Social Anxiety Therapy
Do social settings make you feel anxious?
Are you avoiding more and more social events where you could connect with old or new friends? Maybe you are avoiding important work event. Perhaps you worry about being judged or perceived negatively? Or it just feels too overwhelming.
Social Anxiety can leave you feeling Isolated.
You may be dealing with social anxiety, and you don’t have to keep feeling this way. Effective treatment is available and can help you feel more comfortable being yourself in social situations. If you’re interested in treatment for social anxiety in the Boulder, CO area, or virtually throughout Colorado, contact us for a free phone consultation.
What are Symptoms of Social Anxiety?
Most people experience some amount of social anxiety.
However, you have recurring moderate-severe social anxiety, you may be experiencing Social Anxiety Disorder (formerly Social Phobia). An estimated 12.1% of U.S. adults meet criteria for Social Anxiety Disorder in their lifetime.
Symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder include anxiety about being observed in certain social situations and fear that you will act or show anxiety symptoms in a way that makes people judge you poorly (for example, humiliating or embarrassing yourself, or offending or being rejected by others).
If you have Social Anxiety Disorder, you feel especially anxious in social situations and may avoid some or many social situations to try to feel better–or at least avoid feeling much worse. Fortunately, there are effective treatments for social anxiety that can help you live with more confidence in the social world.
What is the Best Treatment for Social Anxiety?
Research shows that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a first line treatment for clinically significant social anxiety. Like with other anxiety disorders, exposure therapy is considered an especially powerful component of CBT treatment for social anxiety. Exposure therapy for social anxiety includes facing feared social situations in a planned, step-by-step way to reduce your fear and shame in the long-term. In addition to helping you plan exposure activities, CBT therapists use cognitive techniques to help you challenge and reframe unhelpful, overly negative thoughts that happen before and after social interactions. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is another type of CBT that is effective for treating social anxiety. Therapists using ACT will help you learn to live according to your values instead of according to social anxiety. ACT also incorporates exposure, as well as cognitive techniques that help you label and gain distance from self-critical and socially-anxious thoughts.
Therapy for Social Anxiety in Boulder, CO
Foothills CBT psychologists have advanced training and experience treating social anxiety. Our therapists use evidence-based treatments that have demonstrated effectiveness for treating social anxiety. Using these techniques, our counselors can help you take your life back from anxiety, connect with others on your terms, and feel more comfortable being yourself. Contact us for a free phone consultation to see if Foothills CBT is the right fit for you.