Overcoming Social Anxiety Step by Step

354 Pages·2.786 MB·English

by  Thomas A. Richards

"Dr. Thomas A. Richards' therapy series is an excellent resource to use with
clients suffering from social anxiety disorder. I have found it to provide direct
solutions to the vexing problem of this disorder. There is no book anywhere that
contains the valuable lessons that are included in "Overcoming Social Anxiety:
Step by Step."

-- Javier Ballesteros, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, New York State

“I’ve used Dr. Richards’ therapy series “Overcoming Social Anxiety: Step by
Step” with my clients for the past 14 years. The therapy sessions and
book handouts have been healing and life changing for countless numbers of
people. I have witnessed this first hand in the many comprehensive CBT groups
I have offered.

I’ve found the handouts to be an outstanding client resource, and have been
excited watching people learn to overcome social anxiety one step at a time.
Beyond that, I have personally benefited from these great materials too.”

-- Richard A. Preuit, M.A., LMFT
Arcadia, California
"Using Dr. Richards' therapy series in conjunction with a cognitive behavioral
therapy group for social anxiety was life changing for me. The handouts were a
key component in helping me to overcome social anxiety. I continue to use
some of the key concepts from the handouts with my daily inner dialogue. I've
had many experiences with Dr. Richards' programs since 2001; from going
through the therapy myself to using it as part of a treatment approach to help
others in my own private practice. I feel the therapy program was essential in
helping me to overcome social anxiety."

-- Dr. Jason Buck, LPC
Doctor of Behavioral Health, Arizona
Desert Eagle Counseling Services, PLLC
Comments from users of the “Overcoming Social Anxiety: Step by
Step” therapy program by Dr. Thomas A. Richards

I feel like I can only get better now, and I definitely plan on keeping all the skills
I've learned from your series for the rest of my life, so that I can have a better
one.
-- Marc B. Andrews

BACK THEN: I felt the way things were going in my life were hopeless. I
didn’t know what to do to get better.
NOW: Through your therapy, I have learned of the choices I have and the things
to tell myself in order to feel better bit by bit. I learned I always have choices
and little steps that I can take to slowly move my life in a more positive and
healthier direction.
-- Robert Lanmile

I can say for once that I am starting a new year with great optimism and
eagerness. New hope brings new plans. And I am pursuing them with more
sureness and confidence than ever before.
-- Lisa Gordon

A year is a long time!
But wow! What a long way to come! I wouldn't have believed it 6 months ago!
-- Sarah Hemphill

Realizing that I was not the only one with this problem and it had a name –
“Social Anxiety” – was the first step to recovery. Dr. Richards’ cognitive
therapy has completely changed my life. I am doing things I never thought I
could do and I am doing them without anxiety!
-- Penelope Rodriguez

So to the people who wonder… the therapy works – but it takes repetition and
reinforcement.
-- Barbara Olivetti

What I have learned from Dr. Richards' therapy series and what I appreciate even
more than overcoming my social anxiety is my new outlook on life. I have a
choice how I react to every situation I encounter. I am in control of my thoughts
and feelings – I find this so comforting and yet so very powerful.
-- Wendy Grayson
Dear Dr. Richards,
Your program has brought me hope and help. Working through the series has
given me tools for managing and minimizing my SAD. The structured approach
provided by your series has been essential to my progress in overcoming social
anxiety.
-- Cynthia Minmisser

Fortunately, Dr. Richards’ series gave me hope that I could change and that I
could eventually form other relationships, and this hope helped me get through
this painful period.
The series also gave me the inspiration to return to school to work on a master’s
degree. I had wanted to do this for years, but my anxiety held me back.
-- Tyler Stark

Dr. Richards' therapy series helped me turn the tables on my ANTs and gave me
the confidence to believe in myself. The messages echoed in the sessions and in
the workbook reinforced the revolutionary (for me) idea that I was actually a
good person – someone who was entitled to friendship, companionship and
(gasp!) even love!
-- Gerry O’Ryan
Your therapy series on “Overcoming Social Anxiety” pulls together in one
package helpful information and validates the ongoing cognitive work I have
been doing in years past. I’m a person who just knows when something feels
right, rings true, and when it comes to self-help, I need this believing to put
recommendations into action. I feel very rooted in your work, and am very, very
grateful that I discovered your program.
-- Janice Schultz

It’s now been over a year and a half since I started your program and my life has
totally changed. I have stopped running from my fears and have learned to
accept who I am.
THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO TAKE CONTROL OF MY LIFE!
-- Jason Nebring

I woke up this morning, energized, motivated and WITHOUT feeling anxiety.
I’ve woken up to anxiety every morning for the past 15 years. I cannot put into
words how free I felt this morning.
-- Noah Daniels
I have been in individual counseling for several years and no one has impressed
upon me WHY I should be doing the cognitive therapy as you have explained. I
know I am not done, and have many areas still to work on, but I feel so much
better already! I think it's because not only do I now have hope, but I know that
I can and will get better.
Now I understand why you keep saying "Start your therapy today." I would still
be an anxious mess if I hadn't done something about it. Thank you again.
-- Marlene Timari

Completing the "Overcoming Social Anxiety" therapy series changed my life.
After doing the therapy I am able to attend university, after several years of
avoiding school. I feel less anxious and self-conscious being in a classroom with
other students, and I have been able to answer and ask questions in class while
experiencing very little anxiety.
I know that I would not have been able to do these things if it wasn’t for the
therapy series.
-- Mike Whritenour
Not everything in my life is perfect, I'm still changing and evolving, but it's nice
to be changing in a positive direction and to have the tools that affect change in
unhealthy thinking patterns. I guess that's why, since CBT, I see my life as like a
renaissance. Now, my path is clear and this life journey is truly wondrous. Once
the momentum begins... it's boundless.
-- Emily Jackson

The good news is that the thought of introductions, presentations, meetings and
group discussions don't scare me anymore. Applying the therapy has really
worked. I'm happy and I deserve it.
-- Vanessa Kocurek

Therapy is the same thing we've been doing for all these years, except it makes
you feel better, not worse. For the first time in years I feel like life will get
better.
So to all you doubters out there unsure about the therapy, try and look at it in a
different light.
-- T. J. Cleary
I feel good and enjoy challenging myself. No longer trapped being a certain
type of person because of what I believed in the past and how I thought I had to
behave. I am no longer a list of disorders!
This has taken time but it is so worth putting in the time. I remember you saying
something about how the audio series would help people get over social anxiety,
but more than that it would lead to a never ending journey of development. That
has absolutely been my experience.
I read some other books while I was doing the series the second time round –
one on body dysmorphic disorder for example. But it was your audio series that
broke apart the prison of false neural connections and beliefs I had been trapped
inside. You enabled me for the first time to see outside of the box I was in, so
that I was able to believe what you were telling me.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
My life has radically changed!!
-- Stacy K. Levinson