Making a Plan for Change
675. Maintenance . At this stage, the individual has made the change and is taking 
steps to prevent the problem behavior from returning. An example would be 
an individual with a history of problem drinking who has now been sober for 
six months and has stopped spending time with people who drink excessive 
amounts of alcohol.
Although this model has been studied mostly in people who are working on chang -
ing health habits (for example, exercise, diet, substance abuse, improving medication 
compliance), it can also be applied to your treatment for shyness and social anxiety. The 
further along you are with respect to these stages of change, the more likely you will 
be to beneﬁt from the strategies described in this book. For example, if you are in the 
action stage, you will likely get more out of this book than if you are at the precontem -
plation stage and have no intention of making any changes.
Of course, these stages overlap with one another, and deciding which stage you are 
in is not always so clean cut. In fact, you may be at a different stage for different aspects 
of your social anxiety. You may be convinced that it is completely impossible that you 
will ever be able to date (precontemplation), but you may be thinking about working on 
ﬁnding a better job over the next few months (contemplation). You may also have already 
signed up for a night class so you can start to meet new friends (action). Fortunately, as 
you make changes in some areas, you may discover that you become more ready to make 
changes in other areas as well.
Success at changing your social anxiety will require that you are willing, able, and