Your support changes lives. Thank you!
Learn More
Discover a structured framework for assessing patients’ AI chatbot use, including its frequency,…
Book authors: Larry Cohen, LICSW, A-CBT, Molly Schiffer, LCPC, Aureen Pinto Wagner, PhD
Using CBT, Members’ New Books Help with Fears, Social Anxiety, and Pediatric OCD
New Book Tackles Feelings of Shame, Self-Consciousness in Those with Social Anxiety
Larry Cohen, LICSW, A-CBT, author of Overcoming Shame-Based Social Anxiety & Shyness: A CBT Workbook to Move Past Feelings of Self-Consciousness or Defectiveness and Live with Confidence, says social anxiety involves fear, but it is also often based on shame and self-doubt.
Cohen notes that social anxiety is usually treated as a special type of phobia but unlike other phobias – fear of dogs or closed spaces or flying – which are based on (a perceived) danger or threat, social anxiety has both fear and shame, with the latter not usually a part of other phobias. “I have not seen specific self-help books for social anxiety that focus on the underlying shame that forms the foundation for many people with social anxiety,” he said.
This publication looks at underlying core beliefs that bring about shame in most people with social anxiety and shyness. With social anxiety, people believe there is something wrong with them and they suffer from negative (mis)beliefs about themselves.
Cohen, a Washington, DC-based clinician with over 35 years of experience, understands how shame plays into the debilitating fears of many who suffer from social anxiety. Co-founder of the National Social Anxiety Center (NSAC), Cohen is the perfect person to pen a (work)book like this.
Key takeaways from the workbook include:
- Social anxiety is a deeper problem than a lot of therapists realize
- Lessening anxiety is important, but so is identifying & changing unhealthy core beliefs
- Increasing pride and self-confidence takes time but is attainable
- Setting goals and working towards them in steps will feel less overwhelming
The book is intended as a resource for those with social anxiety and can be used alone, or with a therapist, or with a friend or support group, to provide effective strategies for overcoming anxiety and shame. It can also be used as a training tool for therapists.
“The good news is that step by step, you can still make a great deal of progress in overcoming both the anxiety and the shame,” Cohen told ADAA.
Order Overcoming Shame-Based Social Anxiety & Shyness: A CBT Workbook to Move Past Feelings of Self-Consciousness or Defectiveness and Live with Confidence by Larry Cohen, LICSW, A-CBT.
New Workbook Offers Relief from Fear and Intrusive Thoughts About Body and Brain
In a blog she published several years ago, ADAA member, author, and clinician Molly Bradley Schiffer, LCPC, wrote how health anxiety often stems from intrusive thoughts that are driven by “hyper-responsibility” obsessions and deep-seated fears that extend beyond illness or death.
Hyper-responsibility in health anxiety is an excessive sense of personal duty to prevent harm or illness in oneself or others, leading to obsessive thoughts that the person is solely responsible for detecting and preventing physical or mental illness even when things are outside of their control.
When readers reached out sharing that the blog resonated with their own experiences, Schiffer decided to expand her work into a book: The Body-Based Obsessions Workbook: CBT Skills to Manage Anxiety and Intrusive Thoughts About Your Body and Brain. She says the publication was inspired by her personal experiences, and those of her clients.
What sets it apart from other publications is the transdiagnostic approach to treating a wide range of obsessions about the body including a section devoted to mental health anxiety. Schiffer examines how core beliefs and problematic patterns of thought contribute to one’s anxiety about their body.
“My aim is to provide hope and help to those who suffer from endless fears about their body and mind,” the author told ADAA.
Order The Body-Based Obsessions Workbook: CBT Skills to Manage Anxiety and Intrusive Thoughts About Your Body and Brain by Molly Bradley Schiffer, LCPC with a foreword by ADAA member Jon Hershfield, MFT.
ADAA Member’s Publication “Kit” Serves as a Professional Aid for Treating Pediatric OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in children and teens affects their social, emotional, and academic growth. While exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is the gold standard, asking youth to face their fears can be difficult. Therapists must balance trust-building with empowering the youth to develop self-efficacy – not easy given the varied presentations, family dynamics, and comorbidities involved in treating a youth, says ADAA member Aureen Pinto Wagner, PhD.
But with 25+ years of practice, the North Carolina-based clinician created an OCD Professional’s Kit for therapists. Her publication - Treatment of OCD in Children and Adolescents: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Manual (Professional's Kit, Third Edition) – is a comprehensive, flexible guide that blends scientific evidence with clinical wisdom. At its core is the Worry Hill® analogy, which illustrates how anxiety rises and falls during exposure.
