Dear Dr. Richards,

I am almost finished with the "Overcoming Social Anxiety" therapy series and, first of all, I want to give you a big thank you.  

I have been in individual counseling for several years and no one has impressed upon me WHY I should be doing the cognitive therapy as you have explained.  I know I am not done, and have many areas still to work on, but I feel so much better already!  I think it's because not only do I now have hope, but I know that I can and will get better.

I have already been successful at a lot of things that I can't even list them all.  But, I started to go to my office parties (I would never ever go in the past), and now I feel comfortable most of the time in talking to people and making small conversations.  I can relax in these unstructured situations and I can slow myself down so that I no longer feel anxious!  I never thought I would ever be able to do this.

Yesterday at work, a co-worker was sick and I got asked to present her report to a group of six other people.  This was a complete surprise to me, and I felt the anxiety wanting to "come up".  But, automatically, something else happened too.  I took a deep breath, and just KNEW I could talk to them calmly, using slow talk!

I did not have to consciously think about it, it was just there.  I went ahead, kept on using slow talk, paused whenever I felt like it (like you suggest on the tapes) and came out feeling OK.

At first, I was bit dazed and my mind started to go into negative assessment-mode, but a rational thought came back to me and I realized I had done a good job.  The people on my team told me what I said was clear and calm, and they had virtually no questions.  The old me would have become rattled, scared, and jumpy.  Then, I would have talked way too fast and they would have asked me dozens of questions.  

So, I did congratulate myself, as you say.  I did do a good job, and I am still amazed (but happy).  I know I need to be in a behavioral therapy group, too, but I am making so much good progress in these areas of my life that I wanted to share it with everybody.  

Now I understand why you keep saying "Start your therapy today".  I would still be an anxious mess if I hadn't done something about it.   Thank you again.

Marlene