Social Anxiety therapists in Universal City, California CA
Social Anxiety
Ricardo Peña
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW
Challenge your negative and anxious thoughts. At times it may feel like there’s nothing you can do about the way you feel and how you think. In reality, though, there are a number of things that can help.
Be mindful. Being mindful and practicing mindful meditation helps you to be present and aware of your thoughts and feelings in a non-judgmental and positive way.
Go to a coffee shop. If you enjoy watching movies online or catching up on your favorite TV show, then try taking your tablet or laptop to your nearest coffee shop.
Create an exposure hierarchy. Identify and rate how each social situation makes you feel in terms of anxiousness. For example, 0 would mean no anxiety, and 10 would be a full-blown panic attack.
Don’t focus on yourself. It’s hard to stop the endless mind chatter when you’re in situations that make you particularly anxious. We often turn inward and focus on ourselves and how others will perceive us, almost always assuming it will be negative.
Adopt a healthier lifestyle to reduce anxiety.
7 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
Tanya Samuelian
Marriage and Family Therapist, M.S., Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent form of anxiety that can make even the simplest social interactions feel overwhelming. It can result in avoiding social situations, experiencing intense self-consciousness, and fearing judgment from others. These factors significantly impact our personal and professional relationships, limiting our ability to lead a fulfilling life.
However, there is hope. Therapy offers a secure and supportive environment to address the root causes of social anxiety. With the guidance of a therapist, we can work towards developing effective coping mechanisms, enhancing self-esteem, and challenging negative thoughts that contribute to SAD. Together, we can create a personalized treatment plan tailored to your specific needs and goals in managing social anxiety.
Don't allow social anxiety to hinder your progress any longer. Take the first step towards a happier, more confident life by seeking therapy today. Let's collaborate to overcome social anxiety and embrace our fullest potential. Make an appointment with a therapist and embark on your journey of healing now!
9 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
Dr. Ingrid Solano
Psychologist, PhD
I work with both adults and adolescents on an individual basis. Individual psychotherapy helps clients deal with particular issues, symptoms, and stressors. My goal is to provide a safe, non judgmental space for you to explore who you are, how you relate to others, and what supports you on your journey to become your best self. I lean into, listen, understand, and enhance authentic expression. Together we create a collaborative process of transformation. What that means and what that looks like is different for everyone...
I offer evidence-based therapies from a curious, nonjudgmental philosophy. No matter where you have been, evidence-based therapies focus on changing the now. I strive to help my clients experience the world mindfully, and in accordance with their personal values. Through our work in cultivating an affirming, authentic, and non-judgmental therapeutic relationship, I provide support while we collaboratively deconstruct what is causing distress in your life and preventing you from being your most effective and authentic self. Individual therapy facilitates insight and growth, becoming more effective at actualizing your values, and building more authentic relationships with yourself and with others.
While there are many forms of therapy you can pursue, my expertise is in time-limited, evidence-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBT), the Unified Protocol for emotional disorders, and third wave CBT such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Mindfulness based interventions. (I do have experience in, and practice, an eclectic arrangement of other modalities as well-- when applicable or specifically requested.) We explore thoughts, beliefs, and understanding, while also prioritizing behavioral processes that focus on your contexts and the functions of how you relate to your internal experiences. CBT is designed to help individuals notice and shift their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in order to get relief from painful emotions such as anxiety and sadness.
Third wave interventions also promote well-being through developing coping skills, personal values, and metacognition that complement traditional CBT interventions. I provide flexible, customizable approaches that look different with each patient. I empower my clients to discover their strength, clarity, creativity, autonomy, resilience, motivation, and confidence in meeting whatever happens next. I provide individualized tools to use in everyday decision-making that will help those changes last. With these modalities I treat individuals who are impacted by depression, anxiety, life transitions, relationship distress, burnout, divorce, loss, uncertainty, stigma, and other life experiences, diagnoses, and stressors. We explore the sources, experiences, and beliefs that impact how you relate with the world and implement change in your life. You are the expert on you, but are you your most effective and content self?
13 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
David Strah
Marriage and Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
I work with my clients to help them identify strengths and then apply them to areas of their life they are not as confident in
Social Anxiety
Sean Sprigle
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPCC
Social anxiety can be crippling but you don’t have to live with it forever, it is treatable!
7 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
Karen Queller
Art Therapist, M.A Expressive Arts Therapy
Discover what your unique process is and how it can actually help you transform social anxiety, develop self-expression, build confidence, and cultivate authentic connections with others.
5 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
Sam Naimi
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, Psychotherapist, Psychoanalytic Candidate
Social anxiety can feel like a spotlight is constantly shining on you. Together in therapy we will work to understand why that spotlight feels so harsh or scary. By exploring past experiences and the critical voices they may have created, we can weaken their power.
6 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
Stella Zweben Samuel, LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW
I run a group for young adult women who struggle with social anxiety. This group allows each member to learn about anxiety, to share what they struggle, to learn coping strategies, and to gain some support from other members. With the pandemic and quarantine, many clients have begun to struggle with social anxiety and I work with these clients to learn how to understand the anxiety they feel and how it impacts their daily life.
31 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
Paula E. Bruce, Ph.D. & Associates, A Psychological Corporation
Psychologist, Clinical and Forensic Psychology
Social anxiety can be debilitating and have a detrimental impact on the enjoyment of life. Understanding and reducing social anxiety is an important step towards improving satisfaction in life.
28 Years Experience
Social Anxiety
David Eshleman
Marriage and Family Therapist, M.A., LMFT
So often shame and social anxiety are tied together. It has been said that "It is a joy to be hidden and a disaster not to be found". I find this to be very true. We all desire closeness and intimacy, however, often when we experience conditional worth, shame based parenting and other traumas early in our lives, we can naturally develop a fear of people. Social anxiety is to be afraid of being ourselves for fear of rejection or some other shame/imperfection. Learning to love ourselves, heal from the shame, and reclaim our birthright of belonging is the work.
12 Years Experience