What is social anxiety?
It is totally normal to feel a little nervous in social situations! Social anxiety isn’t about being shy per say… The way I explain it to my clients is that it is basically having an inside voice that says “what if these people judge me? What if they are already judging me? What if I make a mistake in front of these people ? What if I get embarrassed?” And we can’t quiet that voice down.
Many of my clients have said they don’t share this with other people, they just try to “suck it up” and “deal with it.”
The thing is… When we have social anxiety, that is not easy to do!
Have you ever noticed that you can’t stop thinking about a social interaction once it’s done? That’s what happens when we have social anxiety. One of the things that I do as a therapist is help clients notice those thoughts and challenge them. That’s the first step!
Another thing that could be done is after working on coping skills, and practicing situations, we may do gradual exposure to social situations. For example, I may give homework to have a 3 minute conversation with a neighbor or going on an outing with a small group of friends.
Some coping skills that I tend to incorporate would be mindfulness- taking deep breaths or noticing the moment to ground ourselves can be helpful!
With these in mind, let’s jump into our Therapist mama bear weekly tip!
