If you have been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD), chances are good that having the disorder has affected your day-to-day functioning in the workplace. Office life can be an endless array of social obligations including meetings with coworkers and superiors, business lunches, and christmas parties. For the person with SAD, these types of social obligations may provoke intense anxiety and avoidance.
Dr. Bernardo Carducci, professor of psychology at Indiana State University, and author of Shyness: A Bold New Approach offers a number of tips for overcoming shyness in the workplace. Although people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) experience much more severe anxiety symptoms and problems with functioning than people who are shy, strategies used by shy people may be helpful when used in conjunction with regular treatment for SAD. Dr. Carducci's tips include arriving at meetings early, brushing up on the daily news before social functions, and avoiding the use of alcohol to remove inhibitions. All of these tips are designed to make you more comfortable in social settings and increase the likelihood that you will have positive interactions with others.
