Social anxiety
Book - 2025
"Feeling anxious around people? Not sure where to start? Then this user-friendly, practical resource might be exactly what you're looking for. This workbook helps you tackle your fear of judgment and worry about what others think of you. You'll find simple step-by-step instructions, worksheets and real-world examples to help you gain insight and control over your social anxiety. Social Anxiety For Dummies is a solution-focused guide to creating a new mindset about social anxiety and your ability to cope with it. This book has easy-to-understand information and effective strategies to help you make positive changes in your life. Packed with tips and tools to conquer your social anxiety Create positive self-talk, reduce avoidan...ce and face your fears Discover how to deal with social situations, dating, public speaking, kids with social anxiety and workplace anxiety Explore how positive psychology can help you live a life of meaning, with or without social anxiety A complete guide with proven ideas, this is a jargon-free and a fun approach to gaining mastery over your social anxiety. Social Anxiety For Dummies puts you on the fast track to building your self-esteem and confidence." --
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- Subjects
- Published
-
Hoboken, NJ :
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
[2025]
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Item Description
- Includes index.
- Physical Description
- xvi, 346 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- ISBN
- 9781394236930
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1. Getting Started with Social Anxiety
- Chapter 1. Understanding Social Anxiety
- What is Social Anxiety?
- Signs You May Have Social Anxiety
- The ABCs of Social Anxiety
- Common Social Anxiety Fears
- Common Social Anxiety Beliefs
- Staying on the Social Anxiety Treadmill
- Protecting Yourself from Social Anxiety
- Avoidance
- Safety behaviors
- Making a Roadmap for Change
- Changing your self-talk
- Facing your fears
- Other ways to tackle social anxiety
- Motivating Yourself to Tackle Social Anxiety
- Identify your reasons for changing
- Stay in a growth mindset
- Identify obstacles to change
- Chapter 2. Spotting Social Anxiety
- Identifying the Core Features of Social Anxiety
- Fearing judgment and humiliation
- Worrying about what others are thinking
- Being self-conscious and not showing emotions
- Feeling social awkward
- Being sensitive to criticism
- Avoiding people and situations
- Understanding How Common Social Anxiety Is
- What Social Anxiety Is and Isn't
- Social anxiety versus shyness
- Social anxiety versus introversion
- Social anxiety versus performance anxiety
- Social anxiety versus avoidant personality disorder
- Social anxiety versus low self-esteem
- Diagnosing Social Anxiety Disorder
- How Social Anxiety Overlaps with Other Disorders
- Agoraphobia
- Body dysmorphia
- Depression
- Generalized anxiety
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Panic disorder
- Substance abuse
- Chapter 3. Exploring Where Social Anxiety Comes From
- Understanding How Social Anxiety Develops
- Biology and genetics
- Parenting style
- Negative life events
- New life experiences
- Considering the Role of Emotional Needs
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Core emotional needs
- Understanding Common Life Themes with Social Anxiety
- Defectiveness: Feeling unworthy
- Emotional constriction: Not showing emotions
- Emotional deprivation: Lacking emotional support
- Failure: Feeling less accomplished than others
- Social isolation: Keeping to yourself
- Unrelenting standards: Being demanding
- Chapter 4. Looking at the Types of Social Anxiety
- Identifying Common Situations That Trigger Social Anxiety
- Initiating Social Interactions
- Introducing yourself or being introduced to someone else
- Initiating small talk or starting a conversation
- Making or maintaining eye contact
- Joining a group conversation already in progress
