Understanding and Overcoming Social Anxiety: Attachment, Exposure, and Confidence

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Being Well

Health & Fitness, Education, Self-improvement, Mental Health

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 87 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore the all-too-common challenge of social anxiety. They break down what it really means to be socially anxious (hint: it's not just being shy), where those feelings come from, and why they stick around. Rick explains the roots of social anxiety, highlighting the role of attachment styles and individual temperament, before Forrest shares how to locate yourself on a spectrum from everyday nervousness to Social Anxiety Disorder. They then discuss evidence-based approaches to working with social anxiety like exposure therapy, cognitive defusion, and mindfulness techniques. Whether you experience feelings of anxiety or are trying to understand a friend who does, this episode will help you feel more confident and connected. You can watch this episode on YouTube. Key Topics: 0:00: Introduction 1:45: What is social anxiety? 7:10: Where does social anxiety come from? 13:40: Feeling worthy, and other social factors 17:00: Nature vs. nurture 24:15: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and comorbid diagnoses 29:50: Exposure therapy, and how to practice it safely 42:00: Positive reinforcement, and responding to ruminative thoughts 55:45: Widening our view, and taking in the good 1:03:15: Talking with younger parts, and self-compassion 1:10:15: Normalizing anxiety 1:11:35: Recap I am now writing on Substack, check out my work there. Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/beingwell. Transform your health with the ZOE Science & Nutrition podcast. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Trust your gut with Seed’s DS-01 Daily Synbiotic. Go to Seed.com/BEINGWELL and use code 25BEINGWELL to get 25% off your first month. OneSkin focuses on delivering more than superficial results for your skin. Get started today with 15% off using code BEINGWELL at oneskin.co. Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month! Connect with the show: Subscribe on iTunes Follow Forrest on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Follow Forrest on Instagram Follow Rick on Facebook Follow Forrest on Facebook Visit Forrest's website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and
0:05.0	welcome to being well, I'm Forrest Tansa.
0:10.0	If you're new to the show, thanks for listening today
0:12.0	and if you've listened before welcome back.
0:14.0	Today we're exploring a topic most of us can relate to.
0:17.0	Social anxiety.
0:19.0	Everyone feels nervous or awkward around other people from time to time. But for those with
0:24.2	social anxiety these feelings can be persistent, overwhelming, and very
0:29.1	difficult to manage. In this episode we'll be exploring where social anxiety comes from, what makes
0:35.2	a different from shyness or introversion, and how you can determine if you have social anxiety.
0:40.6	We'll also talk about how early experiences and attachment styles play a role here, the mental traps and self-critical thoughts that keep us stuck in cycles of avoidance and fear, and what we can do to work with social anxiety more effectively, which will definitely
0:56.5	include sharing a variety of very practical research-backed tools.
1:01.7	So to help me do that, I'm joined today by clinical psychologist
1:04.4	Dr. Rick Hansen. Dad, how are you doing? I'm good and I'm a recovering socially
1:10.2	anxious person. Yeah. Still in recovery and so this topic you know is one that I personally relate to. Yeah I definitely relate to at the very least a lot of aspects of it as well. And it's interesting how like social anxiety can
1:25.1	manifest differently for different people. When I was sort of learning about it
1:28.7	to prepare for this episode I didn't really view myself as like the classic
1:32.0	socially anxious person I can come across as a very
1:36.0	extroverted because I am very gregarious, very into other people. But absolutely in the background,
1:41.8	that anxiety is operating a lot of the time when I'm around others.
1:45.6	And you know I think that's actually a great place to start here, Dad.
1:49.1	How do you think about social anxiety? Like what is social anxiety? it's normal to feel a little an easy or
	...

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