Morita Therapy: Social Anxiety
Social Anxiety: Healthy Ways to Treating Fear
Social Anxiety Social anxiety disorder is one of the most commonly occurring mental health disorders with a lifetime prevalence rate of 12.1% (Ruscio et al., 2008). Social anxiety has been defined as anxiety resulting from the prospect or presence of person evaluation in real or imagined social situations, in which the person is the focus of attention (e.g., conversations, public speaking; Schlenker and Leary, 1982). Many Models have been used to describe potential causes and treatments of social anxiety. In 1982, Schlenker and Leary (1982) indentified four categories of models: the social skills deficit model (anxiety …show more content…
Morita Therapy is originally a Japanese therapeutic treatment model based on Eastern philosophy and worldview (Aldous, 1994; Chen, 1996, 1998; Fujita, 1986; Ishiyama, 1986a, 1986b). The distinctive feature of Morita therapy is its deep roots in the Eastern philosophy of human-nature harmony in dealing with psychological difficulties such as social anxiety and related human emotions. It is this philosophical foundation that makes Morita therapy depart significantly from those traditional Western psychotherapeutic and counseling approaches in tackling emotional difficulties. While there are a variety of therapeutic approaches in dealing with social anxiety, perhaps the most well-known and frequently used interventions are within the cognitive and/or behavior therapeutic domain (cf., Beck & Weishaar, 2000; Ellis, 2000; Lazarus, 2000; Wilson, 2000). Morita Therapy takes a different perspective than CBT. According to Morita philosophy, having a negative state of mind leading to anxiety feelings is a normal part of human life, and thus it is virtually impossible to exclude or abolish such emotions from one’s life experiences (Chen, 1996). It is considered that the appropriate way of dealing with anxiety feelings is to let the person experience them while undertaking productive activities in daily life. When the person becomes more capable of living a constructive life with the presence of inconvenient feelings such as social anxiety, the negativity of such emotions will have little or no impact on them. As such, the person can and should be able to live a healthier and more optimal life (Chen,
Social Anxiety Social anxiety disorder is one of the most commonly occurring mental health disorders with a lifetime prevalence rate of 12.1% (Ruscio et al., 2008). Social anxiety has been defined as anxiety resulting from the prospect or presence of person evaluation in real or imagined social situations, in which the person is the focus of attention (e.g., conversations, public speaking; Schlenker and Leary, 1982). Many Models have been used to describe potential causes and treatments of social anxiety. In 1982, Schlenker and Leary (1982) indentified four categories of models: the social skills deficit model (anxiety …show more content…
Morita Therapy is originally a Japanese therapeutic treatment model based on Eastern philosophy and worldview (Aldous, 1994; Chen, 1996, 1998; Fujita, 1986; Ishiyama, 1986a, 1986b). The distinctive feature of Morita therapy is its deep roots in the Eastern philosophy of human-nature harmony in dealing with psychological difficulties such as social anxiety and related human emotions. It is this philosophical foundation that makes Morita therapy depart significantly from those traditional Western psychotherapeutic and counseling approaches in tackling emotional difficulties. While there are a variety of therapeutic approaches in dealing with social anxiety, perhaps the most well-known and frequently used interventions are within the cognitive and/or behavior therapeutic domain (cf., Beck & Weishaar, 2000; Ellis, 2000; Lazarus, 2000; Wilson, 2000). Morita Therapy takes a different perspective than CBT. According to Morita philosophy, having a negative state of mind leading to anxiety feelings is a normal part of human life, and thus it is virtually impossible to exclude or abolish such emotions from one’s life experiences (Chen, 1996). It is considered that the appropriate way of dealing with anxiety feelings is to let the person experience them while undertaking productive activities in daily life. When the person becomes more capable of living a constructive life with the presence of inconvenient feelings such as social anxiety, the negativity of such emotions will have little or no impact on them. As such, the person can and should be able to live a healthier and more optimal life (Chen,