# 2 Questions about therapy...



## Relz (Oct 31, 2011)

I've been to two therapists, but I still consider myself new to this. I don't really know what I should get out of therapy for SA. Neither one has helped me very much. But on to my questions:

1) Should my therapist give me a diagnosis?
(neither of mine have, even after I asked)

2) Is talk therapy a waste of time for SA?
(both have been talk therapy only, no CBT)


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## Xenos (Jun 24, 2012)

My own experience is that talk therapy _can_ help raise your self-esteem, which is key to treating SAD. The therapist's job will be to help you explore and re-frame your previous painful experiences so you can see them in a way that allows you to have more compassion for yourself, so you don't judge yourself so harshly.

But the real treatment for SAD is cognitive-behavioral, which is going to involve actually putting yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable, letting the anxiety rise up, and then discovering you can deal with it. So, yeah, I think talk therapy _can_ help, but it's not really the key ingredient.

My therapist won't diagnose me either. She's an LCSW, not a psychiatrist, so I guess that's sort of not her job.


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## Whitney (Oct 2, 2008)

I've been to 3 therapists and 1 psychiatrist and none have told me a diagnosis. I think many of them feel it doesn't really matter. All that matters is helping you.

If you think CBT will help you (I've never officially done it either but I think it would be worth a try), then say so. If you are looking for a new therapist, specifically try to find one who has experience with it.


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## paulyD (Feb 16, 2011)

Relz said:


> I've been to two therapists, but I still consider myself new to this. I don't really know what I should get out of therapy for SA. Neither one has helped me very much. But on to my questions:
> 
> 1) Should my therapist give me a diagnosis?
> (neither of mine have, even after I asked)
> ...


1) absolutely. how can you fix a problem if you don't even know what the problem is.

i remember when i first starting going to therapy when i was 18 years old. back then i didn't even no what social anxiety was never mind that i actually suffered from it. i went to therapy cos i was unhappy and because i couldn't speak to people in everyday life. but after seeing 3 different therapists i was still oblivious to the fact that i had social anxiety or that social anxiety even existed

it wasn't until i was almost 20 years old that i accidently stumbled across social anxiety when i seen a paul mckenna newspaper article where he was helping some woman who had a social phobia

then i went out and bought gillian butlers book ''overcoming social anxiety and shyness'' and i had a ''bingo'' moment. i finally knew what my problem was. not only that i fully understood the problem and knew how to beat it

it would have been so much easier if when i first went to therapy at 18 years old the therapist would have told me i had social anxiety

most therapists are idiots

2)absolutely. talk therapy can't change a phobia.

talk therapy can be helpful in the sense that you are getting things off your chest and you are getting support from another human being but it's not going to change your problem. you don't even need to see a therapist for this either as a friend or family member can do it

your unconcious mind is what controls your states. social anxiety is a state (aka a feeling). so it makes sense that the first step to overcoming social anxiety is to do the uncncious work with nlp/hypnosis. 
after that you need to use cbt and more nlp to change your behaviour and develop new habits. and you also need to use helping relationships, rewards, countering and enviroment control.


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## Joderdelic (Jun 29, 2012)

Hi!

If you were to see a CBT therapist you would undergo an assessment to explore what your specific problem/s is. The therapist will then (a number of sessions later) begin a specific intervention based on your 'diagnosis'. Basically you will complete a number of inventories (questionnaires that measure depression, general anxiety levels, phobic/avoidance behaviour and some others) these will give an indication of a problem area which will then lead to treatment. The inventories also help to monitor progress. So yes, you should be given a diagnosis but it will be framed more like 'From this information and what we have discussed you meet the diagnostic criteria of...(social anxiety disorder). These are the criteria...does this seem to fit with your idea of what might be going on?' 

Cognitive therapists, (and all therapists really) are required to provide interventions based on the latest research - so in order to provide a specific intervention that is based on clinical research - this must be based on a diagnosis or hypothesis/formulation (the preferred CBT phrase).

A long winded way of saying yes!


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