- Sustaining conversations once the interaction has begun
- Moving on from a social interaction when it's nearing its end
- Using Technology to Communicate
- Making posts on social media
- Texting someone
- Calling someone or answering your phone
- Writing an email
- Getting Involved with Social Events
- Attending a party or social gathering
- Inviting someone to dinner
- Hostinga party or event
- Planning a guest list
- Having a friend over for dinner
- Participating in your wedding ceremony
- Maintaining Relationships
- Asking to go on date with a potential romantic partner
- Initiating activities with friends
- Meeting the friends of your friends
- Telling a story or making a comment in a group
- Running into people you know or acquaintances in public
- Being Assertive
- Expressing an idea or opinion during a discussion or meeting
- Experiencing conflict and anger with another person
- Reporting dissatisfaction or returning an item
- Worrying about Performance
- Performing for an audience
- Teaching a class or training people
- Talking to authority figures
- Eating or drinking in front of others
- Networking at a professional event
- Using a public restroom
- Speaking in Public
- Giving a presentation to a large group
- Introducing yourself in a group meeting
- Answering or asking questions in a class or meeting
- Showing Signs of Anxiety in Public
- Blushing
- Sweating
- Chapter 5. Feeling Stuck with Social Anxiety
- How Social Anxiety Works
- Understanding the Cycle of Social Anxiety
- Factors Perpetuating Social Anxiety
- Negative thoughts
- Negative core beliefs
- Negative self-image
- Self-focused attention
- Avoidance
- Safety behaviors
- Experiencing the Stages of Social Anxiety
- Anticipating anxiety before an event
- Participating in the event
- Overthinking after the event
- Identifying Unhelpful Coping Behaviors
- Avoiding
- Overcompensating
- Overpreparing
- Self-monitoring
- Giving in
- Distracting
- Excessive checking
- Seeking reassurance
- Ruminating
- Using substances
- Part 2. Understanding the Social Anxiety Cycle
- Chapter 5. Assessing Your Social Anxiety
- Identifying Situations That Make You Anxious
- Identifying Your Negative Thoughts
- Identifying Your Underlying Fears
- Fear of judgment
- Fear that people will notice your anxiety
- Fear of criticism
- Fear of appearing foolish
- Fear of making mistakes
- Fear of uncertainty
- Fear of feeling anxious
- Assessing Your Social Anxiety with a Formal Survey
- Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale - Self-Report (LSAS-SR)
- Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN)
- External and Internal Shame Scale (EISS)
- Identifying Your Safety Behaviors
- Monitoring Your Social Anxiety
- Chapter 7. Identifying Your Thinking Traps
- Understanding Thinking Traps
- Knowing Your ABCs
- Looking at the Types of Thinking Traps
- All-or-nothing thinking: Opposites attract
- Catastrophizing: Making a mountain out of a molehill
- Emotional reasoning: I feel it, so it is true
- Fortune-telling: Becoming a psychic
- Jumping to conclusions: Just the facts, please
- Labeling: Calling someone (or yourself) names
- Mind reading: Guessing what people think
- Negative mental filter: Wearing dark sunglasses
- Overestimating probabilities: Making bad bets
- Personalizing: It's all my fault
- Shining the spotlight: All eyes are on me
- Using "should" statements: Playing by the rules
- Noticing Thinking Traps
- Thinking traps at work
- Thinking traps with dating
- Understanding What Happens When You Get Stuck in a Thinking Trap
- Chapter 8. Pinpointing Your Core Beliefs
- Understanding Core Beliefs
- Categorizing Negative Core Beliefs
- Unlovability
- Helplessness
- Worthlessness
- Identifying Your Negative Core Beliefs
- Core beliefs about yourself
- Core beliefs about other people
- Core beliefs about the world
- Core beliefs about social performance standards
- Core beliefs about social anxiety itself
- How Core Beliefs and Schemas Differ
- Part 3. Overcoming Social Anxiety
- Chapter 9. Getting Ready to Change
