Dating Anxiety in the 21st Century
Research & Clinical Context
- Distress related to finding a partner
- Overlap with social anxiety, GAD, PTSD, depression, OCD, BDD
- Key assessment methods and measures
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Cognitive Interventions
Strategies for Unrealistic Standards and Personalization
- Identify unhelpful dating-related thinking patterns
- Shift beliefs with thought records and cognitive restructuring
- All or nothing thinking and perfectionism in dating
- Decrease rejection sensitivity and self-criticism
- Behavioral experiments to change beliefs through experience
- Case study: 28y/o with social anxiety related to inadequacy beliefs
Exposure and Skills-Based Interventions
Shift Overanalyzing and Reassurance-Seeking
- Principles of exposure
- Develop graded exposure hierarchies specific to dating contexts
- Imaginal, in-vivo, and interoceptive exposure to decrease avoidance
- Reduce unhelpful dependency and overly controlling behavior
- Case study: 34y/o with dating avoidance after a traumatic breakup
Additional Treatment Considerations
Tools to Decrease Misunderstandings and Emotional Distance
- Social skills training for active listening and conversational skills
- Mindful acceptance to increase clients’ awareness and tolerance
- Increase willingness for values-based behaviors
- The role of medications
- Tailor treatment to co-occurring disorders
- Considerations for working with adolescents v. adults
- Adapt across individual, group, and telehealth formats
- Case study: 22y/o with BDD and dating anxiety


