Most problems in life can be imagined to behave like a hill. That is a raised ground that presents an obstacle to you. Now in presenting this type of thinking it helps the metaphor to think of the solution to these problems as a nice warm bath of clean fresh water at the top of the hill. All you have to do is get there.
Now obviously some hills have varying levels of steepness, varying levels of height, and varying levels of traction.
Social anxiety disorder can be likened to a marble hill of >60 degree incline. It's easy to climb a few feet and then lose your traction and slide back down to the ground. In this way it can certainly feel discouraging to pursue treatment.
But the good news is that the hill is not necessarily symmetric. There are steeper but more promising paths towards treatment. I've found that this truth can be extended to many other problems in life, that a direct path - though causing more severe pain will get you to your solution faster and with many times more success than trying to go around the hill or taking varying paths to get there.
CBT is that direct path, and though it entails a lot of hard work, if executed properly, can get you the relief you need.
Hey Eric, I think this is a really good way of looking at it. Its hard to sometimes remember that this is a process and its going to take time to reach the top but you just have to keep going. And at this point really, I think what have I got to lose? I've already hit my rock bottom. Thanks for posting this, I have a CBT group for depression tonight that I'm already feeling anxious about. But its necessary!
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