Psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), is effective for social phobia. In fact, CBT is first-line treatment for social phobia. CBT helps break the cycle of social phobia by addressing you irrational thoughts about social situations. But it is not the situation that gives you social anxiety- rather, it is your irrational thoughts about the social situation which lead to anxiety. Also, CBT addresses your behaviors which maintain your social phobia. When you encounter social situations and you have fear of being scrutinized and embarrassed, you may resort to avoidance as a way to reduce your social anxiety. But avoiding social situations only make the anxiety worse, as you never get to find out that the anxiety will go away naturally on its own if you just expose yourself to social situations. So avoiding social situations maintains this negative, vicious cycle of social phobia.
To learn more about CBT and social phobia, please click here.
