Social Phobia Case Study

In this paper, the issue I am going to discuss is Laura’s social phobia. Social phobia is fear of socializing oneself with people and immediate environment. Social phobia is also known as social anxiety which occurred when a person has an extraordinary or unnecessary fear of social situations. It is also seen as fear of being judged or embarrassed by others and this type of fear can make it difficult for anybody that experience it, to attend school, or any other outside activities. So relating this to Laura’s case, she reported that she experienced anxiety in numbers of different social situations, such as parties, meetings, speaking to people in authority. All the symptoms experienced and reported by Laura make me conclude that cognitive …show more content…
Cognitive behavior therapy intervention can be used to modify patient thought process about various thoughts that can lead to self-destructive actions and beliefs that lead to social phobia. According to Albert Ellis, irrational beliefs can lead people to dysfunctional behavior. As in Laura’s case, she has irrational belief about herself right from childhood which led to her present state of dysfunctional and subsequently evolve to developing different types of health issues. Cognitive behavior therapy uses key features such as education, cognitive strategies, exposure, and social skill training to help patient recover from social phobia and I plan to use these features to help Laura overcome her social phobia.
Through Education, Laura will have the opportunity to learn about the nature of her social phobia and how her thought, feelings and behaviors relate. She will gain knowledge that will help her understand the causes, effects, and ways to overcome social phobia. Cognitive strategies will help Laura to identify specific time when her thoughts contribute highly to her social phobia. By identifying this specific period, it will help understand activities that trigger phobia in Laura’s social life and appropriate program that can conquer the phobia will be …show more content…
There are three types of exposure but in this paper two of them are discussed. First exposure is called ‘in vivo’ exposure which means people experiencing social phobia get exposed to real life situation such as taking in public conversation. Using this, Laura will be encouraged to attempt engaged in public conversation with friends, colleagues, and at time strangers at public gathering. The second type of exposure is imaginal exposure, which means that people experiencing social phobia like Laura can use imagination to suppress unwanted thought or assumption of how they are going to be judged in their endeavor. This will helps build gradual courage to face public assessment and reduced social phobia. Social training skill is related to use of modeling, corrective feedback, and behavior practice, all this will help client that is in the same shoes has Laura to enhance their ability to communicate effectively and respond better in social interaction.
According to the available information, cognitive behavior therapy and treatment as intervention model can also apply to some other disorders such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and social phobia to mention few. So I will apply this intervention to Laura’s social phobia. As a social worker I will apply the intervention by allowing Laura