How visualization can help you overcome shyness and social anxiety

type="text/javascript"> ch_client = "articlealley";had bought. She either "sees" herself in her mind's
ch_type = "mpu"; ch_width = 590; ch_height =eye as beautiful and graceful, or awkward and
250; ch_non_contextual = 4; ch_noborders = 1;ugly. She can imagine her friend's reactions to her
ch_vertical ="premium"; ch_sid = "590x250 Articlewalking in the party—if she mainly
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ength)); if ( ch_selected < ch_queries.length ) {dramatically increase. This stress will translate as a
ch_query = ch_queries[ch_selected]; }social anxiety attack when she goes to the
There have always been many self-help methodsparty—or at least she will be painfully shy
available for people seeking to overcome theirand withdrawn for fear of eliciting the reactions
shyness and social anxiety. But visualizationthat she repeatedly imagined.
remains as one of the most effective, and mostIf such a teen is trained to use the art of
widely tried, method among therapists and layvisualization, she could drastically improve her
people alike.social performance and reduce her shyness and
Visualization has long been recognized as one ofsocial anxiety. Instead of imaging negative
the best stress reduction methods. Stresssituations, she should be trained to turn them -in
reduction is strongly linked to anxiety reduction;her mind—into positive ones. She could,
this concept can be extended to social anxietyfor example, be taught to visualize success in this
and shyness. The way this works is byparticular social situation in vivid details: she walks
recognizing that social anxiety is created by thein, looking her best, and greets everyone with a
stress reaction the shy person experiences as aconfident smile. She compliments her friends, and
result of his mental processes and the set ofmoves gracefully to the dance floor where she
mental images that they have day in and day out.starts dancing and trying out the new dance
Consider this scenario: a teenager getting readymoves that she had earlier been practicing,
for a party imagines herself in the dress that shewhether she has been asked to dance or not.