Dr. Wagner says the Professional’s Kit emphasizes helping youth and families understand and embrace the process through steps and strategies like:
- Readiness first: four steps to prepare families before exposure
- Child-friendly tools: analogies, visuals, and “what to say” scripts
- Parent collaboration: strategies to engage caregivers as partners
- Step-by-step guidance: treating intrusive thoughts, scrupulosity, ‘just-right’ OCD, and mental rituals
- Support for setbacks: treatment reluctance, meltdown management, relapse prevention, and recover
“My hope is that the Kit equips therapists with the skills to help youth and families climb - and descend - the Worry Hill with courage, confidence, and optimism,” Dr. Wagner said. “The youths and families learn that they are braver than they might think they are, and therapists build confidence in their own ability to provide exposure therapy to clients.”
The Kit includes:
- A 300-page treatment manual
- 34 color Teaching Tools for therapists
- Child-focused resources like the Feeling Thermometer and RIDE Steps cards
- Printable forms for assessment and treatment
Order Treatment of OCD in Children and Adolescents: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Manual (Professional's Kit, Third Edition) by Aureen Pinto Wagner, PhD. (Companion books for children and parents can be purchased separately). Check out Dr. Wagner's Facebook group.
ADAA Blog Content and Blog Comments Policy
ADAA provides this Website blogs for the benefit of its members and the public. The content, view and opinions published in Blogs written by our personnel or contributors – or from links or posts on the Website from other sources - belong solely to their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ADAA, its members, management or employees. Any comments or opinions expressed are those of their respective contributors only. Please remember that the open and real-time nature of the comments posted to these venues makes it is impossible for ADAA to confirm the validity of any content posted, and though we reserve the right to review and edit or delete any such comment, we do not guarantee that we will monitor or review it. As such, we are not responsible for any messages posted or the consequences of following any advice offered within such posts. If you find any posts in these posts/comments to be offensive, inaccurate or objectionable, please contact us via email at [email protected] and reference the relevant content. If we determine that removal of a post or posts is necessary, we will make reasonable efforts to do so in a timely manner.
ADAA expressly disclaims responsibility for and liabilities resulting from, any information or communications from and between users of ADAA’s blog post commenting features. Users acknowledge and agree that they may be individually liable for anything they communicate using ADAA’s blogs, including but not limited to defamatory, discriminatory, false or unauthorized information. Users are cautioned that they are responsible for complying with the requirements of applicable copyright and trademark laws and regulations. By submitting a response, comment or content, you agree that such submission is non-confidential for all purposes. Any submission to this Website will be deemed and remain the property of ADAA.
The ADAA blogs are forums for individuals to share their opinions, experiences and thoughts related to mental illness. ADAA wants to ensure the integrity of this service and therefore, use of this service is limited to participants who agree to adhere to the following guidelines:
1. Refrain from transmitting any message, information, data, or text that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, that may be invasive of another 's privacy, hateful, or bashing communications - especially those aimed at gender, race, color, sexual orientation, national origin, religious views or disability.
Please note that there is a review process whereby all comments posted to blog posts and webinars are reviewed by ADAA staff to determine appropriateness before comments are posted. ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit a post containing offensive material as defined by ADAA.
ADAA reserves the right to remove or edit posts that contain explicit, obscene, offensive, or vulgar language. Similarly, posts that contain any graphic files will be removed immediately upon notice.
2. Refrain from posting or transmitting any unsolicited, promotional materials, "junk mail," "spam," "chain mail," "pyramid schemes" or any other form of solicitation. ADAA reserves the right to delete these posts immediately upon notice.
3. ADAA invites and encourages a healthy exchange of opinions. If you disagree with a participant 's post or opinion and wish to challenge it, do so with respect. The real objective of the ADAA blog post commenting function is to promote discussion and understanding, not to convince others that your opinion is "right." Name calling, insults, and personal attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated. ADAA will remove these posts immediately upon notice.
4. ADAA promotes privacy and encourages participants to keep personal information such as address and telephone number from being posted. Similarly, do not ask for personal information from other participants. Any comments that ask for telephone, address, e-mail, surveys and research studies will not be approved for posting.
5. Participants should be aware that the opinions, beliefs and statements on blog posts do not necessarily represent the opinions and beliefs of ADAA. Participants also agree that ADAA is not to be held liable for any loss or injury caused, in whole or in part, by sponsorship of blog post commenting. Participants also agree that ADAA reserves the right to report any suspicions of harm to self or others as evidenced by participant posts.