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! (SKU
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
