E12. Attitude of Gratitude: The Psychology of Thanksgiving

TherapyBites

11/24/22

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28m

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Attitude of Gratitude: The Psychology of Thanksgiving

Audience: Master catastrophizers, chronic complainers, & professional pessimists, but also those who have experienced difficult, or even tragic, events and struggle with reasons to be grateful.

Psychotherapy Adventurers: Gamer Girl Heather (grateful for opposable thumbs), Super Bookworm Sarah (grateful for her optic nerves), Squirrel Girl Debbie (grateful for furry friends), & Doc Heath; who has so many things for which to be grateful but about which he often UNDER-thinks! He is practicing DAILY his own TFG’s (Targets for Gratefulness) & encourages you to join in.

Go to https://TherapyBites.myshopify.com & grab some A.R.T. LAB MERCH, specially designed to help keep this episode’s message “top of mind” in your life! Don’t forget friends & family members who could use a mental boost too.

Show Summary: In this episode . . .

TherapyBites Podcast is the home of A.R.T. LAB which investigates, explores, & educates all about the neuroscience of Accurate, Realistic Thoughts & Life Affirming Beliefs by challenging worn-out, unsubstantiated, ivory tower psychological theories as well as kool-aid drinking, pseudo-psychological, social media mumbo-jumbo clap-trap.

Today we venture beyond the typical T-Day TurkeyTalk to delve deeper into a study of the benefits of the practice of “Thanksgiving” from a neuroscience perspective. We hope to motivate YOUR engagement in a regular practice of gratitude by identifying specific ‘Targets for Gratefulness’ (TFG’s).

One of the healthiest neuroscience-based training exercises is the identification of “Targets for Gratefulness” (TFG).
Once identified, we can utilize mindfulness techniques (please join in & follow our Mindful Good Morning posts) to explore various aspects of gratefulness in relation to a targeted event, situation, circumstance, person, object, thought, or realization. This can be in relation to ourselves, others, or the universe around us.
1) CHOOSE a Target for Gratefulness (TFG).
2) EXPLORE overlooked aspects of your TFG.
3) BREATHE as you become MINDFUL of these often overlooked facets of life.
4) AGREE with yourself to continue being mindful of this gratitude focus as you prepare your evening meal, as you enjoy each bite of food, as you spend time with yourself or others significant to you.
5) REALIZE that gratitude, like oxygen, may be breathed in and out, sharing with others in our own personal orbit. Gratitude cultivates relationships, improves physical and mental health including immune function, & engineers greater levels of empathy/perspective-taking. Gratitude reduces inaccurate, unrealistic thoughts (IUTy’s), promotes sleep hygiene, & builds resilience.
6) SHARE your TFG in the comments below. We can all benefit from one another’s experiences.

Gratefulness can add value AND meaning to YOUR human experiences & relationships. Join us on today’s episode as we bite into the science of GRATITUDE and give YOUR “BGC Neurons” a much needed vacation.

Visit the TBAL Team at: https://therapybites.ac-page.com/team

CLICK BELOW FOR DAILY LIFE-AFFIRMING, PSYCHOLOGICALLY NUTRITIOUS INFO:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Y8hab2i3m3YTqO9I7Rcjg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doc.heath/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therapy_bites

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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Therapy_Bites/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TherapyBitesPodcast/

(We love YOUR questions & comments on our social pages)

For the full show notes, visit https://therapybites.podbean.com/e/gratitude

USEFUL REFERENCES:

Davis, D. E., Choe, E., Meyers, J., Wade, N., Varjas, K., Gifford, A., ... & Worthington Jr, E. L. (2016). Thankful for the little things: A meta-analysis of gratitude interventions. Journal of counseling psychology, 63(1), 20.

Emmons, R. A., & Stern, R. (2013). Gratitude as a psychotherapeutic intervention. Journal of clinical psychology, 69(8), 846-855.

Kerr, S. L., O’Donovan, A., & Pepping, C. A. (2015). Can gratitude and kindness interventions enhance well-being in a clinical sample?. Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(1), 17-36.

FOR OUR VORACIOUS READERS . . . GOBBLE UP THE WHOLE THING!!! (transcript): https://docs.google.com/document/d/11TU9IlhwBX_Q_6_EaPsUbfhCEWIZjdr9vAIhnY9PECU/edit?usp=sharing

Previous Episode

E11. Open Loops: The Psychology of NOT Knowing

November 18, 2022

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35m

OPEN LOOPS: The Psychology of NOT Knowing!

Audience: Fellow Clinicians & fellow strugglers with uncertainty, unanswered questions, and the unknown.

Psychotherapy Adventurers: Gamer Girl Heather, Super Bookworm Sarah, Squirrel Girl Debbie, & Doc Heath; lifelong anti-ignorance adventurer.

Show Summary:

In this episode . . .

How is YOUR level of “uncertainty avoidance”?

Do you catastrophize NOT KNOWING?

Are you ADDICTED to “cognitive closure”?

Do you let “lack of knowing” manufacture irritation, anger, fear, or anxiety?

Today we venture into the deeper, darker recesses BENEATH the therapy couch to investigate one of the BIGGEST issues humans struggle with juggling and understanding: NOT KNOWING!

Humans are hard-wired to believe that open loops (i.e., unanswered questions, the unknown) are a risk or threat to safety. We believe LABELING things improves our understanding. Sometimes it does. However, these labels often do more to CONFUSE than explain scarcely understood phenomena. Death, for example, is a label that does little to improve our understanding of this particular human experience. It actually has become a word about which there are dozens of sabotaging cognitive distortions.

