In this article, I discuss how you can use distraction to lower anxiety to a manageable level in social situations.
In my last article, I discussed good and bad elements of distraction. One of the ways distraction can be used positively is to help people struggling with high levels of anxiety in social situations. A primary reason some people have high anxiety in social situations is that they focus on negative thoughts. Preoccupation with thoughts about others evaluating, criticizing and judging them and concentrating on how anxious they are intensifies the anxiety these people feel in social situations.
Distraction can be an effective strategy to reduce anxiety to manageable levels in these situations by shifting the focus away from such negative thoughts which fuel intense anxiety. In my work as a Calgary psychologist and a Cochrane psychologist, I have helped my clients in social anxiety counselling use distraction to their benefit. In the following sections, I will discuss how you can implement this strategy.
Test the effectiveness of distraction by conducting an experiment
A compelling and interesting way to observe the benefits of distraction in managing social anxiety is to conduct what is known in cognitive behavioural therapy as a behavioural experiment. I often recommend that my clients conduct behavioural experiments in which they collect data which can lead to insights regarding their issues.
To test the effect of distraction on managing social anxiety, I invite my clients to collect data under two conditions:
(1) In the ‘internal focus’ condition, the client attends one or more social events in which they focus internally on their usual thoughts and feelings such as how others are judging them and how uncomfortable they feel;
(2) In the ‘external focus’ condition, the client attends one or more social events in which they focus externally. This involves directing their attention away from their thoughts and feelings and onto people and stimuli in the immediate environment. For this condition, I suggest that clients concentrate on collecting as much information as possible about their environment such as objects in the room, characteristics of people attending the event, and details of conversations. In keeping with the principles of a well-conducted experiment, I recommend that my clients attend several social events so that they have an adequate ‘sample size’ of cases to compare the internal- and external-focus conditions. The experimental data I ask my clients to collect in each instance is the level of anxiety they experience during the social event.
Results of the experiment: Compare your anxiety levels in the two conditions
Clients typically report feeling much less anxious in the external focus condition compared with the internal focus condition. They thereby learn in a compelling experiential manner the benefits of using distraction to help them manage anxiety in social situations.
Combined with the use of other anxiety management skills like diaphragmatic breathing and cognitive restructuring techniques to change negative thinking and self-talk, employing distraction makes it easier to manage anxiety so that you can enter and remain in social situations. Getting this exposure to social situations while using coping skills to manage anxiety is the key to achieving lasting reductions in the anxiety you experience in these situations.
May you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving,
-Dr. Pat
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