Psychotherapy and Medication For Social Anxiety Disorder
If a loved one is experiencing anxiety in social situations that interferes with daily living, encourage them to seek treatment. Options available may include psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder and medication such as antidepressants.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven itself effective at treating social anxiety disorder. A CBT therapist helps identify any distortions and maladaptive behaviors which contribute to your anxiety, then provides skills needed to combat them.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most proven and widely recommended treatments for social anxiety disorder. CBT involves cognitive restructuring and behavioral experiments to alleviate symptoms, and helps people identify unhealthy core beliefs or limiting personal rules and develop skills and strategies to overcome negative attitudes.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) addresses unhelpful thoughts and beliefs that contribute to fearful social situations. CBT encourages patients to challenge maladaptive thought patterns, focus on external stimuli instead of internal sensations, and seek repeated exposure of socially fearful situations.
Cognitive therapy also assists its patients in conducting behavioral experiments to test maladaptive beliefs and assumptions, such as those concerning perceived disdain. If someone holds that they will be seen by others with disdain and contempt, cognitive therapy encourages them to conduct empirical tests by asking for dates or initiating conversations.
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
ACT is a cognitive behavioral therapy approach which has proven successful at treating social anxiety. Based on relational frame theory, its foundation lies in language as an expression of our selves as well as others; its goals include psychological flexibility and the pursuit of meaningful life values.
Contrary to traditional behavior therapies which aim to eliminate or reduce symptoms, ACT uses experiential exercises to teach individuals to accept negative thoughts and emotions without judgment or judging themselves for them, using techniques such as mindful awareness or cognitive defusion in order to minimize their damaging effects.
Example: Your therapist might ask you to imagine your anxiety as words on a karaoke screen with a bouncing ball. This exercise helps illustrate the “quicksand” effect and help you realize trying to control thoughts can make them worse; additionally, they will assist in identifying values and choosing actions which align with them even in times of discomfort.
Medication
Some individuals with social anxiety disorder may require medication in addition to therapy in order to alleviate symptoms and enhance functionality. Some examples include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine and sertraline; selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), such as duloxetine and venlafaxine; as well as benzodiazepines.
Medication can be an excellent way to manage symptoms so that psychotherapy, teletherapy and support groups can work their magic on you. But it is important to keep in mind that medication does not address underlying feelings and beliefs about yourself and the world – these may still distort your perspective and lead you back into avoidance behaviors.
As treatment takes time to work and progress is seen gradually over weeks or months, it’s also important to keep in mind that it takes patience for new skills to become automatic. Don’t give up immediately if no results appear right away. Usually improvements come gradually over several weeks or months and should become apparent over time. You should practice these new abilities until they become second nature in various social situations.
Support groups
Support groups can be an excellent solution for people struggling with social anxiety. In these groups, people who share similar issues can share their own stories and collaborate towards finding solutions together. In addition, support groups provide a safe space where you can put the strategies learned through therapy into action in an affordable or free way.
There are numerous support groups both online and in person to offer assistance to people living with mental illness, from those suffering social anxiety to phobia. One such support group offered by the National Alliance on Mental Illness offers online social anxiety and phobia support in over 120 countries; join using video, audio or text chat feature.
Psychotherapy can be an integral component of treating social anxiety disorder. While medication may help relieve symptoms, it usually doesn’t go far enough in alleviating deeply-rooted beliefs and feelings that contribute to discomfort. Therapy allows individuals to explore how interpersonal relationships and early childhood experiences impact emotions and behavior patterns – you might find psychodynamic therapy, Gestalt therapy, or somatic experiencing helpful.