Social Anxiety Therapy & Counselling

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!

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

Social anxiety banner - woman with accusing fingers pointing at her

Social Anxiety Symptoms

The most frequent symptoms and behaviours associated with Social Anxiety are

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!

Social Anxiety sufferer in therapy session

Therapy & Counselling for Social Anxiety

We offer a number of different types of therapy and counselling for Social Anxiety and anxiety-related problems.

Choosing the most suitable therapy depends on a number of different considerations including factors such as:

How long you have had the problem.
Your personal preferences.
How your problem is affecting you today.

You can read more about the different types of therapy for social anxiety on the following links:

Although all therapies use slightly different approaches, the one thing they all have in common is the relationship that is formed between the client and therapist.

Furthermore, research also suggests that therapy relationship may be the most important factor in achieving a good therapy outcome.

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.

Overcome Social Anxiety with our CBT Course

Our 10 session course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is clinically proven to be effective across a range of different psychological problems.

Using an online learning platform, it is available with 2, 5 or 10 sessions of clinical support either face-to-face in the Wombourne offices, or using Zoom video facilities.

It can also be taken as a self help CBT course that will teach you the fundamental tools and techniques used throughout the mental health profession.