How Do You Overcome Extreme Introversion With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Introversion is a personality trait with very interesting particularities, and people who develop it live life in a very special way. However, when this tendency towards introversion is very extreme, this fact can give rise to some problems unless the person develops certain emotional management and personal relationship management skills.
In this article we will briefly see What these problems due to excess introversion may consist of and how they are addressed through cognitive-behavioral psychological therapy..
Introversion is a psychological trait considered in several of the most important personality classification systems, such as the Big Five Model, developed by Raymond Cattell and other researchers.
It can be defined as the predisposition to show great interest in internal psychological processes, that is, a propensity to focus on processes linked to introspection: reflect, remember past experiences, recreate imaginary situations, etc.
Thus, introversion is conceptualized as the opposite of extraversion. While introverts highly value being able to dedicate time and concentration to experiencing private psychological processes, extroverts tend to seek experiences that provide them with external sources of stimulation: meeting new people, playing sports, traveling, etc.
Evidently There are no exclusively introverted or exclusively extroverted people., but rather they are two poles of personality between which there is a wide gray scale. Therefore, in practice, all people with a marked tendency toward extraversion need to have moments of solitude and relative lack of external stimulation, and all very introverted people need to participate in social activities or activities that involve making changes in their environment.
Although in many societies introversion can be considered something negative, it does not have to be; It is a form of personality with its advantages and disadvantages, like any other. Furthermore, in some cultures, introversion is valued more than extraversion, although this is not the case in the hegemonic Western culture in much of the world today. Yes indeed, When a personality trait is extremely marked, this can lead to common problems.
As introversion is one of the most structural elements of personality, its effects on the life of the introverted person can be expressed in many different ways; and for this same reason, when someone has excessive introversion, this is usually reflected in a wide variety of problems.
However, within this wide range of negative consequences derived from an extreme tendency towards introversion, in practice the following stand out, which are among the most frequent. Keep in mind that not all Very introverted people are bound to experience these difficulties or sources of discomfortbut in general terms, these are the ones worth highlighting.
The cognitive-behavioral model in the face of introversion problems
The cognitive-behavioral psychological intervention model aims to help people drive positive transformations both in the management of their emotions and their cognitions (that is, in the private psychological processes linked to our thoughts and our emotional side) and in the management of observable behavioral patterns (the way of communicating, the management of their work routines). day to day, time management, etc.).
In the case of intervention for problems due to excess introversion, these processes of improving the person’s skills stand out:
Active listening helps not only lead to more meaningful conversations, but also help avoid misunderstandings and conflicts. The tendency toward extreme introversion often makes people who talk to these people feel ignored or belittled.
2. Work on managing anxiety in social situations
Although introversion and shyness are not the same, they often overlap because one leads to the other. Therefore, in therapy it is common to help very shy people to face your fears linked to your way of dealing with unknown or semi-unknown peoplethrough ways such as improving self-esteem, the use of relaxation techniques at key moments, visualization techniques for socially complex situations (imagination training) and more.
Related article: “What are the negative effects of the fear of making a fool of yourself?”
3. Social skills training
Sometimes, very introverted people find themselves in situations where they notice that their circle of friends has become too small and is limited to friends from many years ago. To “open up” more and make friends of your current age (something that in these cases may be something unknown to that person, when interacting only with childhood friends), in therapy they can be helped to socialize by understanding the tacit codes of communication.
You may be interested: “The 14 main social skills to be successful in life”
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