COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY FOR SOCIAL PHOBIA

This article discusses diagnostic features of social phobia, social skills and (anxious) avoidant personality disorder, and gives an overview on principles of cognitive behaviour therapy strategies used in social anxiety patients. Motivation to change and the therapeutic relationship are important issues to be worked on at the beginning and throughout therapy. Functional analysis focuses on interactional and systemic features. Three specific programmes dealing with anxiety management, social skills training and relaxation techniques are presented (Gruppentraining sozialer Kompetenzen, Hinsch und Pfingsten (2007): Soziale Phobien, ein kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutisches Behandlungsmanual, Stangier et al. (2003) und Soziales Kompetenztraining, Gruppentherapie bei sozialen Angsten und Defiziten, Alsleben und Hand (2006)).