Social Anxiety Group Therapy

December 13th, 2009 by admin

As a clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of individuals with social anxiety disorder, I can tell you that group therapy provides unique and powerful opportunities for beating social anxiety symptoms. The power of groups comes from many sources. One source of power is believability. You are more likely to believe three people giving you feedback than one person giving you feedback.

Another source of power in groups is that you have the opportunity to experiment with small changes in how you interact with people, with less anxiety about the results of the change because you are surrounded by people who “get it” and who will not make fun of you. Take someone who has difficulty making eye-contact, for example. This person can experiment with sustaining eye contact with other members of a social anxiety group. If they suddenly feel overwhelmed by the anxiety that comes up, they don’t need to worry about showing it or taking a break. Also, they are likely to be applauded and encouraged by the group for their beginning efforts.

It also costly less to be part of a social anxiety group therapy meeting than it does to work one-on-one with a psychotherapist. The psychotherapist gets paid for their time by charging everyone in the group, which means they don’t need to charge any one person as much to make a living (even though renting a large enough room for a group may increase overhead expenses).

There is something very powerful about seeing other people improve in a group. When you see someone else taking courageous steps toward a better life as they face down the entrenched symptoms of social anxiety disorder, it often inspires you to take action of your own. It’s one thing to see the socially adept psychotherapist demonstrating coping skills for social anxiety, but it’s a whole other level of mindset reframing that occurs when you see a struggling anxious person making strides with active coping attempts during a group session.

I highly encourage you to look for a social anxiety group. One way to do so is by calling several psychotherapists and asking if they know of one. You can also find online support at socialanxietysupport.com. If you feel you are too anxious to face a group, or you just can’t find one, take the first big step in beating your social anxiety symptoms by downloading a copy of my e-book on social anxiety here.