Curing YOUR Social Anxiety—
The Ridiculously Cheap and Awesome
Shame-Attacking Marathon
Jacob Towery, MD
Michael Luo
Today, we are joined by Dr. Jacob Towery and Michael Luo to promote their upcoming, two-day Social Anxiety Marathon.
Jacob Towery, MD is an adolescent and adult psychiatrist and therapist in private practice in Palo Alto, California. Michael Luo is a fourth year medical student at the Chicago Medical School.
More on them at the end of the show notes, but here’s the scoop. Jacob and Michael will be offering a mind-blowing, two-day marathon for anyone who struggles with social anxiety, which includes shyness, public speaking anxiety, and performance anxiety. They will both be present, along with more than ten experts in TEAM-CBT, coaching participants in the latest tools for quickly overcoming all social anxiety.
And here’s the amazing thing. You can come and attend, and transform your life, for only a $20 donation to one of their four listed amazing charities.
For information / registration, click here
How cool is that? Don’t pass this up. It will be an in-person, hands-on training experience designed to free you from the fears that narrow your life. You will learn and participate in cognitive therapy exercises, identifying and smashing the distorted thoughts that trigger social anxiety, as well as the Self-Defeating Beliefs that trigger social anxiety like the Spotlight and Brushfire Fallacies, the Approval Addiction, and more.
They will also illustrate and lead you in a wide variety of Interpersonal Exposure Techniques, including Smile and Hello Practice, Self-Disclosure (which Michael demonstrates in real time on today’s show), Rejection Practice, Flirting Training, Shame Attacking Exercises, and more.
David claims that Jacob is likely the world’s top expert in Shame Attacking Exercises, and we illustrate several on the podcast. Rhonda described a Shame Attacking Exercise that I challenged her with. It was incredibly terrifying, but turned out really well!
David also described the impact of self-disclosure on a wealthy and powerful businessman he treated who was so insecure that he was even terrified to be around his wife and children.
People who are socially anxious nearly always try hard to hide their negative feelings out of a sense of shame, so others, even friends and family and colleagues, typically aren’t aware of how they feel inside. Michael courageously discloses his own negative thoughts that triggered feelings of social anxiety at being around Jacob, his mentor.
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Maybe I’ll make a mistake.
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I might be wasting Jacob’s time.
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Then he might not want to mentor me.
Dear Dr Burns, Wishing you a Happy New Year to you and your team of good people. Thank you for all you have taught me and for your generous supply of empathy, sympathy and compassion as well as understanding.and acceptance.
Thank you, too, for your many thoughtful comments in the past year! Appreciate you! Best, david
Dear David, I read where some people think that cognitive therapy is a cult. What is your take on that
I would agree, and think this applies to all “schools” of therapy. More later have to run. d
Dear David, I would agree too if that is all you use and think there is. If no other line of reasoning or method is used when necessary than I would say it is a cult.
Right you are. At any rate, I am not a CBT therapist, and do not promote any school of therapy. I use TEAM, which is not a new school but a science based, data-driven structure of how therapy actually works. I just want to be clear, because often people mistake me fior a champion of Beckian CBT. I moved away from that approach decades ago, although I till use many CBT techniques which I created, as well as techniques drawn from more than a dozen “schools” of therapy. I assume people know this, but many do not! d
Dear Dr Burms I was able to do the work I would have in therapy by talking to you. It wouldnt have been much better if I did. I attributed it to the fact that you were honest with me and core ingriedients were involved .I felt heard listened to understood accepted and you had my best interest and well being in mind. Plus I feel that you believed and trusted me like the other therapists didnt so that worked to. I have done research on therapy and did you know that the real change takes place in the first or so 10 sessions. I attrribute that to the therapist knowing what they are doing. So this research supports what happens to you when people recover quickly. The ones who dont know what they are doing and cant get to the problem along casuing you years of decomensationa pain all the while they are tooting their horm. So long term therapy is a myth. You get down to it and get it done. am very critical of that field and I have a very high standard for psychiatric care I take people and what they go through seriously and it needs to be taken care of in a timely manner because that its weh suicidal thinking sets it. No way out.Plus I wanted to ask you do you think it is abusive for someone to have a panic attack. I found this thinking where abusrd. I know people who have had them and they were just scared I dont see any abuse in them.
Hi Debie,
I agree. I don’t see any abuse in a panic attack, only intense fear, as you point out! All the best, david