The Shyness & Social Anxiety Workbook
1102. Anxiety and fear result when a person interprets a situation as threatening 
or dangerous. Although fearful predictions and interpretations are sometimes 
accurate, they are often exaggerated or inaccurate. Chapter 1 provided a list of 
thoughts and assumptions that can contribute to social anxiety. These include 
beliefs about one’s performance (such as, “People will think that I am an idiot”), 
as well as beliefs about the anxiety itself (for instance, “It’s important for me 
not to appear anxious in front of other people”). Beliefs such as these help to 
maintain a person’s anxiety in social and performance situations.
3. You are the expert regarding your own thoughts and feelings. Unlike some 
other forms of therapy, which assume that the therapist is the expert, cogni -
tive therapy assumes that the patient and therapist have unique areas of exper -
tise, and the best way to work on a problem is to take advantage of the skills 
and expertise that each brings to the therapeutic situation. The therapist is 
assumed to be an expert on the principles and methods of cognitive therapy. 
The patient is assumed to be an expert regarding his or her own experi -
ences, assumptions, and beliefs. In most cases, the therapist and patient decide 
together whether a particular belief is exaggerated or unrealistic, and together 
they generate strategies for changing negative patterns of thinking.
4. The goal of cognitive therapy is to be able to think more realistically  rather 
than simply to think positively . There are occasions where your anxious beliefs 
are realistic and are quite consistent with the actual threat in a given situa -
tion. In these cases, anxiety may be a good thing because it helps you stay 
on guard and protect yourself from possible danger. For instance, being a bit