Collection of SA/self-help book recommendation threads and links to free CBT

[Marc l]

I was thinking of getting 'overcoming social anxiety and shyness' by G.Butler.

Has anyone read this and found it useful?

[wobbly]

I read this book and found it reasonable useful. It's methods are based on CBT and so follows the advice given in other similar books. It has a chapter on self consciousness and self absorption (my words) and I found this pertinent to me. I'm presently reading Anthony Robbins's Awaken The Giant Within and getting something from it and particularly from the message that your destiny is in your hands and to take control of your own life. Carpe Diem!

[helen_ks]

Originally Posted by Marc l

I was thinking of getting 'overcoming social anxiety and shyness' by G.Butler.

Has anyone read this and found it useful?

I'm reading this one at the mo, I'm only half way through and it seems to be helping a bit. It's the kind of book you have to 'work' through so it's not just a case of reading it but I'd recommend it.

[NikNox]

Anyone know any good personal accounts of having SA or depression that there are out there?

[mico]

Not sure about personal accounts.

Some books recommended time and time again are:

Overcoming social Anxiety and Shyness - Gillian Butler ...and
Diagonally Parked in a Parallel Universe: Working Through Social Anxiety - Signe A Dayhoff

Those are both CBT approaches towards social anxiety.

If you're looking for personal accounts then there are a few people residing in the blogosphere. Have a look for them, here:

http://blogsearch.google.com/

Or alternatively Social Anxiety Support have began to take up articles submitted by members:

http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/

[noon]

Originally Posted by NikNox

Anyone know any good personal accounts of having SA or depression that there are out there?

Hi, I guess you have probably read the "Success Stories" on this website (found in the main menu on the home page)? People talk about their personal experiences with SA and also about different things thay have done to help their recovery. I found it comforting to read these, and also hopeful that there are treatments that can help.

There are also some good personal accounts of SA on the National Phobics Society website, in the SA section (www.phobics-society.org.uk)

Hope this helps and good luck.
Holly

[I'mGonnaBeAWheelSomeday]

'50 Self Help Classics' by Tom Butler-Bowdon is a good book if you need to decide what book is for you, it gives about 5 or 6 pages for each of the 50.

[emgee]

One book I have found useful is 'Sunbathing In The Rain' by Gwyneth Lewis. It's about her experience of Depression and her recovery.
Although I couldn't identify with her(she's cetainly not SA), I found her methods of coping with depression enlightening.

[ladela]

Feel the Fear and do it anyway is an amazing book - infact I might dig it out and have another read. Its a very inspiring book - really motivates ya.

Originally Posted by ladela

Feel the Fear and do it anyway is an amazing book - infact I might dig it out and have another read. Its a very inspiring book - really motivates ya.

Yay that's what i'm listening to at the mo, i felt like proper shite 2 weeks ago, don't know how she does it but my insides feel all happyful now like lifes worth living

[mico]

Originally Posted by greyskittles

'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway' - Susan Jeffers


^I haven't read this, but apparentely it's a good read... Though I'm not sure whether it's a personal account or even whether it's geared towards SA or anxiety in general.

Feel the Fear was the first self-help book I got my hands on when I first started suffering from anxiety. It's not about SA and it isn't directly about anxiety or depression, it's really a universal book for everyone. The kind of reading that gives you a kick up the backside and shows you how. It's good. I would never say it was really that inspirational or great in terms of literature, but if I'm honest, out of all the books I've read that one probably motivated me the most. It's also my most read book.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by NikNox

Anyone know any good personal accounts of having SA or depression that there are out there?

I can understand why you're looking for personal accounts for SA. Most SA self-help books tend to be written by psychologists who have no experience of having the disorder. I do think it would be good if there were more self-help SA books written by former SA sufferers who have recovered.

The only one i've come accross is "Fear is no longer my reality" By Jamie Blythe. I am about half-way through reading it, it doesn't seem to be a great book however, firstly he tends to go on and on about irelevant details like every detail of what he did in his childhood, the second problem is that I don't think he's a typical case, he was a very confident person in his childhood until SA suddenly occurred... as it says in the book "It is unusual for someone with no history of shyness or anxiety around people to develop social anxiety disorder." I'll give more details of it when i've finished reading it. Anyone else read this book?

