The Center For Cognitive Therapy

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• Overview
• Who is this therapy for?
• The Approach: Theory
• The Approach: Therapy
• What do you actually do in therapy?
• Who provides the therapy?
• What is the cost of treatment?
• Frequently Asked and Unasked Questions
• Directions to the Center
• For further information
• To Email the Center

• Overview  (back to top)
• We generally treat social anxiety in groups, but can work individually as needed
• Groups have 5 to 7 people, each with social anxiety
• Brief: 15 weekly group sessions, 1½ hours each
• Individually tailored: through an individual screening & debriefing session
• Research-based method which has demonstrated effectiveness
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy approach
• Who is this therapy for?        (back to top)
• Individuals for whom social anxiety creates significant problems
• Individuals able to commit some time and energy to confront their anxiety
• The Approach: Theory  (back to top)
• Anxiety is the arousal of fight/flight when we sense danger
• We learn to see some situations as unrealistically dangerous
• We can re-learn to evaluate danger more accurately
• Anxiety is made of 3 parts: physiological reactions, thoughts and behavior
• The three parts trigger each other in an accelerating spiral
• The Approach: Therapy  (back to top)
• We can learn ways to reduce the spiraling
• There is a group of techniques which can help
• When new anxiety is not triggered, the body starts to calm
• Work on our thoughts helps reduce triggering (the Cognitive work)
• Certain activities teach us we can act while anxious (the Behavioral work)
• Gradually reducing avoidance decreases anxiety
• What do you actually do in therapy     (back to top)
• Learn about anxiety, how it works, decreasing the mystery
• Recognize thoughts and beliefs that trigger anxiety
• Develop skills to block automatically reacting to fear-provoking thoughts
• Challenge automatic thoughts and keep them realistic
• Develop gradual steps for practice
• Carefully designed role plays help work through avoidance
• Homework, keeping treatment linked to real life
• Who provides the therapy?        (back to top)
• Peter Perlman, MSW, CCSW, Director of the Center provides this therapy
• Mr. Perlman is a graduate of Cornell University and the UNC at Chapel Hill
• He has been a cognitive-behavioral therapist for fifteen years
• Mr. Perlman is former Director of Group Therapy at Duke Medical Center's Anxiety Clinic
• What is the cost of treatment?     (back to top)
• 2 Individual sessions @ $50 each
• 15 group sessions @ $50 each
• Total cost is $850 for the four month program
• Covered by many insurers, let us find out for you
• Some need-based scholarships are available
• Frequently Asked and Unasked Questions    (back to top)
• What's expected of me?
• Participate, listen, learn, try to take small steps, practice
• Will it be like group therapy on television comedies?
• not like popular images of group therapy
• this is not an encounter group
• focus is on learning specific skills and using them
• Am I too sick for group?
• Probably not, if social anxiety is your central difficulty
• People with social anxiety often think they’re the worst off
• Screening/assessment will help clarify whether this is right for you
• What if I'm too nervous
• We’ll need your anxiety to work on directly in the group
• Working with your nervousness can be an investment in a less anxious future
• We can work with you individually as preparation for group, or as your preference