no i dont necessarily think you should always force yourself to go places, i think you should force yourself sometimes, but choose wisely.
choose an event or whatever that your going to go to, one maybe which you feel you have less to lose from if you screw it up, or one which your so interested in going in some of the sp gets cancelled out.
go, and more likely that not you will end up briefly beating a bit of the sp and you will have a good time, or atleast you will get some positive feedback out if it, and have some pride in yourself for what your achieving.
Now heres the trick, you have to sieze your next opportunity if you want to build on your new confidence, this is critical or else you will drop back to square one. Now that you have the touch of extra confidence, use it immedietly, its going to be real hard again, but do it. Over the next few days, go to another thing.
This way your building your confidence consistently, and your always doing it when your on a bit of a boost.
anyway this is what i did, im not perfect yet thats why im here, but i improved imesurably.
edit : sorry, if your a person who is likely to have a full blown panic attack, then i wouldnt recomend forcing yourself, because i think everytime that happens you knock yourself around heaps, and the memory of it huants you and makes the future even harder