symptom and situational exposure is one of the most challenging types of exposure 
that you can practice. However, this type of exposure can also provide you with the 
strongest possible evidence that your anxious predictions are exaggerated or untrue. By 
entering the social and performance situations that you fear and purposefully inducing 
arousal sensations to enhance your fear, you will learn that these situations are man -
ageable even when you feel extremely uncomfortable. To select possible exercises for 
combining symptom and situational exposure, refer back to your symptom exposure 
hierarchy for practices in social situations (step 2).
INTEGRATING SYMPTOM EXPOSURE INTO 
YOUR TREATMENT PLAN
As discussed earlier, we recommend that your psychological treatment program (cogni -
tive behavioral therapy) begin with the cognitive strategies discussed in chapter 6. After 
practicing the cognitive techniques for several weeks, you should practice situational 
exposure for several more weeks or months until you feel more comfortable in social 
situations (chapters 7 and 8). Only then should you consider adding symptom exposure