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The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook: Proven Techniques for Overcoming Your Fears
By Martin M. Antony, Ph.D. and Richard P. Swinson, M.D. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2000, 238 pages, $16.95
This book is directed toward individuals who experience shyness and/or anxiety in social situations. The book is set up in the order in which the authors wish it to be read, beginning with the section entitled, “Understanding Your Social Anxiety.” The author’s intent is for the reader to first understand his or her fears and why he or she has them. They emphasize the fact that the reader is not alone and that even celebrities and other famous people share these fears. The second section of the book is called, “How to Overcome Social Anxiety and Enjoy Your Life.” This section assists the reader in forming a plan for overcoming his or her fears. The authors encourage the reader to set short-term and long-term goals, while also providing examples of each. They also discuss the treatment options of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy and medication, both of which they have found to be effective with their clients. They educate the reader about cognitive distortions, how to change them, and how to conduct exposure experiments. The information on exposure is broken down to include exposure to social situations and exposure to “uncomfortable sensations,” or interoceptive exposure. The authors also provide information on effective communication. The book closes with a chapter on maintaining changes that have been made. Many additional resources are provided at the back of the book, including book and article references, additional reading, national organizations, and internet websites.
As the title states, this book can be used as a workbook, as it contains a great deal of space for the reader to take notes about his or her social anxiety, answer questions posed by the authors, set goals, complete rating scales for anxiety, make up an exposure hierarchy form, keep diary entries, and fill in charts. This makes the book very interactive for the reader and really assists him or her in taking charge in overcoming social anxiety. While the language used is not particularly complex, the book does require the reader to have at least a high school education in order to truly understand social anxiety and how to treat it. If the reader chooses to use the book as treatment without the assistance of a psychotherapist, he or she must be able to comprehend the formation and execution of a treatment plan. This also involves the comprehension of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy. The authors give a background of this therapy and how it views social anxiety. Because the book requires a fairly high level of comprehension, it would not be suitable for children. Mature teenagers who are in tune with their anxiety and cognitive distortions may be able to use the book to understand their anxiety and help them practice ways of overcoming it. Psychotherapists who work with individuals with social anxiety will find this book very helpful with the psychotherapy process. They can assign the beginning chapters of the book for clients to read in order to understand the disorder and how it affects them. The clients could also use the chapters on treatment to initially make sure they are receiving a complete evaluation and sufficient treatment from the psychotherapist. They also would find the chapters on treatment useful in order to decide on medication, Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy, or both. This could be discussed collaboratively with the psychotherapist. The clients may also be asked to complete to workbook sections and keep records as homework assignments to bring back to the psychotherapist to discuss in the next therapy session. The workbook setup of the book allows the client to have a great deal of control over his or her treatment. He or she can keep the book after treatment in order to help with maintenance of changes or to help deal with new anxiety-provoking situation that crop up after psychotherapy has been completed. People who have loved ones who suffer from social anxiety may also find the book useful in order to understand what the individual is going through.
The book has a strength in the above-mentioned workbook format. The authors state that this book is the first shyness and social anxiety book to be written as a workbook. The authors are very thorough in the information that they provide on the disorder itself and its treatment. They take care to only discuss treatment options which have been proven to be successful in clinical studies. Many resources are provided to give the reader outlets for additional support and/or information. A possible criticism of the book could be that children and individuals with limited education may not be able to comprehend all that is included in the book. This does not mean that the book is useless for them; the psychotherapist can still have these individuals use some of the workbook sections to fill out for homework or discuss in psychotherapy.
Overall, this book is an excellent comprehensive guide to social anxiety, clearly explaining all aspects of it, how to identify it, and how to treat it. It provides readers all the needed resources in one place and encourages its use as a workbook through diaries, rating scales, and record forms. It is highly recommended to anyone who suffers from social anxiety and the psychotherapists who treat them.