Social Anxiety Therapy
Therapy for social anxiety: the dread before, the self-monitoring during, and the merciless replay after. You're not bad at people. Your alarm system is running a story about being judged, and that story can be retired.
The conversation ends. The replay begins.
Other people finish a meeting and move on with their day. You finish a meeting and spend the afternoon reviewing the tape: the thing you said, the way you said it, the face someone may or may not have made. The event was twenty minutes. The aftermath takes hours. If this sounds familiar:
- You rehearse ordinary sentences before saying them, and still hear every flaw when they come out
- Meetings have a countdown: you know a question is coming, and you can't hear anything else until it's over
- Phone calls, introductions, eating in front of others, or being watched while you work feel like performances you didn't audition for
- You've built a life of workarounds: texts instead of calls, emails instead of meetings, leaving early, arriving late, not going
- People read you as quiet, aloof, or uninterested, when the truth is you're working harder in that room than anyone
- Opportunities keep passing: the promotion that needs presenting, the friendship that needs a first invite, the person you never spoke to
The fear survives on the very things you do to manage it
Social anxiety runs on predictions of judgment. The workarounds and the replay feel protective, but they're what keep the predictions alive, because the alarm never gets to find out it was wrong. The loop runs in predictable stages.
The workarounds are the fuel. Rehearsing, hiding, and avoiding all send the same message: it really was dangerous. The work interrupts the loop at every stage, at a pace you choose.
Wherever the fear shows up for you
Social anxiety is rarely everywhere at once. Most people have a spiky map: fine here, frozen there. Yours is the one we work from.
Meetings & speaking up
Presentations, questions in a group, and the ideas you had but never said.
Small talk & socializing
Parties, group hangs, coworker chat, and the exits you plan before arriving.
Dating & new people
First messages, first dates, and connections that end before they start.
Being perceived
Phone calls, video meetings, eating in public, or anyone watching you work.
Neurodivergent adults
Sorting social anxiety from autistic social experience, because the treatment differs.
Four fronts, worked in sequence
The pace is yours and every step is agreed on first. Nobody gets assigned a wedding toast in week two.
Mapping the predictions
What your alarm actually forecasts in each situation: the blush they'll notice, the blank you'll draw, the verdict they'll reach. Written down, the predictions become testable instead of just true-feeling.
Testing them in real life
Graded practice in the situations that matter to you: the question asked in the meeting, the call made instead of the text. Each test gives your alarm the one thing it's never had, which is evidence.
Dropping the safety behaviors
Rehearsing, over-preparing, hiding behind your phone, and staying quiet feel protective, but they block the evidence from landing. We retire them step by step, so the wins finally count.
Ending the replay
The post-event review isn't reflection; it's the loop's closing argument. You learn to catch it, cut it short, and let a conversation be over when it's over. Your worth stops riding on every interaction.
A clear, structured plan, built in sequence
This is structured work built on cognitive-behavioral treatment for social anxiety, including graded real-world practice. By session three you'll know your plan, its phases, and roughly how long the work takes. Sessions are 50-55 minutes.
One distinction I take seriously: social anxiety and autistic social experience are not the same thing, and treating one as the other fails people. Fear of judgment responds to testing the predictions. Autistic social processing is a difference, not a fear, and it's never treated as a flaw here. Many people have some of each, and we map yours before anything else.
Assessment
Your map: where the fear lives, your predictions, your workarounds.
Your loop map
Situations ranked together, from easiest to hardest to face.
Graded practice
Real-world tests from the bottom of the ladder up, at a pace you set.
Consolidation
Becoming your own therapist, with a plan for high-stakes seasons.
All sessions online via secure, HIPAA-compliant video. You must be physically located in Texas, Maine, Montana, or New Hampshire at the time of session. For social anxiety, starting from home removes the hardest part of getting help, which is walking into a stranger's office.
Visit the services page to see which insurances are accepted, along with current rates and private pay options.
Structured, evidence-informed treatment for social anxiety with a neurodivergence-affirming lens. Full credentials →
The replay isn't the truth about you.
The consultation is free and short. We'll talk by phone (I'll call you at the time you schedule) and see if we're a fit. No pressure, no commitment.