Physical reactions such as changes in breathing, muscle tension, flushing, and sweating can be relieved through use of relaxation techniques. Distortions in our thinking, that cause us to perceive social situations as more dangerous or threatening than they really are, can be managed through a procedure called cognitive restructuring. Last, and most important, behavior changes can be dealt with through exposure. Exposure works by teaching our nervous system not to overreact.

In my experience, most effective way to provide combined treatments of relaxation, cognitive restructuring and exposure is in a weekly group of 6 to 8 people, over a 12 week period. Over past 8 years, my cognitive behavioral groups have been 80 to 90 percent successful with socially anxious people as young as 13 and as old as 85. Of course, most people with social anxiety have to be encouraged to join a therapy group. I simply tell them, “Invest your anxiety in a calmer future!”. Call me or my assistant Nancy at 881-1206 or check out our Web page at http://PsycServ.com for further information.

Sidebar:

Do you suffer from an Anxiety Disorder?

It’s normal to get anxious once in a while. It’s a problem if you answer “yes” to all of following.

- I often feel more tense or upset than can be explained by level of threat or danger at time. - I sometimes take extreme measures to reduce my anxiety such as drugs/alcohol, being angry or withdrawing. - I experience significant distress and/or loss of ability to function in important areas of my life as a consequence of my anxiety.

If your anxiety is about social or performance situations where you fear embarrassment or humiliation, you could have social phobia.

Although a very powerful healing tool, EMDR can sometimes cause client to have an overwhelming emotional experience. Recognizing need of many clients for a more gradual approach to dealing with their feelings, Vancouver-area clinicians Audrey Cook (no relation) and Dr. Rick Bradshaw developed an experimental offshoot to EMDR called One Eye Integration or OEI. OEI has in common with EMDR client visually tracking therapist’s fingers, and fact that they both operate on root of problem rather than just provide symptomatic relief.

Unlike EMDR, OEI uses a procedure called “switching” that involves covering and uncovering one eye at a time. This procedure takes advantage of fact that we often experience strong negative emotion differently when one eye is open, compared to when other eye is open. Try this by covering one eye and then other with inside corner of your palm, next time you feel upset. If you do notice more intensity in one eye than other, quickly switch away to calmer eye, and stay there as long as you need to calm down before switching back.

There are currently only two clinicians practising OEI on Vancouver Island at present time. Contact either me (881-1206) or clinical counsellor, Tanya Bedford (213-1455) for more information.