Therapy for Social Anxiety in Denver: From Someone Who’s Been There
- Britt Ritchie
- Mar 13
- 8 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
If you’ve been searching for therapy for social anxiety in Denver, Colorado, you’re already taking one of the hardest steps—acknowledging that you want something to change. Maybe you’ve been battling racing thoughts before every meeting, dreading group settings, or replaying every conversation for hours afterward. I’ve been there too—and I know firsthand that the right therapy can help you finally feel free in your own skin.
At Mind Alchemy Mental Health in Denver, I specialize in therapy for social anxiety that blends clinical expertise, neuroscience, and lived experience. Whether in person or through online therapy for social anxiety, I help women break free from the patterns of fear, avoidance, and perfectionism that keep them stuck.
Key Takeaways: What to Know About Therapy for Social Anxiety
Therapy for social anxiety is highly effective, especially CBT, ACT, and exposure therapy.
Online therapy for social anxiety can be just as successful as in-person sessions for busy or anxious clients.
The best treatment for social anxiety disorder is individualized—no two people’s experiences are the same.
Working with a therapist for social anxiety who truly understands can accelerate healing.
Holistic, integrative psychiatry offers lasting change by addressing both mind and body.
Why Seek Therapy for Social Anxiety in Denver?
Denver is full of high-achieving, socially active professionals who appear confident—but often feel overwhelmed inside. For many women I work with, social anxiety hides beneath burnout, ADHD masking, or perfectionism. The constant pressure to perform or connect can feel like too much.
That’s where therapy for social anxiety can make a difference. Using an integrative, whole-person approach, I help uncover the biological, psychological, and environmental roots of anxiety—so healing isn’t just about managing symptoms, but transforming how you relate to yourself.
Whether you prefer in-person care or online therapy for social anxiety, treatment is flexible, private, and tailored to your comfort level.
What Is Social Anxiety Disorder?
Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also known as social phobia, is a chronic mental health condition characterized by an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the key diagnostic criteria for SAD include:
Marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations where scrutiny is possible (e.g., conversations, public speaking, meeting new people).
Fear of negative evaluation, including concerns about embarrassment, humiliation, or rejection.
Avoidance of social situations or enduring them with intense distress.
Disproportionate anxiety relative to the actual threat posed by the social situation.
Persistent symptoms, typically lasting six months or more.
Significant impairment in daily functioning due to anxiety
SAD affects approximately 7.1% of U.S. adults annually, with lifetime prevalence rates reaching nearly 12% (National Institute of Mental Health, 2022). The disorder often emerges in adolescence and, without treatment, can persist into adulthood.
What's The Best Treatment For Social Anxiety Disorder?
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) remains the gold standard for social anxiety. It teaches you to challenge distorted thinking (“Everyone’s judging me”) and replace it with realistic perspectives, while practicing new social skills in a safe, guided way.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps women move toward their values rather than away from fear. It emphasizes mindfulness, acceptance, and courage—tools that empower you to live fully, even when anxiety shows up.
Exposure Therapy systematically helps you face what you fear, step by step. Research shows that confronting avoided situations—like initiating conversation or speaking in public—rewires the brain’s fear response. Over time, anxiety decreases and confidence builds.
Studies confirm that these three therapies are the best treatments for social anxiety disorder. Recent studies have shown that CBT and ACT lead to large, lasting improvements in anxiety and functioning, especially when exposure exercises are included. For teens and young adult women, online CBT and ACT programs show equally strong results.
How Do You Know If You Need Therapy For Social Anxiety?
If you’ve ever felt your heart race at the thought of introducing yourself, avoided eye contact in meetings, or replayed conversations for hours afterward—you might be dealing with more than shyness. Social anxiety can quietly shape how you move through the world, making everyday interactions feel overwhelming.
You may benefit from therapy for social anxiety if you notice any of the following:
Avoiding social or professional opportunities because of fear or self-doubt
Rehearsing or replaying conversations repeatedly
Relying on alcohol, avoidance, or distraction to get through social events
Feeling “on alert” or hyperaware in groups or public settings
If this sounds familiar, you’re not broken—you’re human. Social anxiety isn’t a flaw; it’s your nervous system trying to protect you. The right therapist for social anxiety can help you retrain that system and rewrite the story your mind keeps telling you.
Common symptoms of social anxiety can include:
Physical: blushing, sweating, trembling, rapid heartbeat, nausea, dizziness
Emotional: fear of judgment, dread of social interactions, excessive self-consciousness
Behavioral: avoiding social settings, struggling with eye contact, or depending on substances to ease anxiety
These symptoms often interfere with work, relationships, and overall well-being. But with the right approach—especially therapies like CBT, ACT, and exposure—you can learn to feel safe in your own presence again.
Does Online Therapy for Social Anxiety Work?
If meeting in person feels intimidating, online therapy for social anxiety is an excellent option. Research shows virtual CBT and ACT sessions are just as effective as traditional care, especially for women juggling work, family, and recovery from burnout.
Many of my clients appreciate the privacy and ease of connecting from home while still getting the same evidence-based, high-quality support.
