All About Social Anxiety & How To Overcome it with CBT, Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

What is Social Anxiety?

Social Anxiety is the fear and Anxiety you experience when you believe that people (your social group) are making a negative judgement about you, or scrutinising you for some action that you have carried out.

It is also symptomatic of the social pressure you may feel in meeting the expectations of your socio-cultural environment.

It is the MOST COMMON form of anxiety experienced by people, and although most sufferers recognise that it is irrational and disproportionate to the given situation, it tends to be quite difficult to overcome by will power alone!

This problem generally develops in the earlier stages in a persons life with research showing that 50% of all sufferers have the condition by just 11 years of age, and 80% of sufferers developing it by the age of 20.

Social Anxiety is known by a number of different names including:

• Social Phobia
• S.A.D. (NOT seasonal affective disorder by the way)
• Fear of Being Judged

Social Anxiety Symptoms

The most frequent symptoms and behaviours include:

• Feeling like you are constantly being evaluated by others
• Sticking to the “rules”
• Feeling awkward in social situations
• Frequently blushing
• Stuttering when under pressure (often self-imposed pressure)
• Having Low Self Esteem
• Avoiding eye-to-eye contact
• Worried by Authority figures
• Fearing Criticism
• Panic Attacks

Treating Social Anxiety

Although Social Anxiety can feel as though it is a fixed and unchangeable part of you as a person, this is not accurate – Social Anxiety is just a limiting way of thinking that has become an automatic, or habitual process for you.

The Anxious feelings that you experience are definitely real, but the cause of those feelings is actually your “thinking” and not the judgmental thoughts of other people

For this to be true you would have to be able to read the minds of those people and as far as we know, this is not actually possible!

However, as Social Anxiety is a “thinking style” that you have created for your “protection” (also called a “safety behaviour“) you can learn the techniques that will “un-create” it too!

CBT for Social Anxiety

If you’re committed to overcoming your social worries then we highly recommend following our Tranceformental CBT 10 session programme.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic course of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand the psychological aspects of your problem.

It can also help you to identify any unhelpful thinking styles or limiting beliefs that might be reinforcing the issue.

The programme is also available as an online self-help CBT programme. if you prefer not to consult a therapist directly.

CBT is an empirically supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Free Initial Consultations for Social Anxiety

We offer all prospective clients an initial consultation to discuss your Social Anxiety prior to commencing any treatment plans.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online therapy service.

At TranceForm Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss our change programmes BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.