Reciprocated Perceptions and its effects on your interpersonal relationships
Interpersonal Attractions
Your goal is to conquer your social phobia and to improve your readiness to interact with or relate to other people in relationships. You will be asked to use your critical mind to think logically. Remember, however, that it took you a lifetime to develop your social phobias, so it will take some time to conquer your fears.
When you can understand reciprocated or shared perceptions and their effects on your interpersonal relationships, you can begin to define how you interact with others. In order to cope with your irrational thinking when it comes to viewing others you must consider that when you perceive people it is often difficult for the average person to determine what the other is thinking. Since people with certain phobias or related conditions often worry about what others are thinking about them, it makes it difficult for that person to interact with others effectively. They may fear rejection or fear being put down by others, as none of us can completely read anyone else’s mind to determine what they are thinking.
The rule of thumb is to forget about what others are thinking about you. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion and most times people are looking at your positive traits. Thus, if you think someone is thinking badly of you, you are probably either wrong or almost certainly in the company of someone who has problems too.
Until a person gets to know you fully, that person cannot draw any conclusion about the type of person you are. In addition, even if that person thinks they know you well, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she knows you at all. This is because people change every day of their lives. They rethink through their beliefs and before you know it, they have a new set of beliefs in place, which makes them appear different. The person is still the same entity, only he or she now has a different view.
Thus, we must analyze the way we share perceptions with others to determine their effects on our interpersonal relationships before we can help you conquer your phobia.
Your problem then is how you share perceptions with other people, but those problems stem from common phobic symptoms.
Symptoms of Social Phobia
Everyone is different, but typically, someone with social phobia may feel uneasy in public because they do not like others looking at them. They fear being rejected or fear that someone is judging them. Because of those emerging symptoms, which stem from fears, you may experience physical symptoms such as shaking, sweating, heart palpitations or other conditions.
Below are charts that describe some of the symptoms and feelings you may experience when your social phobia takes control. Please review the charts closely. After you review the charts, you will be asked to assess your own symptoms during your phobia attack.
Reactions to those fears
The symptoms above describe some of the ways you may feel when you interact with other people if you have a social phobia. Part of the problem with social phobias is you feel that you do not share the same perceptions as other people. Now assess your own symptoms closely.
Your goal in overcoming social phobia, is to stop worrying about what others think of you by beginning to realize that you share similar feelings and thoughts with other people. What you think of yourself is more important than what others think of you.
More often than not, people tend to search for other people who have comparable personality traits, likes, dislikes, etc to themselves. We feel comfortable with people we think are similar to us and we like them. When someone likes a person, it makes them feel as though the other person is supportive and positive. When someone can develop a mutual relationship with another person, it affects the person in many ways. They may feel attracted to the other person and feel more willing to establish a relationship. The key to unlocking social phobia, then, is to understand that people share perceptions in many ways can help you overcome your phobia.
Considering people you know
We ask you now to consider the people you know. Think about their qualities, beliefs, behaviors, actions and personalities as a whole. Consider them closely to help you decide which people you know that you can interact with well. This week, assess each person you know and plan to spend some time with the people that you can connect with. Spending time with people you want to know may be difficult at first but it is vital in overcoming social phobia.
During your interactions with people you know, notice your thinking patterns, behavioral patterns, symptoms, responses, etc and record them in your diary. Record how you interact with them socially.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy reciprocated perception therapy has been used over the years to help people focus on solving their problems. In essence, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a therapeutic approach to help people like you identify your thinking habits, which cause you to think negatively and feel pain. Using the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy reciprocated perception approach we can help you reform those maladaptive behaviors and reactions that cause you social phobia. Using the right approaches allow us to help you learn effective ways to share perceptions with other people and feel more comfortable with them.
In order to help you overcome your negative thinking habits which cause your social phobia we now ask you to measure your level of thinking. Each day, record your thinking habits, assumptions and core beliefs as you discover them. Record the automatic thoughts that you develop, as well as the assumptions and beliefs. Understand that assumptions are different from critical thinking. Assumptions are statements we make of ourselves or conjectures we conclude based on our beliefs or what we learned from others.
Next, attempt to control those thoughts each day. When you feel symptoms of your social phobia developing, ask yourself what do you fear? Assess your fears.
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