Our findings suggest that the experienced social impairment from social anxiety does not only depend on levels of social anxiety but also on individual perceptions of own ability to handle problems. Since a general sense of self-efficacy was shown to have a unique contribution in explaining levels of social impairment from social anxiety, beyond levels of reported social anxiety, future research ought to focus on further elucidating the role of individuals’ perceptions of their ability to cope, for example the extent to which individual thoughts about themselves in different demanding situations are characterized by learned helplessness (Dweck, 1999). In psychological treatment
of social anxiety, a decisive factor for the individual’s motivation to stop engaging in avoiding behaviors and therefore create for themselves the possibility of getting proof that they can cope with social situations, is becoming aware of the kind of dysfunctional ideas they hold of their own ability. Understanding more about the nature of these dysfunctional ideas is likely to increase treatment efficiency in helping clients to discontinue them, thereby reducing their engagement in dysfunctional coping
strategies. In that way the individual’s social anxiety and related social impairment hopefully can decrease.