Treatment of Social Phobia in London
Social Phobia (or excessive shyness) is characterized by a persistent fear of social or performance situations in which the individual believes they will be in some way be evaluated negatively by others. Problems usually develop in adolescence and the patients can believe that their anxiety is a part of their personality and nothing can be done about these problems – but nothing could be further from the truth. The Royal College of Psychiatrist, NHS, National Institute of Clinical Effectiveness, and others agree that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice for social phobia.
People with social phobia tend to have specific negative beliefs about the self in social situations. These beliefs can be activated in anticipation of a social event causing anticipatory anxiety. During a social event people with social phobia tends to switch their attention to self focusing on how they may be coming across to others. Pre-event and self focused processing (self consciousness or shyness) result in physical symptoms of anxiety that can contaminate the social situation, causing embarrassing situations. It is common for people with social phobia to have strict rule about social performance and how they should behave, but these rules are usually not as rigid for other people. Often socially phobic people can think about how they could do better in he next social situation. This is usually unproductive and only results in reinforcing negative beliefs about the self in social situations.
CBT address the way information is processed in social phobia by understanding the process and finding new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving in social situation.
Efficacy is a London service of BABCP accredited CBT therapists to help you overcome social phobia. Patients usually require 12 - 24 sessions of therapy. For some it can be the most difficult but the first stage to overcoming social phobia is making contact to arrange an assessment. To do this either call or fill in the online contact form below.