As you already know, social anxiety manifests in specific social contexts. Some people might experience anxiety when they attend a party while for others, going to a local store is enough to trigger their worries. Depending on the person, social anxiety can manifest in all kinds of social contexts. Identifying these specific situations is the first step towards healing because they provide a baseline for the upcoming strategies.
Step 1 - Please identify specific social situations where you feel anxious
Pick up a pen and some paper, and write down all those situations when you felt anxious. You don't have to go into details right now because we'll get to that later. Here's an example of a possible anxiety generating situation: 'Speaking in front of an audience.' Remember, each situation has to be real, something that you've experienced before and couldn't handle properly.
Step 2 - Rate each situation depending on your perceived level of anxiety
Now that you have your list of anxiety generating situations, it's time to rate each one of them by using a 1-10 scale (1 – a little bit anxious; 10 – worst thing that ever happened to me).
This will allow you to create a hierarchy of fear-inducing situations, based on the level of distress that you've experienced. You can further prioritize your interventions by assigning a number to each situation.
For example, some people might experience intense anxiety when they attend a party and moderate anxiety when they're in a crowded elevator. It makes sense to address the elevator issue first, because using the elevator might be something that he/she does on a daily basis. In the end, the decision is all yours.
Step 3 - Record it
Use a table to record and rate each social situation. Don't forget to prioritize according to your own needs! Also, make sure to keep this list somewhere safe because we're going to use it later.
