Maintaining Your Improvements and Planning for the Future
237Experiencing a Trauma in the Feared Situation
Sometimes, experiencing a trauma in a social situation can lead to a return of fear. 
For example, if your audience during a presentation is particularly cold and unfriendly, 
if you are rejected by someone whom you care about, or if your boss is extremely criti -
cal of your performance in a meeting, you may ﬁnd that you’re more anxious the next 
time you return to the situation. The fact that you had a particular anxiety in the past 
makes it more likely that it will return if you experience a negative event in a situation 
that mirrors this old fear.
If you experience a negative event in a situation that you previously feared, the best 
thing to do is to return to the situation as soon as possible. If you begin to avoid the 
situation, your anxiety will be more likely to return. In addition to exposure, try chal -
lenging your anxious beliefs by considering alternative, nonanxious interpretations of the 
negative event you experienced.
PREVENTING YOUR FEAR FROM RETURNING
Although your anxiety is unlikely to return after you have learned to be more comfort -
able in social and performance situations, there are no guarantees. Nevertheless, there 
are a number of things that you can do to improve your chances of maintaining your 
gains.
Continue to Use the Cognitive Therapy and Exposure 
Strategies
As we’ve discussed, continuing to challenge your anxious thoughts informally and 
to practice exposure from time to time will help you to maintain the improvements that 
you have made so far. We also recommend that you reread relevant sections from this 
book occasionally to reinforce what you have learned and to make sure that you haven’t 
forgotten any important principles.