Do you avoid social situations?  Are you worried people will think you are boring or stupid or unlikable?  Do you worry that people will notice you blush or sweat or tremble or stumble over your words?  Are you concerned that others will evaluate you negatively?  Do you start to worry in advance of a social event or a speech? Do you extensively review your performance in social events?

Of course we all engage on some of these thoughts and behaviours from time to time.  When these thoughts get in the way of your ability to advance in your career, meet new people, or enjoy social events Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can help. CBT has been shown to reduce the specific symptoms associated with social anxiety.  Symptoms reduced with CBT for social anxiety include fear of negative evaluation by others, physiological (e.g. heart rate), performance quality, and avoidance of social events.

A meta-analysis by Powers et al. (2008) demonstrates that CBT reduces symptoms of Social Anxiety.

*effect size of 0.2 is considered mild, 0.5 is considered moderate, and 0.8 is a large effect size