People with shyness or social anxiety tend to avoid social situations and may have trouble connecting with others due to their extreme fear of humiliation, rejection, and judgment.

The authors' acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) program, identified as the best tool for overcoming shyness, has become available to the public for the first time in this book, and has proven to be highly effective.

In the first section, readers confront the fundamental symptoms of social anxiety; performance fears, and test anxiety for example. Then, readers learn psychological flexibility to improve their ability to accept the feelings, thoughts, and behaviour that may arise as they learn to work past their anxiety.

The book also includes a companion CD featuring additional guided mindfulness exercises and worksheets.

(ACT)-based workbook filled with assessments and exercises designed to help those with social anxiety or shyness.

About the Author

Jan H. Fleming, MD, is a psychiatrist who divides her time between a private practice devoted to individuals suffering with social anxiety and her work as consultant in a hospital-based anxiety disorders clinic. Along with Nancy Kocovski, she developed and piloted a mindfulness and acceptance group treatment for social anxiety disorder.

She is associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, adjunct professor of psychology at Ryerson University, and part-time psychiatrist at the anxiety disorders clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.



Nancy L. Kocovski, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and associate professor in the department of psychology at Wilfred Laurier University. She and her students are actively engaged in research on mindfulness and acceptance processes and interventions in social anxiety. She has received research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (New Investigator Fellowship) and had published widely in the area of social anxiety. She has adjunct appointments at Ryerson University and the University of Waterloo, and maintains a part-time private practice largely devoted to the treatment of social anxiety.

Book Information
ISBN 9781608820801
Author Jan Fleming
Format Paperback
Page Count 200
Imprint New Harbinger Publications
Publisher New Harbinger Publications
Weight(grams) 362g
Dimensions(mm) 203mm * 254mm * 10mm