EA - Free Social Anxiety Treatment for 100 EAs (Sign-up here) by John Salter

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Free Social Anxiety Treatment for 100 EAs (Sign-up here), published by John Salter on July 12, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.Arguably the most important factor in being happy and impactful is one's social connections. Anxiety makes them harder to form and maintain. Graded exposure is the gold-standard treatment. We're offering it for free to all EAs. Here's how it works:Arrange a chat with one of our head coaches. They'll help you figure out if this is right for you and, if so, pair you up with a suitable coach.Meet with your coach (can be via email/text initially). Explain your situation.Construct a hierarchy of fear (see below for an example)We'll help you work through the tasks, teaching you relevant skills along the way.By approaching rather than avoiding anxiety-provoking tasks, you break the loop that perpetuates social anxiety.Meta-analyses suggest you can get an effect size of ~1.0 with this approach. It takes two to three months of weekly sessions, each around 45 minutes long.Click here to sign upQuestions You're Too Socially Anxious to AskWhy is it free?We're a charity, and our coaches are either donor-funded or volunteersWhat evidence is there that you can execute?We've seen 100+ EAs over the past 9 months or so with a wide range of different issues. Our start-to-end retention is ~70% (50% is considered good), and feedback has been unanimously positive.I don't want other EAs to find out I do this. How can you ensure anonymity?I'm the only EA who'll see that you've signed up. Our coaches aren't themselves effective altruists. Only your coach will have access to notes about your session. You're free to use a fake name and alias email if you'd like..What if I don't like my coach?Email me and I'll assign you a new one (john at overcome dot org dot uk)What if I'm done early or I need more sessions?If early, great! You won't be pressured to keep attending.If you need more, we'll consider extending it for free. Otherwise, it'd be $40 per session. Historically, 90% of people have found the free sessions adequate to address the problem they came to us with.I'm too anxious to talk via video. Are there any other options?Yes. We can also do email, texting, or voice-only.We'd expect you to progress from email/texting towards being comfortable with video calls as the program goes on.What if I sign up and someone who needs it more is thus denied a place?It's unlikely. We prioritise based on need & likelihood of success.Don't you usually focus on LMICs? Why are you offering services for EAs?It costs me nothing to use my coaches' spare capacity on services for EAs. So long as I have spare capacity, I'll offer it to EAs.Click here to sign upAny other questions, post them in the comments below!Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org