A person suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) may have crippling resultant problems like severe depression, substance abuse, suicidal tendencies, eating disorders, other co-morbid anxiety disorders, or extreme isolation. Due to this very reason, diagnosing SAD often becomes an uphill battle. Comprehensive counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder must help a socially anxious person overcome SAD-related behaviors and beliefs by way of professional psychotherapy and prescription drugs (if the latter is deemed necessary for advanced SAD).
The most common psychotherapy treatment for SAD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which enables the patient undergoing counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder to identify certain situations that aggravate his/her anxiety. CBT has a relatively good success rate, and its common components for treating SAD include:
- Cognitive Restructuring: This form of CBT helps a patient seeking counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder to identify and then rectify anxiety-ridden or fearful thoughts and harbor positive thoughts with the goal of managing social situations far better in the future.
- Exposure Therapy: In exposure therapy, a socially anxious individual is made to imagine that he/she is in a fearful situation while being guided by the professional therapist or counselor. This is done till the patient is no longer anxious about the situation in question and can finally bring him/herself to actually experience the once-feared scenario firsthand with the counselor’s help.
- Symptom Management: This form of CBT helps a patient seeking counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder to practice anxiety and stress management by deep breathing and performing other relaxation techniques or exercises.
- Social Skills Development: In this stage of CBT, a patient is taught social skills during counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder that he/she can use in social situations by way of roleplaying and rehearsing with the therapist.
Counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder also requires that the family of the socially anxious person be educated about SAD and remain supportive and patient throughout the course of treatment so that the patient can find it easier to cross the anxiety hurdle.
During counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder, a patient may also be encouraged to join a support group or participate in group therapy so that he/she can interact fruitfully with others who were or are also affected by SAD and take away the positives, especially after mingling with people who have successfully been able to win the battle against SAD.
In addition, comprehensive counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder must also (in general terms) resolve the following problems faced by the SAD patient:
- His/her negative belief about the self in terms of worth, potential, personality, and appearance- common factors that can impact self-esteem
- Any feelings of severe embarrassment, anger, or even guilt that have arisen due to past situations and continue to have a negative impact on the SAD patient’s present
- Avoidant tendencies like frequent procrastination and constantly shunning social contact that exist due to SAD
In short, effective counseling for Social Anxiety Disorder must make it easy for a socially anxious person to take small but important steps toward overcoming SAD by gradually boosting his/her confidence, equipping such an individual with social skills, helping him/her control anxiety or stress via several relaxation techniques and other exercises, and last but not least- doing away with irrational negative beliefs and replacing them with positive self-beliefs.
