The Solution to Social Anxiety

The Solution to Social Anxiety: Break Free From the Shyness That Holds You Back written by Dr. Aziz Gazipura is a self help book that guides the reader through ways to have a better social life. This book was recommended to me not because I am shy but because I do have trouble communicating and feeling comfortable during social interactions. Generally I do not like self help books as they try to be a “one size fits all” approach but I was pleasantly surprised with how flexible this book is.

Pros 

I actually read this book a few months ago and wanted to test some of the solutions in it to see if they actually work in order to give this book a fair review, and to my pleasant surprise they do. The solutions in this book work (in my experience) so long as you are willing to try. 

The book is divided into two parts, the first explains social anxiety and reasons for why people may have it. The second part explains the process and the steps needed to take to be better in social situations. The first section does an excellent job of explaining why most people have social anxiety and tries to help you break down the perceptions that you may have in order to make it easier for you to change. I feel like a lot of self help books skimp on explanations and this book certainly doesn’t. The second section contains multiple exercises for you to use to improve your social skills and it is put together very well. It slowly introduces you to new ideas, it does not try to shock the reader and scare them into doing something. This book does not try to force you to do anything, it even cautions you to not go too fast as you may scare yourself. It even has you do simple exercises as you’re reading that I really liked because it helps to solidify and reinforce the authors point. It even has handy charts printed in the book to help you track your progress. 

One of the tables used in the book.

Dr. Gazipura, in my opinion, really knows what he is talking about which does not surprise me if he has actually worked with as many patients as he has claimed. He seems to be very understanding of all the issues people have with social anxiety and knows how to counteract them. The book is an easy read, he does not use difficult words or complex medical terminology, it is just a book that appears to be put together to actually help people and make it easy for the average person. 

Table of Contents

Cons

When I first started this book I became a bit annoyed at how much the author repeated himself and reasserted certain points but after you read past the first section that changes. Really that is my only gripe about this book, the author repeats himself more than I think he needs to. I really do not have any other issues with this book. 

Things to Know

This book is geared more towards the male audience, and Dr. Gazipura makes this clear at the beginning of the book. However, he says that all the steps will work for women just like they will for men, and I do not see why they would not.  Mainly in the examples he uses men but again a lot of the times they are situations that anyone could find themselves in. 

Also a big portion of this book is geared towards helping people with relationships but I found that a lot of the tips given work in everyday situations as well. So be aware that if you’re a female reading this book then you might not relate to some of the examples as easily as a man would but I don’t think that should discourage you. 

Recommendation 

The Solution to Social Anxiety: Break Free From the Shyness That Holds You Back by Dr. Aziz Gazipura is a book I would recommend to anyone that is shy or struggles with social interactions. Even if you’re not shy or really have an issue with social situations then I would still recommend taking a look at this book as it helps give insight on social cues that you may have never thought of. At the time of writing this it has been three or four months since I read the book and almost everyday I use the lessons I learned in it. It makes every day conversation easier, makes meeting people easier, just about any social interaction is made less difficult with this book. I’ve also used some of the lessons to help my friends with issues they have had in relationships, so even if you’re not reading it for yourself it may be a book that will give you lessons you can use to help family and friends. 

I wholeheartedly recommend this book and that is not something you will hear me say about any self help book. 

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