As for depression, I don't know, I think there will probably be a lot more for that as it is more common and thought to be more common.

Phoenix

[Zotz]

I've been thinking of buying some books, and this thread has been really helpful. I think I'm going to go for:

Overcoming Social Anxiety And Shyness, Diagonally Parked In A Parallel Universe and Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway.

[emgee]

The second one, on CBT, I do own that book but my sister swiped it and I haven't had a chance to read it. Must get that back.

Haven't heard of the other one, I'll look it up, is rebt more or less the same as CBT?


mike

[Innervision]

I have another one by Dr David Burns called 'The Feeling Good Handbook'. I read it some time ago but found it useful.

I've not read anything by Ellis, but have heard some people say they like his stuff. If I recall correctly, REBT and Cognitive therapy were sort of merged to then become CBT.

The Dr Burns book I read apperars to have plenty of good reviews too.

[woodjulian@seznam.cz]

Hi- I personally recommend Essential Help for Your Nerces- as it is two (long-ish) books for the price of one, and only about nine pounds.
I have found her books very useful, and am interested in anyone who has also. I am hoping to conduct some research on her in the not-so-distant future!

[Stervek]

Hi all

I just wanted let you know of a good book i've recently read. 'Embracing Uncertainty' by Susan Jeffers (the author of Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway).

I've read alot of self help books over the last few months, but this is deffinately the best I've come across, for me.

It is basically all about accepting uncertainty, not fighting against it. Replacing hope/depair with wonder (i.e. instead of 'I hope I get the job', think 'I wonder if I'll get the job' - thus removing the expectation and the possibility of dissapointment). I know the idea of not having hope sounds like a negative one, but in my experience hope = worry, fear and dissapintment. Much better to 'wonder' and just see what happens.

There are loads of other ideas and excercises to do, which help you to let go of your desire to control everything in your life (which we obviously can't) and just let things happen.

It's helping me to realise that most of my problems are 'in the mind' and I believe I can change them with the right frame of mind. I have relied on medication for a long time, but I know they just hide the problem, they don't get to the root.

Anyway, if you fancy a look, a link is here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Embracing-Un...2427896&sr=8-1

I hope you may find it useful.

Kevin

[purplecherry]

Sounds like a good book, Stervek. I think that the most uncertain moments in our lives hold the most potential for personal/ spiritual/inner growth. They can be scary as hell, though.

Looks like a useful book - I think I'll buy a copy. Thanks for the heads-up

[OllyAvoid]

Hello everybody.

I would like to request a bit of advice.

I want to give a book about SAD to a relation of mine so that they can read about the condition and begin to understand it. I'd like the book to explain what SAD is, how it affects a person's life, the causes of SA, how it develops, treatments for it, and so on.

Obviously the ideal is that I talk about it with people myself, so my hope is that if they can read about SA and begin to understand my problems more, then it'll be easier for me to be open and discuss it with them.

So could anyone suggest the best available book for such a purpose?

Also has anyone else tried such a plan? Did you find it hard to be open with family about SA? Did they react well or not?

Well I think thats enough questions to be getting on with

[Wings]

there's several books on SA, i'm not sure which is the "best" one for your purpose, but the one i ordered off amazon i think it's quite useful. it's called "Overcoming social anxiety and shyness" by Gillian Butler, and i remember i picked this one because the amazon reviews were fairly good.

part one is about understanding SA. what it is, causes, effects on the person, etc. it's quite a big chunk of the book (up to page 78), so your family might find that useful.
part two is about overcoming it using cognitive behavioral techniques.

overall i think this book is quite useful in terms of understanding SA, not so much in actually "overcoming" it, although the cognitive techniques are useful to know.

i haven't read any other books on SA, so i don't know what they're like.

as for being open with my parents, i've never actually spoken to them about it. my parents are totally clueless about a lot of things in my life i tried hinting them by leaving the SA book around the house...i don't know if they picked up on that or not

[png]

Printing off an article from the web might be a bit more digestible for a non-SAer? Maybe something from the SAUK main site? The books can be quite heavy going ...

