I’m pretty excited about having been invited to be a regular weekly columnist for New Zealand’s biggest daily newspaper, the New Zealand Herald. This week I was interviewed and talked my views about therapy and what I hope to acheive with the column Click here to read the article… Every Thursday I’ll be answering [read more…]
A lot of what OvercomingSocialAnxiety (“OSA”) is about is removing the stigma surrounding anxiety and mental health issues and getting people talking both about how they’re feeling and how the world treats those who struggle with issues such as social anxiety. That’s why you’ll find me campaigning on all sorts of issues centred on awareness [read more…]
Breakups are tough. It’s not just the stuff of country and western ballads or soft-focus romantic comedies, it’s a visceral and often debilitating pain to end a relationship in which you’ve most likely invested a great deal of emotional energy. Even if you don’t live with social anxiety, healing a broken heart can be a [read more…]
When fear becomes part of your daily routine it might seem strange that a festival based on being frightened can actually help. Halloween has its roots in pagan and religious festivals – but for all intents and purposes it has become a giant global costume party, during which you’re as likely to find a five-year-old [read more…]
Probably the most common anxiety for those who are shy or live with social anxiety is how to talk about the topic of social anxiety with those with whom you are close. We’ve already discussed the types of way in which anxiety can cause us to sabotage relationships, and one of the key ways is [read more…]
Over the next few weeks I’m going to focus on how living with social anxiety alters the way in which we treat those closest to us. As with so much surrounding anxiety, there’s a mix of positive and negative – sure, those nagging doubts about yourself can batter your confidence and make relationships tough to [read more…]
The best way to learn mindfulness skills is via the internet. Well, you might think I’m bound to say that, but now researchers from the United States have published a study which confirms our theory and explains exactly why we prefer to log-on to learn mindfulness rather than join group therapy or find one-on-one tuition [read more…]
Sometimes one of the easiest places to hide is in a crowd: all those people worried about leading their own lives are highly unlikely to be thinking too much about anyone else jostling amongst them. While some people with social phobia can find crowds a serious trigger to their anxiety – others are more troubled [read more…]
Last week I opened my emails and received an email from Richard & Lilliana at Relaxation Ways – a website dedicated to providing helpful information about Relaxation Techniques, Stress Management and Wellness in the 21st Century. They said that my site OvercomingSocialAnxiety.com had been nominated as one of the top sites in the niche relaxation, stress [read more…]
The art of aimless chatter may be something most people take for granted, but for those of you living with social anxiety it can be the hardest part of life to master. First of all you are acutely aware that you’re not talking part in a conversation, or you’re not striking up a conversation with [read more…]
