Narrative Clinical Review. This page provides the verified citation, abstract, and full-text PDF for the journal article.

Clinical boundary: Treatment should increase freedom and informed choice, not secure a partner or remove ordinary uncertainty. Consent, realistic risk, minority stress, and dating safety remain central.

Publication Details

Author: Christian Jonathan Haverkampf
Journal: The Journal of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Communication
Publication date: 2024-12-31
Volume, issue, pages: 13(4), 91–100
Article type: Narrative Clinical Review

Recommended citation: Haverkampf, C. J. (2024). Social Anxiety and Dating: From Avoidance to Connection. The Journal of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Communication, 13(4), 91–100.

Abstract

Social anxiety can make dating feel like a high-stakes performance when information is limited and the meaning of an interaction is uncertain. Anticipatory processing, self-focused attention, threat-biased interpretation, safety behaviors, and post-event processing may reduce distress in the short term while limiting corrective learning and intimacy. In established relationships, protective silence, reassurance seeking, conflict avoidance, muted responses to positive events, and difficulty discussing affection or sexuality can affect both partners. This narrative clinical review integrates cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, and communication-oriented accounts with relationship research available through 30 November 2024. A stage-sensitive formulation distinguishes approach, meeting, disclosure, negotiation, and maintenance. Treatment should not aim to secure a partner or remove ordinary uncertainty, but to increase the patient's freedom to communicate, choose, discover compatibility, and tolerate an answer. Assessment includes realistic risk, minority stress, comorbidity, attachment, substance use, and dating-specific safety behaviors. Individual cognitive behavioral therapy has the strongest comparative evidence; relational strategies, behavioral experiments, attention training, communication practice, and paced self-disclosure can make treatment more relevant to dating. Online contact may widen access but can also support avoidance. The evidence is limited by small samples, predominantly young heterosexual participants, and reliance on cross-sectional self-report.

Keywords

social anxiety disorder; dating; romantic relationships; psychotherapy; cognitive behavioral therapy; communication; self-disclosure; intimacy; safety behaviors

Full Text

Open the full-text PDF

The PDF is searchable and preserves the journal layout and pagination used in the citation.

Related Information

Health Information and Safety

This journal article is educational and research-oriented. It is not a personal diagnosis, treatment plan, medication instruction, crisis service, or substitute for assessment by a suitably qualified clinician who knows the person’s circumstances.

Do not start, stop, or change medication or another treatment solely because of information on this page. New, severe, persistent, or worsening symptoms, or uncertainty about risk, require individual professional assessment.

If there is immediate danger or a risk of harm, contact local emergency services or urgent support. In Ireland, see:

Website copy first made available on 26 August 2026. The journal citation retains the article’s issue date.

Would you like to talk with someone? Dr Jonathan Haverkampf offers psychotherapy and counselling for adults on Dame Street in Dublin 2, or by video call where suitable. You are welcome to find a time that suits you.

Make an appointment