Your process for any task is your series of steps to achieve your end. Your process for brushing your teeth or cleaning your kitchen may seem to you like “that’s just how you do it,” but if you surveyed the next 10 people you encounter it is very likely that their process for those tasks are …
I’ve decided to organize the categories of repetitive negative thinking into types so that I can also organize interventions that will be most helpful for each type. You won’t find this in any textbook, scholarly articles, or elsewhere on the internet. I’m using these types for us to have shared language without unhelpful interpretations that come …
At the end of last year, we discussed experiential avoidance including escape strategies and reassurance seeking, situational avoidance, somatic avoidance, cognitive avoidance, emotional avoidance and emotion-driven behaviors. For the next several weeks, we will shift to another type of response mechanism that creates, maintains, and intensifies psychological suffering: repetitive negative thinking. Repetitive negative thinking is the …
As I described in the section on theories of responding to psychological suffering, I belong to the school of thought that believes that it is your response to yourself and your environment that determines your sense of wellbeing. It is not your circumstances themselves, but rather your interpretation of them and your beliefs about them …
It is rare that the anxious person will go to a doctor and say, “My problem is that I’m afraid of my thoughts.” You are more likely to complain, “I’m always thinking… I can’t stop thinking… I can’t turn my mind off… I can’t relax… I can’t sleep… I can’t concentrate because of my worries.” …
The difference between productive and unproductive worryRead More »
Worry is a two-part process including an uncertain question and an attempt to answer it. Whether the attempt to answer it occurs via analysis, problem-solving, distracting, or getting reassurance, the attempt to answer is always problematic because it can never “solve” an unanswerable question and it makes the original uncertainty feel more threatening. We typically …