#357: Strategies for Social Anxiety | Ellen Hendriksen | Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

What It Covers

Clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen explains three evidence-based strategies to manage social anxiety: stopping avoidance patterns, handling uncertainty, and redirecting attention outward during social interactions.

Key Questions Answered

• •Avoidance maintenance cycle: Short-term avoidance of anxiety-provoking situations feels relieving but perpetuates social anxiety long-term by preventing exposure and skill development, making the problem progressively worse over time.
• •Uncertainty tolerance: Social anxiety stems from uncertainty about judgment and rejection. Improvement comes through either increasing certainty in specific situations or building capacity to tolerate uncertainty, since anxiety never fully disappears.
• •Attention spotlight technique: During socially anxious moments, shift attention from internal questions like hand placement or self-monitoring outward to what others say and environmental cues, freeing mental bandwidth for natural responses.