Social Anxiety Therapy in NYC

Dr. Sam Klugman, PsyD

Bethany Sinclair, LMHC

We have over 15 years helping people break out of social anxiety patterns using targeted, collaborative treatments.

Do you experience intense anxiety in social situations?

Are fears of being judged or embarrassing yourself getting in the way of you living the life you want? 

Are you overwhelmed with worries about future social situations or dwell on past conversations and social moments?

Social anxiety can quietly shrink your life. Avoidance can lead to social isolation and loneliness, missed opportunities for advancement at work or school, and feeling stuck watching others move forward socially while you feel behind.

The physical symptoms of social anxiety, like trembling, heart racing, sweating, blushing, and nausea, can feel intense and impossible to manage. 

Clients Come To Us With:

  • Social avoidance and isolation

  • Fears of judgment and embarrassment

  • Public speaking anxiety

  • Work performance and career struggles

  • Dating, relationship, and sexual anxiety 

  • Overthinking, worry and rumination

  • Intense physical anxiety and panic

  • Low mood, depression, withdrawal

  • Using substances to manage anxiety in social situations

If social situations feel exhausting, overwhelming,

or something you avoid altogether,

you’re not alone.

Social Anxiety Therapy With Our Team

Our therapeutic approach is collaborative, active, and focused on helping you make lasting and meaningful changes in your day to day life. To get started we will get to know you as a whole person, including your current difficulties, strengths, personal and cultural identities, while identifying the areas where you struggle the most and clarifying your goals and priorities for therapy. 

Approaches We Use

  • Builds flexibility around anxious thoughts and decrease patterns of avoidance while helping you move toward what matters in your relationships and life.

  • Helps identify and shift anxious thought patterns and make lasting behavioral changes so social situations feel less threatening and more manageable.

  • Interventions that help regulate stress responses and tolerate intense emotions so you can stay present instead of getting pulled into anxious spirals of thought.

  • Skills to cultivate distance from repetitive and stuck anxious thoughts so they feel less controlling and urgent.

  • Strategies to reduce harsh self-judgment and perfectionism that often fuel social fear and avoidance.

  • Gradual, supported practice engaging with feared social situations so anxiety and avoidance no longer drive actions.

  • Therapy that recognizes and addresses the ways or our identities and experiences in the world can be connected to social anxiety, perfectionism, and fears of judgment and negative evaluation.

You won’t just talk about social anxiety.

We will help you develop an array of skills to better handle anxiety so you can engage more confidently with others, tolerate intense thoughts and emotions, and build the life and relationships you want.

Find Your Confidence

Shift how you move through the world.

After Therapy With Us, Clients Report:

  • Increased social risk-tolerance

  • Less worry

  • Being more present and socially engaged 

  • Feeling calmer and less physically anxious

  • Increased assertiveness and confidence

  • Deeper, more connected relationships

  • More engagement in career growth, dating, and friendships

With support, anxiety can stop being the driver of your decisions and you can engage in the areas of your life that matter to you most.

Our Social Anxiety Therapists

Dr. Sam Klugman, PsyD
I value research based approaches, humor, compassion, and flexibility in my clinical work. My sessions are active and collaborative.

More About Me

Bethany Sinclair, LMHC
I prioritize a collaborative, affirming approach to therapy that combines mindfulness, skill-building, and empathetic exploration

More About Me

3 Steps To Get Started

  • Fill out the contact form. We’ll respond promptly and if we’re not the right fit, we’ll help you find someone who is.

  • We’ll talk briefly to see if working together feels like a good match and answer your questions.

  • We’ll map out what’s happening with your anxiety and start building tools to help you feel more grounded in social situations.

Ready To Feel More At Ease?