Social Anxiety

Rather than being a book on social anxiety from the clinical perspective, this compendium looks at the condition primarily from the social psychological perspective. In doing so, it covers the interpersonal basis of social anxiety and looks at how self-presentation, expectancies, self-efficacy, interpersonal behavior, and motivation contribute to the subjective aspects of social anxiety - physiology, cognition, and emotion. While it addresses the experience and treatment of this condition, it should not be thought of as a therapeutic workbook or guide to treatment. Instead, it is a thorough, thoughtful, and informative review of the theory of and research literature on the causes of this pervasive and painful problem.

I bought this book for purposes of continuing education. It is very well done from a scientific viewpoint and I believe many people can learn a lot from it. The limiting factor of this book, in my opinion, is its 1995 publication date. In this field 8 years does make a difference in research and application information available. I would really like to see this book updated by the excellent authors, especially the last chapter which is entitled "Chasing Away the Butterflies". This chapter essentially deals with treatment.