Is group therapy for social anxiety right for me?
To simply answer that question, yes! There are many reasons why group therapy is appropriate for someone who is dealing with social anxiety.
It's rather common to feel anxious in the social context. We all have different thresholds of what we can tolerate when it comes to social anxiety and some degree of social anxiety is normative. The problem arises when social anxiety interferes with our functioning and prevents us from living the life we want to live. These social situations can vary from person to person and include social interactions (e.g., conversing with others, meeting unfamiliar people), being observed (e.g., eating or drinking, writing, interviews), or performing in front of others (e.g., giving a presentation).
Perhaps your anxiety gets activated during networking events that require you to talk to complete strangers or when conversing with educated people in high stakes scenarios. For others, social anxiety can get activated when talking to persons of authority, simply socializing, or all of the above.
Social anxiety can affect many people of all walks of life.
Why consider group therapy?
Group therapy gives you a chance to practice interacting
Learning new skills is hard enough, let alone trying to do so in the context of a dynamic social situation that you’re taking part in. Many people who seek group therapy come in already realizing that there’s a need to practice certain skills to better their interpersonal relationships. But it can be quite difficult to practice these skills when we have interfering thoughts such as “what if I come across as weird or annoying?” or “they’ll think that what I have to say is dumb” or “they’ll simply reject me and I’ll be embarrassed.”
In group therapy, everyone has the same overarching goal: to work on overcoming the social anxiety that is interfering with their lives and build greater social confidence. Practicing interacting with people in this setting can make the process easier because we are working toward a common goal.
In our Building Social Confidence group, we specifically go over ways to challenge and address anxious, unhelpful thoughts.
There is a strong evidence basis for group therapy
Social anxiety research has consistently shown Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy (CBGT) to be effective. CBGT is a specific form of group therapy developed by Drs. Heimberg and Becker for social anxiety and widely considered to be an effective evidence-based approach (i.e. treatments based on the best available research). 1, 2
The guiding principle behind CBGT and many CBT-based treatments is for people to start to become their own therapist. That is, we do not expect someone to be in treatment forever.
With CBGT, we teach some basic cognitive skills during the early portions of group therapy. We then shift our focus to practicing ways to confront anxiety-provoking situations (i.e. through exposures).
While there will be individual differences in terms of treatment effectiveness, research indicates that a standard course of CBGT can be very effective in the long-run.3
Group therapies such as CBGT is time-limited therapy
CBGT was originally developed to run between 12 to 24 weekly sessions. One preliminary study found that even a 6 week CBGT course led to improvements, 4 showing how promising group therapy can be.
DC CBT’s Building Social Confidence group, which is based on the evidence-based practices of CBGT, runs for 12 weeks. This does not necessarily mean that by the end of 12 weeks, you’ll be “cured” of your social anxiety. However, after 12 weeks we expect individuals who actively took part in group therapy will notice benefits. Additionally, we hope that group members will have acquired the skills to continue making improvements in their social lives.
If 12 weeks of group sessions lead to improvements in your social anxiety, could group therapy be worth a try?
Group therapy allows you to learn and grow
Taking part in a social anxiety group simply for the sake of exposing oneself to social situations, while understandable, might not be the most effective way to address your social fears. Exposure is certainly a key component of CBT-based group therapies, but an often overlooked reason is learning from others.
Heimberg and Becker identify four different ways of learning:
- learning that others have problems
- vicarious learning
- peer learning
- learning through helping others
1. Learning that others have problems too:
It’s common to feel isolated when feeling socially anxious. By taking part in group therapy, we learn that we are not alone and that social anxiety can affect diverse people of different backgrounds in various ways.
For those who feel lonely in their social anxiety, group therapy can be a corrective experience.
2. Learning vicariously through others:
When we hear about other people applying skills that we are actively working on, we learn more about what we can do. Maybe someone describes their experience in a way that makes sense to you or resonates with you. Perhaps we see another group member try something out during a session and it gives you a mental image or model of what you would like to do.
Observing other people can help you learn more about ways to deal with your own social anxiety.
3. Learning from our peers:
Social anxiety can certainly be addressed in individual therapy; however, one thing that individual therapy cannot do is create peer support. When individuals take part in group therapy, it may be helpful to keep in mind that other group members have been living and dealing with social anxiety as well. That means that they have likely accumulated some knowledge and understanding of navigating life with social anxiety.
Group therapy provides the opportunity to potentially tap into the knowledge of our peers and learn.
4. Learning by helping others out:
It’s common for group therapy members to have varying experiences when it comes to CBT and social anxiety treatment. Some group members may already have knowledge about CBT and the process of challenging anxious, unhelpful thoughts. People who already possess some knowledge of cognitive skills can help others learn by sharing their insight or by offering their input. Even those who are new to group therapy or CBT become part of a larger support system to help other people with their social anxiety.
In group therapy, each person’s presence, input, and participation are very important in making the therapy effective.
Final Thoughts
There are more reasons to pursue group therapy for social anxiety but we hope that this post gives you some food for thought. People often find it easy to come up with reasons to avoid what is anxiety provoking. We hope that we have given you some reasons to consider group therapy.
If this post has gotten you interested in trying out group therapy, please visit the Building Social Confidence group page for more information or contact Dr. Noguchi.
If you are struggling with social anxiety, DC CBT is here for you. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions, concerns, or to set up an initial no-cost consultation by phone or video.
—
1. Heimberg, R. G., & Becker, R. E. (2002). Cognitive-behavioral group therapy for social phobia: Basic mechanisms and clinical strategies. Guilford Press.
2. Wojtaszek, J., Koch, E. I., Arble, E., & Loverich, T. M. (2024). Cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder – A critical review of methodological designs. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 107(5), doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102928
3. Fogarty, C., Hevey, D., & McCarthy, O. (2019). Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: Long-term benefits and aftercare. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 47(5), 201-513. doi:10.1017/S1352465819000079
4. Herbert, J. D., Rheingold, A. A., & Goldstein, S. G. (2002). Brief cognitive behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 9(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1077-7229(02)80033-5