(Pictures by Dave McKean from The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman)

Thursday, February 15, 2007

reading about shyness

I had a therapy appointment this morning. As usual, I didn't really think about it beforehand, because it's not like I can come up with something to talk about. Last time I'd told her that the psychiatrist gave me a book to read. She asked if I'd discussed the book with the psychiatrist and seemed disappointed with him when I said no. I felt bad, since it's hard to discuss anything with someone who won't talk at all. I hope she realised that.
She had said she'd try to find some books that were written for people with social anxiety, rather than for clinicians and this time she had some printouts from Amazon to show me. I glanced through them enough to read the titles, but there was no other information by which to compare them. Because I didn't spend long enough examining the list, she thought I wasn't interested in reading them, but I'm not sure what I was supposed to be looking for.
I'm supposed to look at them now and see if any would be helpful. It's hard to tell from the information online, because there are always a few reviews saying "this book cured me!" and a few saying it was completely useless. I have read several books like this before, so I know what they're going to say, anyway.
I'm not sure how I feel about working through something like cognitive-behavioural therapy with the therapist. It might help to actually be held accountable for doing the exercises, instead of just reading the books and thinking I'll try it sometime. But, on the other hand, I might be less willing to try things if I know she's going to ask about it.
I did start looking up the books, and even checked the library catalogue for them, so I could read some of them before deciding if they'd be helpful. The first three all came up as missing, which made me wonder if they were stolen by people too shy to buy them.
I also came across a reference for this book, which looks very interesting, since it talks about shyness in terms of performing in social situations. It's not out yet, but it's on order at the Prestigious U library, luckily.

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1 Comments:

At 11:47 PM, Blogger betty said...

fwiw - when i was in therapy the three different people i wound up seeing all used CBT and i loved it. yes, it was cheesy - but having a small, easily defined task i could do between meetings was an easy way for me to 'work on my problems' between sessions. to me it felt like the sessions had a purpose. also the accountability to my doctor allowed me to get more involved in the whole process which in turned helped me get more out of the therapy.

i can see how it would be a little annoying or stressful though. sometimes i felt a little anxious about completing my 'assignments'.

 

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