Changing Your Anxious Thoughts and Expectations
135INTEGRATING COGNITIVE STRATEGIES INTO 
YOUR TREATMENT PLAN
The cognitive techniques described in this chapter are not meant to be used on their 
own. Rather, they should be used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan that includes 
exposure to feared situations. Exposure-based treatments are discussed in chapters 7 
through 9. We recommend that you ﬁrst practice the cognitive techniques for a few 
weeks before formally beginning exposure practices. Learning to manage your anxiety 
by changing your thinking will help you when confronting the situations that you fear. 
In addition to exposure and cognitive therapy, your treatment may also include medica -
tion (see chapter 5) and social-skills practices (see chapter 10), depending on your own 
personal needs and preferences.
A WORD TO SIGNIFICANT OTHERS, FRIENDS, 
AND FAMILY MEMBERS
If you are working with a loved one who is trying to overcome his or her social anxiety, 
you can help him or her to change anxiety-provoking thoughts into more realistic 
thoughts by engaging in calm, logical discussions about the situations he or she fears. 
This process should always be done in a supportive way, and you should be careful 
not to put your loved one down for having anxiety-provoking beliefs (after all, we all 
have irrational thoughts from time to time). You should also be careful not to tell your 
loved one what he or she should  be thinking. Rather, your loved one should draw his or 
her own conclusions based on the evidence. Finally, remember that your role is to be 
supportive—not to nag or pressure your loved one into making changes or to argue 
about how to interpret anxiety-provoking situations. You and your loved one should