[OllyAvoid]

Its ironic you should mention the Gillian Butler book, Kiwi, as that is the one I am reading at the moment. I think you are right, it seems like a useful book to give to someone for them to understand about SA.

I also agree, pantini, that for some people giving them a book about SA would be very heavy going. Enough to send 'em running! But its mainly for me ol' Mum who is very interested in psychology anyway; her book shelf is heaving with books about psychology, psychiatry etc. So I am not worried about that in this case.

Anyway my aim is more to "open the channel of conversation" so that I can talk openly about it (the furthest I've got so far is a vague and mysterious allusion to "my problems". Why can't I just talk directly about my SAD? I suppose I am still ashamed and embarrassed of the condition. But I have to accept it in order to deal with it; so talking about it is an important step in accepting it, don't you think?). So in that sense it is not vitally important which book I choose I guess, and this seems a good one (of the 2 and a half I've read )

A search on Amazon shows theres loads of books available. I am worried that there could be an even better one out there that would make it all clear and understandable to anyone who read it. But I realise that thought is a symptom of SA: I am worried that giving someone a less than perfect book about SA will be more likely to invoke their disapproval and lack of understanding than if I read every single book and then choose the very best, perfect one. Damn SA, it pervades everything I do.

[Pal]

I managed to get this for 33p on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-S...7571782&sr=8-4

Actually a very good book with lots of useful advice.

[OllyAvoid]

Originally Posted by Pal

I managed to get this for 33p on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-S...7571782&sr=8-4

Actually a very good book with lots of useful advice.

I noticed that one but found the front cover offputting. Whats with that picture? Looks like the author doodled it on bog roll ten minutes before he had to hand the final version over to the publisher Maybe I will give it a look though.

[Pal]

Originally Posted by rex

I noticed that one but found the front cover offputting. Whats with that picture? Looks like the author doodled it on bog roll ten minutes before he had to hand the final version over to the publisher Maybe I will give it a look though.

It's a good book, worth buying.

[whitespaces]

Hello everyone, I've had SA for the last 4 - 5 years on and off (although I've only just realised that that's what it was) and in various degrees of severity. My main prob is in work, going to meetings have slowly become more and more of a problem until now I'm dripping with sweat and cannot communicate properly plus the dread before a meeting even of 3-4 people is unbearable. It is worse with certain people, esp if they are good looking/intelligent/confident/successful etc.

Anyway I finally plucked up the courage to go to the docs today and he thinks I have social phobia and recommended I start with a good self help book (as because I have asthma I can't take beta blockers) - I must say I'm a bit sceptical about self help books but the waiting list on NHS is 18 months so will have to start with that first before look into councelling. I'm also looking into going to a group discussion in Manchester on Tuesdays (in Hulme). Has anyone done anything like this, and could anyone recommend a good book?

Many many thanks

Mr B

[munch]

Hi whitespaces

I'm just working my way through Gillian Butlers 'overcoming shyness and social anxiety'. There's a book and also a three part course which is basically just a shortened version of the book but with spaces to write in. I got both of these from amazon.

It was recommended to me by somebody on this site and i've found it really helpful.

[Pal]

I'd recommend the Social Anxiety Self Help Course, avalible through Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-S...7895094&sr=8-1

and the book that preceaded the course.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-S...7895131&sr=1-1

I'd also recommend this book which i brough only recently but is an excellent book for SAers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-S...7895175&sr=1-4

[Narcissist]

I also had no idea I was suffering from social anxiety until I read some stuff on the net and saw the doc.

I'm in the NW too and got quoted a similar figure on the waiting list for NHS treatment. I looked at how badly SA was affecting my life and realised that I just couldn't wait that long so I looked at private options. I've been to see a psychotherapist at Hampden House (www.hampdenhouse.co.uk) who have been very good - it is also possible to arrange times outside of my work which I don't think the NHS could do. If you can wait then NHS will be a lot cheaper!

I'm going to a Manchester support group for the first time this Sat (scary!). The thread about them is here:
http://www.social-anxiety-community....t=5823&page=13