Social Anxiety Problems

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 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

Social Anxiety Treatments

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 one of the core limiting beliefs that has become an automatic, or habitual method of thinking 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!

Thoughts Create Emotions & Behaviours

The relationship between our “thinking styles” and our subsequent “behaviours” has been understood for many years, and in fact this connection forms the basis for nearly all of the “Cognitive Therapies” used throughout the world today, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Counselling for Social Anxiety

Tranceform Psychology can offer a range of different counselling solutions for social anxiety which you can read about below.

CBT for Social Anxiety

If you’re committed to overcoming your Social Anxiety problems then we highly recommend following our Advanced Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul which is available as an Online Therapy as well as a self-directed programme.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic mental health counselling course, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify how unhelpful thinking and limiting beliefs might be reinforcing the issue, and then show you how to make any changes to your unhelpful thinking styles or maladaptive safety behaviours that you may have developed as part of your coping strategies.

Our Tranceformental CBT programme is an evidence-based, research supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Teach Yourself CBT and Overcome Your Social Anxiety for only £149!

Our online CBT course has been designed to teach you the fundamental tools and techniques of clinically proven Cognitive Behavioural Therapy without having to see a therapist.

Structured over TEN, in-depth modules, this self-managed course will teach you everything you need to know to change the way you think about and experience your mental health problems without having to visit a therapist.

Click Self-Help CBT to find out more.

Alternative Therapies for Social Anxiety

Although our preferred form of mental health counselling for Social Anxiety is Tranceformental CBT we also offer alternative psychotherapies for those who might prefer a different approach.

These include:

Psychodynamic therapy which focuses more on emotional problems and relies on the Therapeutic Relationship to bring about change. Available with Paul.

General Counselling which is less structured but still provides a safe and non-judgmental environment to discuss issues which is therapeutic in its own right.

Hypnotherapy is an alternative form of therapy that can be applied to a very wide range of problems and is available with Joan.

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.