Editorial Standards

Editorial Policy

Conquer Social Anxiety exists to provide clear, compassionate, and scientifically responsible education about social anxiety.

Our goal is to help people understand social anxiety more accurately: what it is, how it may develop, what can keep it going, which treatment options are available, and what remains uncertain.

We aim to make psychological knowledge accessible without making it simplistic, exaggerated, or misleading.

Our purpose

CSA is an educational platform dedicated to social anxiety.

The site is designed for adults with social anxiety, people who wonder whether they may have social anxiety, loved ones who want to understand it better, and professionals or researchers interested in how CSA communicates psychological knowledge to the public.

Our educational aim is simple: to help people understand social anxiety well enough to make more informed decisions and engage more actively with meaningful change.

Editorial values

CSA’s content is guided by five editorial values.

Scientific honesty

We try to distinguish between what is well supported, what is plausible, what is debated, and what remains uncertain.

Clinical carefulness

We avoid presenting general education as diagnosis, treatment, or individualized advice.

Compassion

Social anxiety is not weakness, vanity, laziness, or a character flaw. It is a painful and often impairing pattern involving fear, protective responses, learning, and avoidance.

Accessibility

Psychological science should be understandable without requiring a university degree.

No hype

We do not promise cures, quick fixes, guaranteed outcomes, or simple answers to complex psychological difficulties.

How we create content

CSA content is created through a process of psychological knowledge translation.

This means that we draw from psychological research, clinical psychology training, diagnostic frameworks, treatment literature, and lived human experience, then translate that knowledge into language that is understandable to the public.

When creating or revising educational pages, we consider sources such as:

  • clinical guidelines;
  • systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
  • peer-reviewed research articles;
  • major diagnostic frameworks, where relevant;
  • established psychological models of social anxiety;
  • clinical and psychoeducational literature;
  • CSA’s own research-related work, where appropriate.

Not every page requires the same type of evidence. A page explaining diagnosis requires different sources from a page discussing shame, avoidance, or everyday social fears. The underlying standard remains the same: claims should be careful, proportionate, and grounded in the best available understanding.

Evidence and uncertainty

CSA does not treat all claims as equally certain.

Some statements are strongly supported by research. For example, avoidance and safety behaviors are widely recognized as processes that can help maintain social anxiety. Some treatments, particularly disorder-specific cognitive behavioral therapy, have a stronger evidence base than others.

Other topics are more complex, newer, less studied, or more dependent on context. In those cases, CSA aims to communicate the uncertainty clearly.

A separate Evidence Standards page explains in more detail how CSA describes different levels of evidence.

Treatment and product recommendations

CSA does not publish affiliate-style treatment recommendations within its educational content.

We do not recommend third-party products, supplements, CBD products, essential oils, apps, therapy platforms, or commercial tools because they generate revenue. This is especially important because people seeking relief from social anxiety may encounter exaggerated promises and unsupported claims.

CSA may offer its own educational resources, courses, or learning materials. When something is a CSA product, this should be clear. Commercial offers should never determine what the educational content says about social anxiety, treatment, diagnosis, medication, or recovery.

Therapy, diagnosis, and medical boundaries

CSA provides education, not individualized healthcare.

Reading CSA content cannot determine whether you have social anxiety disorder or another mental health condition. It cannot replace a diagnostic assessment, psychotherapy, medical consultation, medication advice, or crisis support.

Content about treatment is general psychoeducation. It may help you understand possible options, prepare questions, or make sense of common therapeutic approaches, but it is not a personal treatment recommendation.

Use of AI and editorial tools

CSA may use digital tools, including AI-assisted tools, to support parts of the editorial process, such as outlining, drafting, editing, translation, organization, and readability improvement.

These tools do not replace editorial responsibility.

Published CSA content is reviewed, revised, and approved before publication. AI-assisted text is not treated as a source of scientific authority.

Claims about social anxiety, diagnosis, treatment, research, or medication should be checked against appropriate sources and edited to meet CSA’s standards of accuracy, caution, and tone.

Review and updates

CSA aims to keep important educational pages current.

Pages may be reviewed or updated when:

  • new evidence becomes available;
  • diagnostic frameworks or clinical guidelines change;
  • a page becomes outdated;
  • a claim requires more nuance;
  • a reader, clinician, or researcher identifies a possible issue;
  • internal links or the site structure change;
  • CSA’s educational framework becomes more precise.

Not every small edit changes the substance of a page. Minor wording, formatting, or readability improvements may be made without a full content review. Substantial changes should be reflected in the page’s content and, where appropriate, its “last updated” date.

Corrections

CSA welcomes corrections.

If you notice a factual error, outdated statement, unclear claim, broken link, missing source, or wording that could be misleading, you can contact CSA and explain the issue.

Corrections are reviewed according to their importance. If an error affects accuracy, clinical meaning, user safety, or scientific interpretation, the relevant page should be revised as soon as reasonably possible.

Conflicts of interest

CSA aims to avoid editorial conflicts of interest.

The site does not use affiliate marketing as a basis for mental health recommendations. Educational content should not be shaped by commissions, referral payments, sponsorships, or product promotion.

If CSA receives funding, sells a course, publishes research, collaborates with an institution, or has another relevant relationship that could reasonably affect how content is perceived, that relationship should be disclosed where appropriate.

Authorship and responsibility

CSA content is published under the responsibility of Conquer Social Anxiety.

The platform was founded by Martin Stork, who holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Universidad EAFIT in Colombia and a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy for Adults from the University of Minho in Portugal. CSA’s research-related work is informed by academic collaborations and ongoing psychological research on social anxiety.

Contact

Questions, corrections, and professional feedback can be sent through the contact page.

CSA especially welcomes feedback from people with lived experience of social anxiety, clinicians, researchers, educators, and anyone who identifies ways the site could communicate more clearly, carefully, or compassionately.

Contact CSA

Continue Learning

These pages explain CSA’s standards, approach to evidence, and educational scope in more detail.

Evidence Standards

Learn how CSA evaluates research findings, treatment claims, uncertainty, and levels of support.