Do you wear certain clothes to hide “defects” that you perceive in your appearance? Do 
you purposely end the presentation late so that there is no time for questions? Do you 
use videos or slides during the presentation so the focus won’t be on you? Do you avoid 
making eye contact with the audience? If you’re attending a party, do you purposely stay 
close to someone you know well so that you won’t have to talk to other people? Do you 
have a drink or two as soon as you get to the party so that your anxiety doesn’t get too 
high? Do you offer to help in the kitchen so you won’t have to talk to the other guests? 
Do you take frequent bathroom breaks to avoid being with everyone else? When you’re 
talking to other guests at the party, do you ask the other person lots of questions to keep 
the focus of the conversation off of you?
All of these are examples of subtle avoidance strategies that people sometimes use in 
social situations. As discussed in chapter 1, these behaviors may decrease your anxiety 
in the short term by helping you to feel safer. However, in the long term, they typically 
have the effect of preventing your anxiety from decreasing naturally over time because