I personally have made some great steps in dealing with my SA and AvPD.
But I accept I'll probably never be 100% free of it.
Exposure therapy is my biggest stumbling block. My therapist has recommended giving social outings a go. 'Take the opportunity when it next presents itself, see how you go' he suggests.
The problem for me with this is, I live in a smallish town (around 17-20k people). The social activities of a lot of Aussie towns like this revolve around playing sports, then socializing by drinking.
I dont drink.
While I like sports, I'm not really into playing them much these days.
I could think of nothing worse than standing around for hours, drink in hand, talking about johns brothers fathers sisters uncles nephew that went fishing last month. That sort of talk bores me to tears.
It's hard for me to 'pretend' to be interested. I have nothing against those people who enjoy doing that, if that's what they like doing, more power to them.
I recently joined a social group online, and once every week or two they meet up for a movie, a bite to eat and a chat.
The thing is, this is a group specifically for people with SA. So at least I'll be meeting people with similar feelings and problems. They will have an understanding of how difficult things can be.
While it's more than 200 klm's away and I'll only be able to attend once a month or so, at least I may be able to meet some new people who wont judge me.
I'm actually looking forward to it.
My therapist (who I'm very fortunate to have found, he's very good) once said to me, 'not everything we try or do will work. Some things you will get more out of. But if you try ten things over the next year, and you get a 5 - 10% improvement, would you take that?'.
Yes was my answer.