Best 9 Social Anxiety Books (+FREE Worksheets)

1. How to Be Yourself

By Ellen Hendriksen

As someone who lives with social anxiety, Dr. Hendriksen has devoted her career to helping her clients overcome the same obstacles she has. With familiarity, humor, and authority, Dr. Hendriksen takes the reader through the roots of social anxiety and why it endures, how we can rewire our brains through our behavior, and―at long last―exactly how to quiet your Inner Critic, the pesky voice that whispers, “Everyone will judge you.” Using her techniques to develop confidence, think through the buzz of anxiety, and feel comfortable in any situation, you can finally be your true, authentic self.

2. The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook

By Martin M. Antony PhD, Richard P. Swinson MD

This workbook will help you learn to find your strengths and weaknesses using self-evaluation, explore and examine your fears, create a personalized plan for change, and put your plan into action through gentle and gradual exposure to the very social situations that cause you to feel uneasy. After completing this program, you’ll be well-equipped to make connections with the people around you.

3. Essential Strategies for Social Anxiety

By Alison McKleroy MA LMFT

Essential Strategies for Social Anxiety features:

• Exercises for everyone—No matter how your social anxiety manifests, discover powerful ways to overcome it and connect with people in a more comfortable way.
• Easy-to-follow advice—Each chapter covers a different approach to dealing with your social anxiety, with step-by-step exercises to get the results you want in your life.
• Everyday examples—Get inspired by real-life anecdotes that demonstrate how these techniques have helped other people achieve breakthroughs in dealing with social anxiety.

4. Overcome Social Anxiety and Shyness

By Matt Lewis

Using referenced scientific and academic research, the book teaches you how to:

• Understand how and why social anxiety and shyness develops.
• Learn how living in ‘safety mode’ can diminish your life.
• Create a mindset that will allow you to believe change is possible.
• Build the foundations for a calm and peaceful mind.
• Avoid mental exhaustion and increase energy.
• Effectively handle anxious thoughts and feelings as they arise.
• Tame the voice in your head and reduce anxiety in social situations.
• Become unstuck and able to take action in situations you would normally avoid, withdraw, or distract yourself from.
• Build your confidence step-by-step in both small and large social situations.
• Take steps to create a fulfilling and meaningful life.

5. The Solution To Social Anxiety

By Dr Aziz Gazipura PsyD

In this inspiring, breakthrough book, Dr. Aziz will guide you along the path towards greater confidence in yourself. You will discover what is keeping you stuck in shyness and learn exactly what to do in order to break free. You will master dozens of clinically proven techniques that will help you:

* Stop worrying about what others will think of you
* Free yourself from self-doubt and self-criticism
* Identify your strengths and increase your self-esteem
* Overcome your fear of rejection
* Start conversations and meet new people
* Create fulfilling friendships and romantic relationships

6. Overcoming Social Anxiety

By Thomas A. Richards Ph.D

This book contains the handouts accompanying the audio / video series “Overcoming Social Anxiety: Step by Step.”

With this book of handouts, you’ll learn how to:

• Challenge automatic negative thoughts and beliefs
• Develop rational, helpful thoughts and belief systems
• Calm yourself down in social situations
• Accept yourself for who you are
• Feel empowered and in control of your life

7. The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness

By Jan E. Fleming, Nancy L. Kocovski

With The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Social Anxiety and Shyness, the authors’ acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) program for overcoming shyness has become available to the public for the first time. This program has been found to be highly effective in research studies for the treatment of social anxiety disorder and related subclinical levels of shyness.

8. Dating Without Fear

By Thomas Smithyman PhD

Packed with proven strategies, personal stories, distilled research, and examples from his clinical practice, Dr. Thomas Smithyman leads you through the maze of dating-based social anxiety and helps you discover the Warm Social World that awaits.

In Dating Without Fear, you will learn how to:

9. How I Overcame Social Anxiety

By Tobias J. Atkins

In this book, you’ll learn:

• The real causes behind your social anxiety & shyness (it’s not what you think)
• My step-by-step guide for overcoming social anxiety & shyness (follow what I did)
• How I learned to stop fearing the opinions and judgments of others
• How to let go of perfectionism and always putting yourself down
• What I learned from spending over $35,000 on alternative therapies
• How to finally start liking and accepting yourself
• How to lower anxiety and self-consciousness in minutes, not years

This book provides you with a proven roadmap to overcome social anxiety, explained by someone who has actually gone through the process and found a way out of it.