Master The Shame Lens:
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Treating Social Anxiety Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Social anxiety is one of the most common and most misunderstood struggles therapists encounter. Let’s change that.
Social anxiety is one of the most common anxiety disorders — yet one of the most frequently missed. Clients rarely walk in saying, “I think I have social anxiety.” Instead, they present with stress, relationship issues, work struggles, or “just being shy.”
Even when social anxiety is recognized, many clients don’t improve with standard approaches. Traditional CBT often falls short because it doesn’t fully address shame, trauma history, or the subtle ways avoidance keeps showing up.
Without the right lens, therapists risk missing what’s really happening — and clients remain stuck in cycles of fear, shame, and withdrawal.
Bullets (ACT-consistent):
Clients get stuck in avoidance that reinforces fear.
Shame often sits underneath the anxiety, but goes unaddressed.
Traditional skills-based approaches sometimes miss the trauma-informed needs of these clients.
When treatment doesn’t reach the heart of the struggle, clients stay stuck in a cycle of fear, shame, and withdrawal.
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