’d like you to ask and answer the following questions. Write out your
answers in the space provided before you move on to the next page:
Questions about Yourself
1. What would you like to be like?
2. What kind of person would you like to be?
3. How would you like to behave?
4. What would you like to believe about yourself?
5. How would you be acting differently if you believed that about
yourself?
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