| This study explored the lived subjective experience of social anxiety in female pre-doctoral psychology students. While social anxiety has been studied to some degree, the amount of literature available relating to females and their experiences of living with social anxiety is extremely limited. These limitations are detrimental to the understanding of what it is like to live with social anxiety symptoms, especially in relation to the social nature of the psychology field. Without this understanding, treatment for these individuals is limited as well. This study utilized a heuristic research design to explore the experiences of the participants. While seven participants were wanted, only five could be found despite multiple marketing strategies. A discussion of the use of fewer subjects is included. These five participants engaged in semi-structured interviews that were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by the researcher using thematic analysis during the periods of immersion and incubation. This thematic analysis uncovered four categories with eight underlying themes regarding the experience of living with social anxiety symptoms as a female pre-doctoral student. The eight themes identified were: (a) Involvement in psychotherapy, (b) Coping Skills - Substance use, (c) Coping Skills - Deep breathing, (d) Exit strategy, (e) Making friends is challenging, (f) Fear of judgment, (g) Negative self-talk, and (h) Profession triggers social anxiety symptoms. Clinical implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed further. |
