Social anxiety
I don't know why this is, but I have a pretty good case of social anxiety.
Granted, I'm not this way with people I'm comfortable with or going to places I want to go (ie-My cousin's graduation party), but generally, I have social anxiety. I literally panic at the thought of going some places.
My therapist suggested at the start of my work with her to read the book Feeling Good by Dr. David Burns. It's a pretty good book that suggests that depression comes from a negative thought pattern. Change your negative thought pattern and you rid yourself of depression.
One of the suggestions Burns gives is to make up a chart to use when negative thoughts enter your mind. The chart has three columns. The first column is your negative thought. The second column is the cognitive distortion (You have to read the book to know what this means.). The final column are rational thoughts to combat the negative thoughts.
I won't show you my charts, but I can tell you it has helped me to make these charts. I actually feel better and can talk myself down from my social anxiety. These charts have also shown me I'm a people pleaser and actually need to start saying no more often to avoid the anxiety.
I don't know how fast I can kick this social anxiety, but I'll sure try through my work on this. I may never kick it, but through learning positive thinking, I can probably tone it down quite a bit.
Granted, I'm not this way with people I'm comfortable with or going to places I want to go (ie-My cousin's graduation party), but generally, I have social anxiety. I literally panic at the thought of going some places.
My therapist suggested at the start of my work with her to read the book Feeling Good by Dr. David Burns. It's a pretty good book that suggests that depression comes from a negative thought pattern. Change your negative thought pattern and you rid yourself of depression.
One of the suggestions Burns gives is to make up a chart to use when negative thoughts enter your mind. The chart has three columns. The first column is your negative thought. The second column is the cognitive distortion (You have to read the book to know what this means.). The final column are rational thoughts to combat the negative thoughts.
I won't show you my charts, but I can tell you it has helped me to make these charts. I actually feel better and can talk myself down from my social anxiety. These charts have also shown me I'm a people pleaser and actually need to start saying no more often to avoid the anxiety.
I don't know how fast I can kick this social anxiety, but I'll sure try through my work on this. I may never kick it, but through learning positive thinking, I can probably tone it down quite a bit.
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