The Shyness & Social Anxiety Workbook
150Situational role-play  is a compromise between imagined exposure and live exposure. 
Role-play involves rehearsing being in a particular situation with the help of a friend, 
family member, or therapist. For example, before exposing yourself to a real job  interview, 
you could practice mock interviews with other individuals posing as the interviewers. 
Or, you could ask your family or friends to act as the audience while you practice a pre -
sentation. These various forms of situational exposure (imagined, in vivo, and  role-plays) 
are discussed more thoroughly in chapter 8.
Gradual vs. Rapid Exposure
Exposure may be conducted gradually or rapidly. Rapid exposure involves taking 
steps very quickly, skipping steps, and sometimes trying more difﬁcult situations before 
you have completely mastered easier situations. For example, rapid exposure to public 
speaking might have you start off with talking in front of large groups of unfamiliar 
people instead of to small groups of familiar people.
Gradual exposure tends to begin with easier practices and progresses to the more 
difﬁcult practices much more slowly. Compared with rapid exposure, a person who is 
working on gradual exposure may spend more time practicing each step before moving 
on to the next level of difﬁculty. In addition, gradual exposure is less likely to leave out 
intermediate steps, compared with rapid exposure. With gradual exposure, by the time 
you get to the top steps of your hierarchy, you will be better prepared and less likely to 
feel overwhelmed by the practice.
Gradual exposure is similar to progressing through school one grade at a time. If 
you had to jump from ninth grade to twelfth grade, you would likely ﬁnd the increase