Clinical Interviews
Social Anxiety runs the spectrum from performance anxiety, public speaking anxiety, and toxic perfectionism to selective mutism and pervasive social avoidance. Many of the millions impacted fear being noticeably nervous, as in erythraphobia (fear of blushing) and hyper-hidrosis. Social anxiety remains a complex challenge for the mental health professions as most sufferers never seek help due to embarrassment driven detachment and avoidance.
The following clinical interviews may be the most documented clinical success with social anxiety. These interviews are with real patients who had the courage to tell their stories. Their stories represent the development and attainment of a high performance mind, which is the essence of The Berent Treatment Methodology. If you listen carefully you will gain insight into the healing process.
The audio links below are in MP3 format. Click to listen:
Social & Performance Anxiety on WFAN Radio 2/14/16
A Discussion with Jonathan Berent, L.C.S.W.
“Ramblings of a Boston Sports Fan on New York’s #1 Sports Station”
“Flying Pop Tarts” & 20 Minute Processing Session with SM 8 Yr. Old
One of the biggest challenges in healing for one who is afflicted with social or performance anxiety is negotiating the defense mechanism of detachment. Detachment is the dynamic and process of disconnecting from thoughts, feelings, and behavioral challenges. Detachment is the gateway to avoidance. When you put this dynamic under the microscope so to speak, there is an element that precedes and breeds detachment. This is the mechanism of “ignoring”. In my working with thousands of anxiety sufferers I have encountered many manifestations of this insidious, complex, and ingrained phenomenon.
Detachment is an adaptive response designed to ward of uncomfortable and anxiety provoking thinking and feeling so that the sufferer can feel safe in real time. The problem with detachment is that it inhibits emotional intelligence, paralyzes skills acquisition, as in learning to control adrenaline, and adds to the non -conscious content in one’s emotional reservoir which recycles and drives the anxiety and panic. A major and profound example of detachment is the over-use and dependence of technology as in video games. Clinically this compulsion of technology over -use shuts down the neural pathways needed for verbal communication. Another example is the 30 year old struggling with pervasive social avoidance who described her compulsion of playing old radio songs in her head to detach from the pressure of interaction. She called her compulsion “radio head”. A high powered attorney architected a career and overall lifestyle that was so obsessively busy that he never had time for thinking or introspection. He said in session “I hate thinking about this stuff”, but he was in treatment for his public speaking panic. Henry, the 8 yr old featured in the following recording, responded with “I think of flying pop tarts” in response to my question “what do you think about when you detach from anxiety”. This was a very advanced interaction in his therapeutic process. Think of it! An 8 year old understanding the concept to answer the question. It is a sign of core healing and the development of emotional intelligence with was the result of The Berent Treatment Method for Selective Mutism. While the parents laughed at his response they did understand the importance of the issue.
The following is a processing session with Henry and his mother. This occurred at session #15 of treatment, which was in the final stage. Please keep in mind that each patient or family has their own learning curve which is dependent on a number of variables. Listen to the high performance and outstanding way this 8 yr old was able to discuss thoughts and feelings.
Parental Processing with 8 Yr. Old Recovering Selective Mute
Click here to listen
Self-Help and Treatment Options
- Free Audio CD from Social-Anxiety.com
- Social Anxiety: The Untold Story
- Beyond Shyness: How To Conquer Social Anxieties
- Work Makes Me Nervous
- Comprehensive Self-Therapy Audio Program
- Public Speaking Anxiety Self-Therapy Audio Program
- “Warm Hands Cool Face” A Self-Help Clinical Program for Blushing Anxiety & Erythrophobia
- The Berent Method: High Performance Therapy for Social-Anxiety
- Telephone/skype therapy available worldwide
- Selective Mutism Seminar Audio CD/MP3 Program
- Self-Help Program for Parents of Children with Selective Mutism
- The Sociability Questionnaire
- Tip of the Month Club
- Social Therapy and The Learning Disabled
- Free Parent Addiction Survey
Parental Processing with 8 Yr. Old Recovering Selective Mute
The following is a processing session with Henry and his mother. This occurred at session #15 of treatment, which was in the final stage. Please keep in mind that each patient or family has their own learning curve which is dependent on a number of variables. Listen to the high performance and outstanding way this 8 yr old was able to discuss thoughts and feelings.
Introduction from Jonathan Berent: 15 minutes to change your life
15 minutes to change your life
Technology Exec Makes Friends With Adrenaline
Listen to this technology executive describe how he made friends with adrenaline.
Free Seminar: Blushing & Performance Anxiety
Karen, a film editor, relates her emotional and physiological challenges and success.
Karen, a film editor, relates her emotional and physiological challenges and success.
Depression, Social Inhibition, & Medication Dependence Resolved – “My Quietness in Social Situations Made People Feel Weird”
“I avoided social situations; especially ones where I had to walk in by myself. More and more I made excuses to avoid. I had problems with my relationship. I was depressed””. “Vicki” discusses the process of healing.
Pharmaceutical Rep Resolves Chronic Public Speaking Phobia and Fear of Being Noticeably Nervous
“Bill” had achieved a relatively high level of success in sales relying on one to one scenarios and spontaneous interactions with physicians in hospitals. Career pressure and advancement required that he face the anxiety scenarios that he had been very adept at avoiding; group presentations and meetings. In fact he had been avoiding job opportunities due to his anxiety, which he described as “anelephant sitting on my chest when trying to talk”. He had gone to a psychiatrist for help, but did not like the medication route. In this interview he discusses his high performance learning curve which was characterized by confidence implementing the paradoxical technique required for psycho-physiological control and management of sweating and blushing.
Public Speaking Panic & Obsession Resolved: Award Winning Salesman
Even though “Rob”, was a highly successful salesman his anxiety was creating tremendous emotional pain. He describes how his anxiety “got to the point where he had difficulty talking to people”. It became a chore to the point where he “was not doing his job well”. In meetings where he received awards he was not able to share his success strategy to “people who were looking for direction”. He knew his anxiety “was out of control but didn’t know what to do about it”. His learning curve in treatment was exceptional.