if your social skills are not very good that never mean that you have social phobia
but if social situations scare and prevent you from moving forward then you have social phobia
tell me what you mean by "crappy social skills " and tell me some examples and how you feel, what you think during this situations and i will tell you if you have social phobia
ummm that's not really the deal with social phobia.
I have SP and I'm not negative, I actually believe I'm very blessed. Not because I have SP but because there's a lot of other things that I don't have. I do have 2 healthy & happy kids, I have my own home, I'm at uni studying something I love, I'm really very very lucky. But yes at the same time I have SA and sometimes it is completely debilitating. Even during those times when I'm struggling to leave my house and be around other people I still know that I have wonderful aspects to my life!
I think you are confusing SA with depression, one of the hard parts of SA is that we know we are being irrational! Irrational is irrational, but it's not always necessarily negative. I know my thoughts are irrational, I know they're not real & I try not to pander to them, but that doesnt make them disappear!
I also strongly believe in the benefits of CBT, you're spot on, our brains can only focus on a certain amount of information at once, if you're telling it to focus on negative things then you will filter out anything other than that.
But you can't throw everyone into one pot and say this will work for all of us! Because it won't. Personally, I find meds & intense aerobic exercise help me the most, but I'm betting other people reading this would say exercise doesnt do much for them.
One size never fits all.