My Story: Living (and Healing) with Social Anxiety
For me, social anxiety wasn’t just a textbook definition—it was my reality. I can pinpoint its roots back to elementary school when I was in a play. Standing on stage, blinded by bright lights, I could see the faces in the audience staring back at me. My body locked up, my voice quivered, and the words I had memorized suddenly felt inaccessible. When I finally spoke, humiliation flooded me. I felt exposed, convinced I had failed.
Classroom settings weren’t much better. Asking a question felt like an invitation for judgment. If I worked up the courage to speak, I feared everyone thought I was inadequate. Math was my greatest academic struggle—both in concept and experience. Teachers and peers reinforced the idea that I was incapable, and even when I sought tutoring in high school and college, the message I received was one of hopelessness. It wasn't until I was 40 years old, after undergoing a neuropsychological evaluation, that I was diagnosed with dyscalculia, a learning disability that affects mathematical reasoning and processing. Learning this provided validation, but it also made me reflect on how much earlier support could have changed my experiences.
This fear bled into my social life. While I had a small circle of close friends, outside of that, I was consumed with anxiety. Interacting with authority figures—felt insurmountable. I convinced myself that to be accepted and respected, I had to be perfect: articulate, insightful, and confident. But instead of meeting this impossible standard, I shut down.
In my younger years, I used alcohol as a crutch. It dulled my anxiety, made interactions easier—until it didn’t. I realized that my "liquid courage" was causing more harm than good, and I stopped using it as a coping mechanism. But removing alcohol didn’t suddenly erase my struggles—it just meant I had to face them head-on. Social situations still felt overwhelming, and I often found myself overthinking every interaction, convinced that any slight misstep would expose all my insecurities. I struggled with eye contact, believing that if I locked eyes with someone, they'd see every insecurity I tried to hide.
Work presented its own challenges. Speaking with authority figures and people who I felt to be superior to me was daunting. A simple conversation, update, or request took an immense amount of courage. Job interviews were painstaking—hours of preparation, rehearsed responses, and inevitable tears afterward, feeling like I hadn’t done well enough.
When I became an assistant professor, my real exposure therapy began. Giving lectures terrified me. I feared saying something inaccurate, offending someone, and being humiliated. I prepared obsessively, took propranolol, lost sleep, and had panic attacks. I wanted to prematurely quit. In fact, I almost did, and if it wasn't for the support of my division chair and specialty director, I wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did. And while the anxiety never disappeared, it became slightly easier each time. I learned that perfectionism isn't sustainable. Instead, I started trying to embrace the concept of "good enough"—easier said than done.
Although I have made significant progress, social anxiety is still a challenge for me. Eye contact remains difficult, and I still feel fear in certain situations. But I have made a commitment to keep pushing forward. I actively put myself in uncomfortable situations, using the tools I have—medication, therapy, and coping strategies—to make them more tolerable. Every time I challenge myself, I feel a sense of accomplishment, a small but meaningful step toward confidence. I don’t know if I will ever completely overcome social anxiety, but I hold onto hope. Until that day comes, I will continue to be patient with myself and put in the hard work—because I refuse to be shackled by fear and anxiety.
Sharing my story is one of the hardest things I do, but also one of the most powerful. Social anxiety thrives in silence, in the shadows of self-doubt, and in the fear of judgment. But every time I speak my truth, the grip of anxiety weakens, and I take back a piece of myself. By telling my story, I am not only freeing myself, but I am also helping to break the stigma that surrounds mental health struggles. I believe that challenges like social anxiety are not just barriers but opportunities—opportunities to grow stronger, to push beyond fear, and to reclaim the life I refuse to let anxiety take from me. I am committed to this journey, no matter how difficult it may be, because I know that freedom lies not in the absence of fear, but in the courage to walk through it.
How I Can Help
If my story felt familiar—the overthinking, the second-guessing, the post-conversation spirals—you’re not alone. Social anxiety isn’t always obvious, and it’s often mislabeled, especially in high-achieving women who seem confident on the outside but feel paralyzed inside.
At Mind Alchemy Mental Health in Denver, Colorado, I offer boutique, holistic psychiatric care designed for women navigating social anxiety, ADHD masking, and high-functioning perfectionism.
As a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner specializing in female psychiatry and holistic women’s wellness, I take a root-cause, whole-person approach that looks beyond symptoms to uncover why you feel the way you do. Whether you’re struggling with focus, fatigue, mood swings, or that heavy sense of “something’s off,” we’ll work together to help you feel balanced and clear again.
My goal is to help you reconnect with yourself and rebuild from the inside out—through holistic psychiatric care that combines science, empathy, and genuine partnership.
Explore more:
The story behind my holistic approach to mental health
My approach & services for holistic women’s wellness
Visit my media hub for podcasts, YouTube videos, and more related to holistic mental health treatment
You don’t have to keep rehearsing who you “should” be.
Healing starts when you get to be who you are.
How do you handle awkward social situations?
0%A. Fake texting
0%B. Sudden escape
0%C. Nervous laughter
0%D. Avoidance is key
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
National Institute of Mental Health. (2022). Social Anxiety Disorder: More Than Just Shyness (NIH Publication No. 22-MH-8083). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/social-anxiety-disorder-more-than-just-shyness
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