Social anxiety is characterized by an intense fear of certain social situations, especially where there are strangers, and the patient fears that they will be evaluated. These situations can be so frightening that a person begins to be afraid as soon as he thinks about them. They put much effort into avoiding them. The fear of being ridiculed, criticized, shamed, or appearing awkward in society is the main one of social anxiety. The client in the video reveals social anxiety, which is characterized by various symptoms (Johnson, 2014). Symptoms include excessive stress in everyday situations of interaction with people and fear of appearing awkward or humiliated in front of everyone. The conditions of the modern world can lead to a violation of people’s psychological health and, as a result, stress, and deviations, but therapy can have a beneficial effect and help people cope with various problems.
For social anxiety, group therapy will be the most optimal since it will give a person the opportunity to adapt to communication and help them open up gradually. Compared with other professional areas, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown its effectiveness in treating social anxiety (Jefferies & Ungar, 2020). CBT of social anxiety includes several stages, the first of which is the mental reassessment of negative thoughts that support the problem. Next, behavioral experiments and expositions are put, that is, tools that will help the client to face their fears, survive them, get a new experience, and implement them into everyday life (Jefferies & Ungar, 2020). Moreover, one of the stages of CBT is a role-playing game, and social skills training will help the patients work out situations they are afraid of and avoid.
The format of a small group through interaction helps the patient to see that they are not alone in their problem, and it will be easier for them to start working on their fear. Furthermore, the participants with a similar problem helped to consider the problem from different sides and give helpful feedback (Jefferies & Ungar, 2020). Social anxiety therapy consists of understanding how a person perceives communication situations, checking their assumptions for compliance with reality, and correcting thoughts that cause anxiety. After that, the behavior is changed to a more socially effective one.
References
Jefferies, P. & Ungar, M. (2020). Social anxiety in young people: A prevalence study in seven countries. PLOS ONE 15(9), e0239133. Web.
Johnson, J. (2014). Case study clinical example: First session with a client with symptoms of social anxiety (CBT Model) [Video]. YouTube. Web.