What shy individuals do to cope with their shyness: a content analysis and evaluation of self-selected coping strategies.

A content analysis of the written responses of 158 shy individuals was performed to investigate the nature of the self-selected strategies they reported using to deal with their shyness. The classification, along with the frequency of their use, of the self-selected strategies by four raters identified 10 separate categories, with the top five labeled forced extraversion (65%), cognitively induced self-reassurance (26%), educational extraversion (15.2%), sought professional help (14.6%), and alcohol-assisted extraversion (12.7%). An evaluation of the self-selected strategies indicated that they were associated with characteristic features that were incomplete, self-defeating, and/or potentially dangerous (e.g., self-medication). Suggestions as to how shy individuals might improve the effectiveness of these self-selected strategies for dealing with their shyness and the therapeutic implications associated with seeking professional assistance for shyness are presented.