Slowly Build Confidence
Instead of throwing yourself into situations that cause you to dread and fear, the idea behind exposures is to slowly build up your confidence and ability to cope by gradually facing more difficult situations. For example, you might start out making small talk with a cashier and work your way up to eventually hosting a party at your home.
Problems With Avoidance
It is possible to go through the motions of doing exposures but never really engage in the situations. Doing so means that you are using subtle avoidance strategies also known as partial avoidance. It is important to be fully present in situations and engage with people in order to experience anxiety and then have it gradually subside.
Imagined or in Vivo
Although the ideal situation is to practice exposures in real life, if you are too afraid to start out doing this or do not have access to the scenarios that you fear, you can also start out with imagined exposures. Over time, you can then build up to real scenarios, also known as “in vivo.”
Fear Hierarchy
Listed below are a series of situations that you could potentially include on your fear hierarchy for exposure to social situations. You will want to create a list that is unique to you and that includes those scenarios that you fear in increasing order of severity. These are some basic ideas to get you started creating your own fear hierarchy for social situations. Remember that you must stay in each situation for enough time that your fear is reduced. Otherwise, your anxiety about the situations will not diminish and may even increase. Although there is much that you can do on your own to manage social anxiety, if you find that your fear is severe, it is important to contact your doctor or a mental health professional for a diagnosis and treatment options.
