Helping Your Shy and Socially Anxious Client: A Social Fitness Training Protocol Using CBT

by Lynne Henderson PhD, Philip G. Zimbardo PhD (Foreword by)

Overview

Helping Your Shy And Socially Anxious Client presents a breakthrough therapeutic approach to treating social anxiety.

In a world dominated by extroverts, being shy or socially anxious can make life especially challenging. And while there is nothing wrong with being naturally introverted, avoiding social contact due to extreme fear and anxiety can be very damaging both mentally and physically.

As a therapist, you understand that avoidance can often make a client’s anxiety worse. But many clients with shyness and social anxiety believe they can never change. In fact, they may strategically adjust their lives to avoid social activities or situations that make them uncomfortable. In a sense, they allow their social "muscles" to atrophy, and in the end may become even more alienated and despondent. There is hope.

Just as physical fitness strengthens the body, "social fitness" can be developed through habit and action. In Helping Your Shy and Socially Anxious Client, shyness expert Lynne Henderson presents the Social Fitness program—a twelve session cognitive behavioral model for clients with shyness and social anxiety. Inside, mental health professionals will learn powerful tools for helping clients strengthen their social skills, track their successes, and learn to cope with setbacks or hurdles.

The techniques described in this manual were developed for the Stanford Shyness Clinic by Philip Zimbardo, and are currently being used by the Shyness Institute in Berkeley to educate therapists and other counselors. Find out more at shyness.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608829637
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Lynne Henderson, PhD, is a psychologist; founder of the Social Fitness Center; founder and codirector of the Shyness Institute in Berkeley, CA; director of applied social research at the Heroic Imagination Project; and author of The Compassionate Mind Guide to Building Social Confidence. Find out more about Henderson’s work at shyness.com.

Foreword writer Philip G. Zimbardo, PhD, is an internationally recognized scholar, educator, researcher, and media personality. He has won numerous awards and honors in each of these domains. He has been a Stanford University professor since 1968, having taught previously at Yale, NYU, and Columbia. Zimbardo's career is noted for his popular PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, along with many text and trade books. He was recently president of the American Psychological Association.

Table of Contents

Foreword v

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Part 1

1 Redefining Shyness and Its Treatment 9

2 Twelve-Session Treatment Plan Overview and Therapist Preparation 23

Part 2

3 Session One: The Initial Evaluation 31

The Henderson-Zimbardo Shyness Questionnaire (ShyQ.) 34

Estimations of Others Scale (EOS) 37

Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS) 51

Social Interaction Log 52

4 Session Two: Constructing a Hierarchy 55

Between-Sessions Shyness Questionnaire 57

Sample Hierarchy 62

Client Hierarchy 63

Shyness Attribution Questionnaire (SAQ) 66

5 Session Three: Cognitive Restructuring and the First Simulated Exposure 73

Strategies for Social Situations 76

The Three Vicious Cycles of Shyness and Social Anxiety 79

Sample Social Interaction Log 83

Cognitive Distortions 84

Challenges to Automatic Thoughts 87

Exposure Simulation Recording Form 91

6 Session Four: Attributional Restructuring and Exposure 97

Reversing the Self-Enhancement Bias 101

Assigning Responsibility: Distortions 105

Sample Automatic Thoughts, Attributions, and Beliefs 106

Challenges to Negative Attributions 108

Confidentiality Agreement for Confederates 111

7 Session Five: Cognitive, Attributional, and Self-Concept Restructuring 115

Self-Concept Distortions (SCDs) 121

Challenges to Negative Self-Conceptualizations 123

8 Session Six: Challenging Negative Attributions and Beliefs About Others 131

Negative Thoughts and Beliefs About Others: Conceptual-Distortions 137

Challenges to Negative Beliefs About Others 139

9 Session Seven: More Practice in Changing Negative Thoughts and Beliefs 145

10 Session Eight: Automatic Thoughts About Others and the Third Vicious Cycle 155

Challenges to Negative Attributions and Beliefs About Others 163

Anger Management Practice 167

Social Fitness Brainstorming 169

11 Session Nine: Exposures and Progress Assessment 173

12 Session Ten: Exposures and Anticipating Closure 183

Assertiveness Skills Practice 189

The Shyness Clinic Attribution Style Quiz 193

13 Session Eleven: More Exposures and Anticipating Closure 195

Goal Review 202

14 Session Twelve: Review of Progress and Closure 203

Treatment Evaluation 205

Self-Monitoring/Attribution/Self-Other Belief Scale 209

Termination Letter/Discharge Summary 211

Part 3

15 Interpersonal Social-Skills Training 215

Appendix A Answer Key for Attribution Style Quiz 239

Appendix B Final Interview Outline 241

Appendix C Letter to Friends 243

Appendix D Therapist Instructions for BAT 245

Appendix E The Shyness Clinic Thought Listing Form 247

References 249

Interviews

Henderson lives in Berkeley, CA.

Editorial Reviews

In her social fitness model of extreme shyness and social phobia, Lynne Henderson provides a thoughtful and measured road map to guide therapists through the twists and turns of treating a problem that is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Of particular importance, Helping Your Shy and Socially Anxious Client describes the role of high self-criticism in the cycle of social anxiety and avoidance, a cycle that traps socially anxious clients in a toxic emotional mix of fear, shame, and anger. Henderson then describes strategies to help free clients from this emotional quicksand so that that they can live fuller and more meaningful lives.”
—Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, author of Anxiety and Avoidance


“Readers of this volume are fortunate to get the benefit of Lynne Henderson’s deep understanding of social anxiety—understanding based both on her attention to the latest science and on her many years of clinical experience treating individuals who struggle with this problem. An outstanding contribution.”
—Jacqueline B. Persons, PhD, director at the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy and clinical professor in the department of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley


“Shyness and social anxiety can cause real misery and loneliness in people’s lives. In this important book, Lynne Henderson—one of the world leaders in the treatment of shyness—outlines her social fitness model and offers a wealth of insight into the problems and experiences faced by shy people. Based on considerable experience, as well as carefully researched and traditional cognitive behavior therapy interventions, this sympathetically written and easy-to-understand book will be of enormous help to many therapists for its clear and structured guidance.”
—Paul Gilbert, PhD, author of The Compassionate Mind and Mindful Compassion


“Humans are social animals. For this reason, shyness and social anxiety can be highly distressing and disabling. Fortunately, there are effective psychological strategies to overcome these problems. In her new book, Helping Your Shy and Socially Anxious Client, Lynne Henderson describes a simple, step-by-step treatment approach that is based on decades of research. It is a must-read for every mental health care professional who wants a clear and comprehensive guide to successfully treating these common problems.”
—Stefan G. Hofmann, PhD, author of An Introduction to Modern CBT and professor of psychology at Boston University

From the Publisher