Social Phobia

There are two basic cognitive problems in social anxiety disorder known as social phobia.

The individual believes that he will not be able to achieve any performance while with others, and therefore has the fear that he will be evaluated negatively.

All attention is focused on internal stimuli.

Fear of the social situation will lay the groundwork for undesirable consequences. Thus, hoping for a bad outcome will enter into a vicious circle, causing fear, and fear causing bad consequences.

The main fear of social phobias is being viewed negatively by other person or people.

The person with social anxiety believes that other people expect them to behave in accordance with high and brutal standards. His personal belief is that he cannot meet these expectations. While reaching this conclusion, he considers his own internal signs (such as reddening of his face, shaking of his voice or hands, heart palpitations) and attaches great importance to negative signs in the environment (such as somebody's sleepiness, an unpleasant facial expression). Once he concludes that he or she is perceived negatively, the behavioral, cognitive and physical symptoms of anxiety increase, a vicious circle develops, which reinforces the thought that the individual is negatively evaluated by others.

When using cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of social anxiety disorder (social phobia), negative automatic thoughts are detected first. The "worst scenario" technique is often used to detect negative automatic thoughts. Following this, the anxiety symptoms and safety behaviors of the person are emphasized. The next stage of the therapy is to determine the cognitive content and emotional responses during the increase of awareness about oneself. Your therapist will assist you in reducing safety-inducing behavior and controlling the focus of attention.