Social Skills Training

BY: ZAINAB FAYYAZ

 What are social skills?

 Social skills are the behaviors, verbal and non-verbal, that we use in order to communicate
effectively with other people.
 Social skills are governed by culture, beliefs and attitudes.
 They continuously change and develop throughout our lives.
 Somebody that uses social skills to effectively interact with friends, family, workmates and
strangers is said to have social competence.
 Examples of Social Skills

 Eye contact with others during conversation

 Smiling when greeting people
 Shaking hands when meeting someone
 Using the right tone and volume of voice
 Flirting
 Expressing opinions to others
 Perceiving how others are feeling and showing empathy
 Appropriate emotional responses (e.g. crying when something sad happens; laughing when someone says
something funny)
 Social Skills Training (SST)

 Social skills training (SST) is a type of behavioral therapy used to improve social skills in people with
mental disorders or developmental disabilities.

 SST may be used by teachers, therapists, or other professionals to help those with anxiety disorders, mood
disorders, personality disorders, and other diagnoses.

 It is delivered either individually or in a group format, usually once or twice a week, and is often used as one
component of a combined treatment program.
• There are many factors that contribute to worsening social skills, which in turn impair
many other aspects of our lives.

• For example, social skill deficits cause social isolation, and social isolation worsens social
skills.

• These are just some examples of the many vicious cycles that we see in psychology.

• Treating only one aspect of the cycle without treating the other would be pointless; the
condition will simply arise again and again. For example, there is no point learning the
social skills if you are too anxious to use them!
 Basic SST Implementation Structure

1. Identifying the Problem

• Are the problems with socializing predominantly a fear of large gatherings of people or speaking to people at work?
• In order to figure out the major problems, the patient and psychologist work together through discussion.
• Sometimes the psychologist may want to observe the patient’s behavior; this is mainly with inpatient settings or
children in the classroom.
• Sometimes social problems are a result of a mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia), or they may have arisen from a past
trauma.
• Once these problems and reasons have been determined, your psychologist can determine what skills need to be
focused on, how best to teach the skills, and what other therapies are required to help with the underlying issues.
 Setting the Goals

 As with any type of psychotherapy, your psychologist will help you develop specific goals for the therapy.

 This will include a broad overall goal as well as focused goals that may change from session to session.

 For SST, the broad overall goal may be the ability to socialise comfortably in the staffroom, whereas the individual goals
will be skill-specific (e.g. learning how to greet someone, ask how they are and respond appropriately).

 Once each goal or skill is mastered, the goal for the next session becomes more difficult. Keeping the overall goal in
mind will help you overcome times when you feel like giving up on the therapy.
 Modeling

 Before you are expected to perform the skill, your psychologist will model the skill you
are focusing on, so that you can see exactly what you need to do before attempting to do it
yourself.
 Roleplaying

 After your psychologist has modelled the skill, you will be asked to roleplay. This
practice is a very important aspect of SST. It may feel odd to roleplay, but until you have
practiced the skill, it is hard to use it outside the safety and confinement that therapy
sessions provide.
Feedback

 Your psychologist will provide feedback at the end of each session.

This feedback will help you to identify your strengths and
weaknesses, and the things you especially need to work on and
practice
Homework

 In between sessions, your psychologist will set little “homework”

challenges that you are required to do in your own time throughout
the week. Usually the homework will carry on directly from the
session, so that you practise the new skill you learnt. Depending on
your success at meeting the challenge, you will focus on a new,
more difficult skill in the next session.
 Children and Social Skills Training

 High-functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome

 The core deficit in high-functioning autism (HFA) and Asperger’s syndrome (AS) are social dysfunctions.

 Individuals with HFA and AS are very cognitively capable, and are often very aware of their social deficits.

 This can be very distressing and depressing. Unfortunately, these children will not naturally “outgrow” their
social deficits.
The social skills that are commonly focused on in HFA and AS are:

•Eye contact
•Smiling
•Sharing: A very important part of school and play activities is the ability to share with
others.
•Sustaining conversations
•Listening
•Empathy

A lot of the social deficits in autistic spectrum disorders arise because children cannot “place
themselves in other people’s shoes”. SST aims to teach them how to try to understand
others’ feelings, and how to show caring by giving appropriate emotional responses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seAJeVUAiT4
 Schizophrenia

 One of the core deficits of schizophrenia is cognitive impairment, including working

memory, problem solving and attention. Along with the psychotic symptoms, these make
many schizophrenic patients socially incompetent. The lack of cognitive functions means
that teaching these patients to act socially is very difficult. Therefore, the training is very
structured. Each skill is broken up into smaller parts to make it easier for the patient to
remember and follow through.
The social skills program for schizophrenics are based upon their negative or affective symptoms. The social skills commonly
focused on are:
 Eye contact
 Smiling: People with schizophrenia tend to have flattened emotional and facial responses due to the side effects of their
medication. Learning how to give a simple smile can make all the difference.
 Showing appropriate emotional responses: A negative symptom of schizophrenia is inappropriate responses in social
situations (e.g. laughing when others are being serious and vice versa). SST aims to train schizophrenics to recognize when
laughing is appropriate and when they should be serious.
 Sustaining conversations: Knowing how to ask and answer questions, give and receive compliments.
 Listening: In order to respond to others it is important to listen effectively. SST teaches how to actively listen to others.
 Social Phobia and SST

 Appropriate speech volume: People with social phobias tend to speak very quietly, making it difficult for
them to communicate with others.

 Intonation: Learning which words to emphasize in conversation is important for conveying different
meanings. “Is Dave going home?” has a different meaning to “Is Dave going home?”.

 Expressing opinions: It is very difficult for some people to express their opinions on certain topics,
particularly when the environment seems intimidating (e.g. the workplace). SST helps people learn how to
voice their feelings in a non-threatening manner
 Self-confidence: People who are fearful in social situations are, more often than not, the people who get bullied
and walked over because they cannot stand up for themselves. SST helps people learn how to stand up for their
own rights.

 Awareness: People with social anxiety are often irrational about how much others are judging them. No one
else can tell when your palms are sweaty and your heart is racing, but when people obsess over these
physiological processes, they become more stressed and anxious. SST teaches people to focus on what is
happening in the social environment rather than their internal physiology.
 Maintenance of Skills learnt

• PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE! There is no other way to maintain or improve skills.

• If a skill is practiced enough, it will become second nature, much like driving a car.
• People who have social difficulties will never improve by avoiding social situations.
• The skills learnt in SST must be remembered and constantly used in day to day activities.
• This is the only way you will overcome your social issues.