NEW RELEASE - MAY 2008
Christine A. Padesky, PhD
1 Full Color DVD
Run Time 54 minutes
Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Social Anxiety
© Copyright
2008 Center for Cognitive Therapy / www.padesky.com
Dr. Christine
Padesky presents her treatment rationale and demonstrates the CBT approach she
developed in the 1990’s to treat social anxiety called “Assertive Defense of
the Self.”
A young woman (Pooh) describes how she avoids
certain social events and activities because she fears criticism from others. In
the opening minutes of this DVD program, Pooh identifies her anxious thoughts
and gives a brief history of her fears.
Via role play practice
that Padesky debriefs using Socratic dialogue, Pooh begins to build her
"Assertive Defense of the Self" repertoire and skills. Over the course of
this single session Pooh gains confidence that she can cope with criticism.
Padesky emphasizes coping with criticism rather than
testing out the belief that people are critical. This is because successful
CBT protocols help people directly face their fears. If fear of criticism is
central to social anxiety then it makes sense that learning to face and cope
with criticism should be central to treatment.
Once Pooh gains confidence she can defend herself against
criticism, she works with Padesky to devise a behavioral experiment to test her
skills in the real world. She devises a challenging experiment that she hopes
will elicit criticism from others. This experiment is based on the "Assertive
Defense" philosophy that people with social anxiety should court criticism
until their fears subside. Viewers will hear how Pooh and Padesky develop the
experiment and how Pooh learns to view herself as “lucky” if she received
criticism.
The end credits of the program include a photo of Pooh carrying out
her behavioral experiment that she emailed to Dr. Padesky several weeks after
this session was filmed. Our new Audio CD on Social Anxiety includes
more follow-up information on these experiments! #SANX
DVD Chapters
1.
Fear of Criticism
2. Relevant History
3. Treatment Rationale
4. Assertive Defense Setup
5. Practice Assertive Defense
6. Debrief Experiments
7. Seek Criticism
8. Practice “Gentle” Defense
9. Summary & Assignment
10. End Credits
