Social Difficulties and Shyness
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About Social Difficulties and Shyness
Social Anxiety Therapy for Adults in Santa Monica & Los Angeles
Social anxiety is far more than shyness. It can show up as a persistent fear of judgment, a dread of social situations, difficulty making and keeping friendships, or a deeply felt sense that you don’t belong. For many adults, these struggles have roots that go back to early experiences of connection, rejection, or not feeling truly seen.
Dr. Sally Hackman, PhD, MFT, has helped adults in Santa Monica and Los Angeles overcome social anxiety and social difficulties for over 35 years. Her approach goes beneath the surface to understand what’s driving the discomfort and builds the genuine confidence that comes from that understanding.
Key Points
Building Genuine Confidence.
Empowering Resilience
Social anxiety often reflects deeply held beliefs about yourself that formed long ago. Dr. Hackman helps you identify and update those beliefs so that social situations become opportunities rather than threats.
Healing Space
Sessions are completely private and confidential a safe space to be honest about what social interactions feel like for you, without performing or pretending.
Transformative Support
Using CBT techniques alongside psychoanalytic insight, Dr. Hackman helps clients build practical skills for social situations while addressing the deeper patterns that drive avoidance and fear.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
Your Wellbeing Is Our Priority.
Social isolation has real consequences for mental and physical health. With the right support, many adults discover that the warmth, connection, and belonging they’ve always wanted is genuinely within reach.
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Years of Clinical Experience
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Serving Santa Monica Continuously
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Confidential — Always
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First Session Free If You Don't Return
FAQ
Common Questions
No. Introversion is a personality style — a preference for less social stimulation. Social anxiety is a fear response that causes distress and often leads to avoidance. Many introverts don't have social anxiety, and some extroverts do.
Absolutely. The brain retains the capacity for change throughout life. With the right therapeutic relationship and the right approach, adults regularly make profound changes in how they relate to others.
Shyness is a personality trait a tendency to feel a bit reserved or self-conscious in new situations, which many people manage fine on their own. Social anxiety disorder is more intense and persistent: a strong fear of judgment or embarrassment that actively shapes your choices, like avoiding meetings, skipping social events, or turning down opportunities just to sidestep the discomfort. If it's genuinely limiting your life rather than just being part of your personality, that's worth bringing into therapy.
Yes, work is often where social anxiety shows up most, whether it's speaking in meetings, networking, or interacting with authority figures. Therapy can help you understand what's driving the anxiety in those specific situations and build real confidence you can bring into the room, rather than generic advice about "just speaking up more."
It can. Long-standing shyness usually has roots in earlier experiences and patterns that got reinforced over time, but those patterns aren't fixed they can be understood and shifted at any age. Change doesn't mean becoming a different person; it means feeling less held back by patterns that started long before you had a say in them.