- Defining SMART Goals
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Timely
- Setting SMART Goals
- Staying In a Growth Mindset
- Examining the Pros and Cons of Overcoming Social Anxiety
- Identifying the Obstacles to Change
- Managing anticipatory anxiety
- Getting over self-consciousness and inhibition
- Handling negative thinking traps
- Responding to negative automatic thoughts
- Eliminating safety behaviors
- Tolerating anxiety
- Reducing rumination after an event
- Avoiding avoidance
- Chapter 10. Changing Your Self-Talk
- Reframing Fearful Thinking Into CALM Thinking
- Looking at an example of fearful thinking
- Practicing changing your fearful thinking
- Identifying Your Inner Critic
- Demanding critic Work harder and harder
- Perfectionistic critic: Avoid mistakes
- Punishing critic: Suffer the consequences
- Shaming critic: You are unworthy
- Guilt-inducing critic: Takes care of others
- Controlling critic: Don't be a fool
- Talking back to your inner critic
- Looking at an example of the inner critic
- Practicing talking back to your inner critic
- Recognizing Unhelpful Types of Self-Talk
- Arguing with your inner critic
- Telling yourself to stop feeling anxious
- Turning a negative into a positive
- Repeating mantras
- Strategies to Reframe Your Thinking
- Noticing your thoughts
- Thinking flexibly
- Decatastrophizing by rating possible outcomes
- Decatastrophizing by imagining coping
- Perspective-taking
- Creating distance from your thoughts
- Noticing your strengths
- Reinforcing Your Positive Self-Talk
- Keeping a diary
- Using written coping cards
- Using audio coping cards
- Chapter 11. Facing Your Fears
- Exploring the Benefits of Exposures
- Doing Exposures to Face Your Fears
- Creating a target list
- Identifying safety behaviors to stop
- Building a fear ladder
- Engaging in exposures
- Repeating the same exposure or doing a new one
- Maximizing the Effectiveness of Your Exposures
- Expect to feel anxious
- Focus on learning
- Drop safety behaviors
- Vary your exposures
- Don't try to fight your anxiety
- Stop ruminating
- Use encouraging self-talk after exposures
- Keep a diary
- Getting Comfortable with Your Anxious Feelings
- Letting People See You Are Anxious
- Using Your Imagination as an Exposure
- Finding Other Ways to Work on Social Anxiety
- Role-playing
- Attention training
- Shame busting
- Social-skills training
- Chapter 12. Using Positive Psychology to Create New Beliefs
- Defining Positive Psychology and the Three Types of Happiness
- A pleasant life
- An engaged life
- A meaningful life
- Understanding Universal Character Strengths
- Wisdom
- Courage
- Humanity
- Justice
- Temperance
- Transcendence
- Identifying Your Character Strengths
- Finding Meaningful Pursuits
- Creating New Positive Beliefs
- Reframe evidence in a positive way
- Examine past evidence
- Focus on what you are doing well
- Reinforcing Positive Beliefs
- Keeping a journal
- Using your strengths
- Visualizing yourself at your best
- Setting positive intentions before social interactions
- Savoring positive experiences
- Practicing self-compassion
- Chapter 13. Embracing Your Social Anxiety
- Identifying Your Values
- Accepting You Have Social Anxiety
- Defining acceptance
- Understanding acceptance is not giving up
- Using acceptance strategies
- Practicing Mindfulness
- Knowing the difference between mindfulness and meditation
- Cultivating informal mindfulness in daily life
- Practicing format mindfulness
- Showing Compassion for Yourself
- Performing Loving-Kindness Meditation
- Chapter 14. Taking Care of Yourself
- Identifying the Physical Sensations of Social Anxiety
- Body scan exercise
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Taking Care of Your Body
- Getting enough sleep
- Exercising
- Doing yoga
- Eating well
- Relaxing
- Deep breathing
- Participating in Leisure Activities and Hobbies
- Finding Purpose and Meaning
- Getting Social Support from Family and Friends
- Chapter 15. Working with a Therapist
