Book Review: Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness

Author: Butler, G.
Publisher: Basic Books

[For your convenience, you can find links to the product at Amazon.com (US residents) and Amazon.co.uk (UK residents) at the end of this article.]

Gillian Butler's Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques is a compact and very useful book. It is very popular, being part of the series that is currently the international market leader of self-help titles. However, usually you're only given a generic description of that series, not knowing what a specific book is really worth... so, here's a full review of the book itself.

First things first. From the very first information you see, the index, you will expect to find chapters on:

- Understanding Social Anxiety (origins, causes, awareness and the experience of it)
- Overcoming Social Anxiety (where to begin, changing thinking patterns and behaviours, building confidence)
- Related Topics (assertiveness, the influence of bullying, relaxation)

In its 288 pages, this book starts by introducing Social Anxiety Disorder itself: the history of its diagnosis, possible causes, and how it is like for the people who experience it. This, in my opinion, is fundamental, not only in order to create awareness, but also to show people who have the disorder that they are not alone. To show them that others share the same concerns and anxieties. And for those who don't know for sure if their problem is at a level in which treatment could be beneficial, it also includes diagnostic questionnaires.

Different types and degrees of social anxiety are talked about in Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques. As for actual treatment, it presents a number of techniques derived from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), to help in identifying and changing automatic thoughts, be aware of emotional states that influence behaviour. As far as self-help goes, it has quite a number of very helpful material... if you find that something doesn't suit you, try it another way. But as could be expected in a responsible work, the book also discusses formal treatment, beyond self-help. So, in short, it is useful not only for self-help, but also as a worthy complement to something more thorough.

One of the things I like best about this book is its organization, meant for clarity. At each chapter, there are often bulleted lists that sum up the most important aspects to know or follow. Its clear orientation for the public makes it a possibly good choice of book for professionals to recommend to their patients, as a complement to actual cognitive-behavioural therapy.

Conclusion: A must for socially anxious or simply shy people, or just about anyone who'd like to know more about social anxieties or the disorder that characterizes higher levels of that same anxieties. More oriented for the public than for health professionals, and thus more accessible.

Order it today from Amazon.com:
Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

Or, if you live in the UK, you can order from Amazon.co.uk:
Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness: A Self-help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

Recommended.