Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are motivated to conceal what they perceive to be personal inadequacies. They recognize, however, that their behavior does not convey who they genuinely are. Here, we examined whether increasing perceived authenticity facilitates positive social functioning in these individuals. Participants diagnosed with SAD (N = 72) engaged in two social interactions with experimental confederates. Prior to the second interaction, participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions equated on all elements except a safety behavior reduction procedure intended to increase self-authenticity. As hypothesized, increased authenticity led to beneficial changes in the cognitive, affective, and motivation processes that promote relational functioning. These results suggest that the experience of expressing one’s authentic self may reduce SAD-related social impairment.