Part II - Social Anxiety and Panic Attacks

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The example showed that by not getting defensive and by finding an aspect of the feedback to agree with – even if it’s just a minute part – you can diffuse a situation into a more productive one and dramatically decrease your anxiety levels instead of going into a full blown “Fight or Flight Response” which can lead to anxiety.

In Part II, I want to provide another communication tip that has certainly been very helpful for me and many others. 

As you can see, proper communication is a very important aspect of helping with anxiety and vey important part of a good relationship in life.  Overall, having good communication skills can make you feel much better about things that come up in life.

For the sake of illustrating another tip, I want to go back to the imaginary scenario in which you were receiving feedback from your boss.

Your boss is telling you that you have not been fast enough at preparing the reports that are part of your job description. 

Another strategy you can use in this situation is to complement him or her – your boss that is.

Okay now some people will react to this suggestion by stating they are not “a suck-up” or going to “kiss their bosses butt”. 

However, they are missing the point.

I’m not suggesting you just do it to “suck up” but rather find some legitimate quality in your boss that you can compliment him or her on because you can always find something good.  If you are sincere about it then this can come through.  Who doesn’t appreciate good comments?

Again you are not in a battle when you use a strategy like this and people will see you as a more credible communicator and will naturally be more receptive to you. 

I’m certainly not suggesting that this strategy is restricted to this example; it can be helpful in a variety of situations. 

The more you use effective communication strategies the better you’ll become at communicating and reducing your anxiety in awkward situations.