Advice for College Students Dealing With Social Anxiety
In a recent press release from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, psychology professor Martin M. Antony offers some advice for college students dealing with social anxiety:
- Think about your anxiety. What situations trigger it? What thoughts make it worse? What physical symptoms do you have?
- Challenge your anxiety. Are your thoughts valid?
- Try to view social situations through the eyes of someone without SAD.
- Confront your fears rather than avoiding. Be prepared for some discomfort at first.
What would I add to Dr. Antony’s suggestions?
I believe a stumbling block for some students, and non-students alike, will be challenging anxious thoughts. Much of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is centered around the notion that anxious thoughts are not valid.
Perhaps you worry that others are talking about you, that you are boring, or that you might embarrass yourself or make a fool of yourself.
As part of CBT, the idea is to replace those thoughts with new ones such as “Others are not really talking about me”, “I am not really boring” or “it’s not likely that I will embarrass myself”.
For people with SAD, however, moving from the anxious thoughts to these new thoughts might be too much of a leap.
Another way to think about challenging thoughts is to ask yourself how helpful your thoughts are, rather than whether they are valid. Is it helpful to think that you are boring? No, so why even bother with thought?
What is a more helpful thought that is still realistic? “I may not be the most interesting person to talk with, but nobody is perfect, and I am trying”.
Another alternative to the CBT perspective is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT involves acknowledging your thoughts and reducing the impact that they have on you.
What do you think? Do you have trouble challenging anxious thoughts? Are you worried about going to college?
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