ANXIETY HOTLINE OF NY/NJ

I practice in Manhattan (34th St. & 5th near the Empire State Building and Macy's) and New Jersey (15 minutess from the GWB), and would be happy to arrange an appointment for you or I can offer you a free phone consultation at 212-726-2390.  You an also book your appointment online instantly yourself.  If you live outside of the New York metropolitan area, you can find a local therapist by contacting the Association for Cognitive Behavior Therapies (www.abct.org) or the OCD Foundation (www.ocfoundation.org). Even though the latter is for OCD, the same people are equally competent to treat social anxiety.  Ask them for a social anxiety (or social phobia) specialist in your area. If they don't have someone in your area, ask them if they know of a similar organization in your region that could make a referral to you. Such organizations would have words such as "Anxiety," "Fear," "Cognitive Therapy," or "Behavior Therapy" in their titles

EXPOSURE THERAPY

TAKE THE SOCIAL ANXIETY TEST: 1. Do you feel intense anxiety when meeting new people, asking for what you want from others (asking for directions, a raise, a date, etc.), standing in a crowd, or speaking in public? 2. Are you fine with strangers, brief or superficial encounters, but grow uncomfortable as acquaintances spend more time with you and get to know you more? Do you worry people will find out something about you and judge you? 3. Do you avoid these and other social situations? 4. Do you think about how people judge you? Do you work harder than others to please people or avoid confrontation to ensure a positive impression? 5. Does your anxiety or avoidance prevent you from making friends, progressing in your career, forming romantic relationships, or speaking in public? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have social anxiety, a condition shared by millions of Americans

What are PANIC, AGORAPHOBIA, & CLAUSTROPHOBIA? Agoraphobia often, but not always, coincides with Panic Disorder. Agoraphobia is characterized by a fear of having a panic attack in a place from which escape is difficult. In a mild form, sufferers are uncomfortable or nervous about something bad happening to them (like getting severely ill, fainting, losing control, or embarrassing themselves) in situations where they can't escape or get help (like traveling alone to a far away unfamiliar place, or claustrophobia such as trapped in a crowd, elevator, subway, traffic jam, or driving on an express highway, tunnel or bridge, or a wide open mall or empty park, or home alone, or nomophobia--being outside of mobile phone service area). They may limit their traveling alone or require that a partner accompany them