Overcoming Social Anxiety: Step by Step Paperback – May 9, 2014

It really is THE BOOK to read if you suffer from social anxiety disorder (SAD). There are so many books out there about SAD but none of them beats or tops this one. It will REALLY work and by that, I mean that by the time you reach the end of the book, you can count on being freed from SAD for the rest of your life. I mean it LITERALLY! So, by the time you reach the end of the book, you will have already regained your freedom from SAD and transformed into an entirely new person who will be able to live the life you always wanted and dreamed of and you could start celebrating this new milestone and begin conquering the world and building new meaningful relationships that will enhance your life in all kinds of ways. Dr. Richards is the only Doctor in the whole world on our planet who has founded an institute especially and specifically and exclusively to treat and overcome SAD. And he is certainly the best person in the universe to talk about it and about how to get over it and extricate it from your system forever. You will find out your self once you read the book and you'll be able to relate to what I'm saying. All the best to all SAD sufferers!

I'd recommend this book for anyone with social anxiety or fear of public speaking. It takes practice and commitment with the exercises, but the author has wonderful suggestions. I've suffered social anxiety for years and the exercises will be a great help.

I've been suffering from anxiety and related depression since I was a teenager. This book, along with the online course through the Social Anxiety Institute, has been so, so helpful in significantly reducing my day to day levels of anxiety as well as anxiety and panic associated with more stressful events. This is something that after 15 years of seeing therapists and trying other books, I was starting to think I would never be able to change. The best part for me is how simple and easy it is to follow each day, and to be consistent with it; which is the most important thing for trying to make long-term changes. The therapy takes the least amount of emotional energy out of all the different therapies I've tried. But it is very well designed to make you challenge yourself only a small amount at a time, but consistently.

As a person who has battled with social anxiety for many years, I found this book pretty helpful. I have heard this before, but this book reminds you that the negative thinking patterns are actually something real, in your brain, by way of neural pathways and not something you're imagining. With enough practice of turning your negative thoughts into positive ones through RATIONAL thinking, you can literally create new neural pathways that will eventually make rational, positive thoughts switch on much easier than the negative ones that have been flooding your mind for years.The book is not all about neural pathways and the brain; don't worry, you won't be bored by that. It explains what CBT is, how it works, and steps you can take to manage your social anxiety. I only gave the book 4 stars because I felt that a lot of the subject matter could have been grouped together better; I found some of it scattered in different places. (I purchased the E-book version)Thanks, Lizziehttp://www.anxietysoup.com

This book is without a doubt life changing. If your dedicated to overcoming social anxiety and are willing to put in the time and effort, then this book will definitely help you. It's not going to happen overnight though. You have to do what the book says on a daily basis. It's going to take work on your part. The repetitive application of the steps in this book is the only way to change the neural pathways in your brain for the better. You can't just read it one day and then don't read it for several days. I've had social anxiety for years and read many many books, and this is by far the best book I've read on the subject. The author is also someone you can trust and relate to on the subject, because he had social anxiety for about 20 years. He talks about social anxiety scenarios that only another person with social anxiety would probably understand. If you have social anxiety and want to get better, do yourself a favor and get this book. You deserve it.

This seems to have good advice for social anxiety, but the writing is not great. The book contains many grammatical errors, so if you're like me and that annoys you, you may want to choose something else!

Dr. Richards' 'Overcoming Social Anxiety' is a simple, easy to follow guide to (a) better understand what social anxiety is and (b) learning strategies to overcome it.Since I purchased the book, I have learnt so much more about myself and this devastating condition that has greatly affected my life for most of my life. Dr. Richards' explanations of the causes of social anxiety and his tried and tested strategies to overcome social anxiety are fairly easy to learn and practice, and they have proved to work or me. They have even 'spilled-over' and benefited other aspects of my life.Social anxiety is a terrible condition that no one deserves to live with. Dr. Richards' therapy is the best way that I have encountered to overcome it.

Overcoming Social Anxiety Step by Step is an interesting approach to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy geared specifically to overcoming Social Anxiety. A person operating at even the most severe level of anxiety can begin to use the book in a non-threatening way which leads to the client beginning to feel better right away. One of the points the book focuses on are changing a person's thoughts from negative ones to more rational, truthful ones and it goes into detail to explain how to do this and gives exercises to help accomplish it. I haven't finished the book yet but it looks promising especially if it's paired with the on-line class that the book is designed to accompany.