- Understanding Evidence-Based Treatment of Social Anxiety
- Identifying Different Types of Therapy
- Cognitive therapy
- Exposure therapy
- Acceptance and commitment therapy
- Dialectical behavior therapy
- Radically open dialectical behavior therapy
- Schema therapy
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
- Group therapy
- Social skills training
- Identifying Different Types of Therapists
- Knowing What Makes a Good Therapist
- Resources for Finding a Therapist
- Referrals
- Search engines
- National Social Anxiety Center
- Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies
- International Society of Schema Therapy
- Psychology Today
- Other associations
- Finding a Psychiatrist
- Part 4. Tackling Specific Types of Social Anxiety
- Chapter 16. Fear of Public Speaking
- Getting Control of Your Public Speaking Anxiety
- Identifying Speaking Situations that Make You Nervous
- Changing Your Mindset About Public Speaking
- Identifying thinking traps
- Changing self-talk
- Facing Your Fears with Public Speaking Exposures
- Creating a target list
- Identifying safety behaviors to stop
- Building a fear ladder
- Engaging in public speaking exposures
- Repeating the same exposure or doing a new one
- Ending Negative Patterns with Public Speaking
- Avoiding opportunities for public speaking
- Being overly self-critical
- Dwelling afterward
- Catastrophizing
- Chapter 17. Social Anxiety with Dating
- Getting Control of Your Dating Anxiety
- Identifying Dating Situations that Make You Nervous
- Changing Your Mindset About Dating
- Identifying thinking traps
- Changing self-talk
- Facing Your Dating Fears with Exposures
- Creating a target list
- Identifying safety behaviors to stop
- Building a fear ladder
- Engaging in dating exposures
- Repeating the same exposure or doing a new one
- Ending Negative Patterns with Dating
- Avoiding opportunities for dating
- Being overly self-critical
- Dwelling afterward
- Catastrophizing
- Chapter 18. Social Anxiety in the Workplace
- Getting Control of Your Social Anxiety at Work
- Identifying the Types of Social Anxiety at Work
- Fear of negative evaluation day to day
- Fear of being visibly nervous
- Fear of speaking at work
- Worry about performance reviews
- Fear of being observed or watched
- Anxiety about social interactions and performance situations
- Fear of not knowing what to say
- Fear of authority figures
- Worry about your executive presence
- Fear of writing
- Changing Your Mindset About Social Anxiety at Work
- Identifying thinking traps
- Changing self-talk
- Facing Your Fears with Exposures at Work
- Creating a target list
- Identifying safety behaviors to stop
- Building a fear ladder
- Engaging in exposures at work
- Repeating the same exposure or doing a new one
- Ending Negative Patterns at Work
- Comparing yourself to others
- Being overly self-critical
- Dwelling afterward
- Catastrophizing
- Overworking
- Chapter 19. Children with Social Anxiety
- Signs Your Child May Have Social Anxiety
- Recognizing Safety Behaviors in Children
- Helping Your Child with Social Anxiety
- Identifying your child's thinking traps
- Reframing your child's fearful self-talk
- Guiding Your Child to Face Their Fears
- Creating a target list
- Identifying safety behaviors to stop
- Building a fear ladder
- Engaging in exposures
- Debriefing after the exposure
- Repeating the same exposure or doing a new one
- Resisting the Urge to Accommodate Your Child's Social Anxiety
- Providing Support as Your Child Faces Their Fears
- Part 5. The Part of Tens
- Chapter 20. Ten Famous People with Social Anxiety
- Adele
- Barbra Streisand
- Donny Osmond
- Ed Sheeran
- Eva Longoria
- Julia Roberts
- Kim Basinger
- Naomi Osaka
- Shonda Rhimes
- Warren Buffett
- Chapter 21. Ten Social Anxiety Habits to Break
- Avoiding Your Fears
- Asking for Reassurance
- Using Empty Mantras
- Drinking Too Much Alcohol
- Hiding Your Anxiety
- Pretending to Be Confident
- Keeping People at a Distance
- Trying to Be Perfect
- Being Passive
- Being a People Pleaser
- Index