“Open loops” are psychological “itches” begging to be scratched. That’s completely normal. The key is to be careful in deciding in what cases “not knowing” is actually a threat to safety or security, life or limb.

During today’s episode, we explore some research-proven strategies for programming YOUR brain to deal with this MOST HUMAN of all experiences: NOT KNOWING.

Visit the TBAL Team at: https://therapybites.ac-page.com/team

CLICK BELOW FOR DAILY LIFE-AFFIRMING, PSYCHOLOGICALLY NUTRITIOUS INFO:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Y8hab2i3m3YTqO9I7Rcjg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doc.heath/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therapy_bites

Twitter: https://twitter.com/therapy_bites

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/therapy-bites

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Therapy_Bites/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TherapyBitesPodcast/

(We love YOUR questions & comments on our social pages)

For more resources, visit:
https://therapybites.podbean.com/e/openloops

USEFUL REFERENCES:

Britton, J. C., Lissek, S., Grillon, C., Norcross, M. A., & Pine, D. S. (2011). Development of anxiety: the role of threat appraisal and fear learning. Depression and anxiety, 28(1), 5-17.

Hohman, Z.P. and Hogg, M.A. (2011), Fear and uncertainty in the face of death: The role of life after death in group identification. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 41: 751-760. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.818

Jung, J.M. and Kellaris, J.J. (2004), Cross-national differences in proneness to scarcity effects: The moderating roles of familiarity, uncertainty avoidance, and need for cognitive closure. Psychology & Marketing, 21: 739-753. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20027

Sarinopoulos, I., Grupe, D. W., Mackiewicz, K. L., Herrington, J. D., Lor, M., Steege, E. E., & Nitschke, J. B. (2010). Uncertainty during anticipation modulates neural responses to aversion in human insula and amygdala. Cerebral cortex, 20(4), 929-940.

FOR OUR VORACIOUS READERS . . . GOBBLE UP THE WHOLE THING!!! (transcript): https://docs.google.com/document/d/12crfQaip90DKPZsGEILg3fDSoq0_7naPN7ub7_mnKVU/edit?usp=sharing

Next Episode

E13. Compliments & Criticisms: The Psychology of SHAMING!

December 2, 2022

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42m

Episode 013

Compliments & Criticisms: The Psychology of SHAME!

Audience: Self-Esteem Strugglers, Teens in Search of Self-Esteem & Their Parents, Masters of Self-Directed Disgust, Self-Value Out-Sourcers, & Body Image Blamers.

Today’s TBAL Team (Brave Psychotherapy Adventurers All & Licensed Clinicians): Gamer Girl Heather (Victim of Game-Shaming), Super Bookworm Sarah (Victim of Book-Shaming), Squirrel Girl Debbie (Victim of Furry Critter-Shaming), & Doc Heath (Victim of Over-Education Shaming, Victim of Verbosity-Shaming, Victim of Anti-Shaming-Shaming (AKA Shaming-Debunking).

NOTICE: TherapyBites A.R.T. LAB is not suggested as a REPLACEMENT or SUBSTITUTE for clinical treatment by skilled, licensed professionals.

Show Summary: In this episode . . .

MAIN EPISODE: Compliments & Criticism: The Psychology of SHAMING!

SHAME on us today in the A.R.T. LAB as we take on “SHAMING” as it is commonly MIS-understood (and CATASTROPHIZED) in our world by hair-brained, talking head psychology-types and Kool-Aid mixing social media amateur Sigmund Freuds. We’ll also be taking on the continued rise of “Keyboard COWARDS” who would use the internet and social media as a playground on which to bully & demean others.

One of the healthiest neuroscience-based training exercises is THINKING ABOUT YOUR THINKING (META-COGNITION). We invite you to join the TBAL Team today to bat around ideas about the experience of “SHAME” and challenge others’ ability to reach INSIDE the “vault of your skull” and fiddle-faddle with YOUR neurons to create shame against YOUR free will.

There’s a recent avalanche of articles on shame and, more concerning, “shamING”. Is it possible for another person to reach through a computer screen and CREATE shame inside another person? What’s the scientific mechanism for that? Do we NOT have power to evaluate the words of others? Common UNDER-thinking colloquialisms include: Fat-Shaming, Skinny-Shaming, Gender-Shaming, Slut-Shaming, Status-Shaming. Each of these assume the POWER to create shame exists OUTSIDE of the person experiencing the shame. We at the A.R.T. LAB disagree. We FIRST engineer our thoughts, THEN our thoughts engineer our lives or, in THIS case, our shame.

5-SIMPLE STEPS TO SUPER SELF-ESTEEM

(1) DATA: The words, phrases, & sentences others text or speak to you is simply DATA.

It could be accurate data (2 + 2 = 4) or it may be inaccurate data (2 + 2 = 37). It’s not up to the SOURCE of the information to decide its accuracy. It’s up to YOU and you ALONE to examine what is texted or said and to decide how well that DATA serves YOU.

(2) INFORMATION SOURCE: Consider the source (as Doc Heath’s Dad would often tell him).

Is the source of the critique a trusted authority figure in your life with a sufficient level of mental health to be considered a VALUABLE source of information about you? Remind yourself - each time you get on social media - that you are simply seeing PIXELS in a PATTERN on a PAGE. This cannot define who you are and, LEAST OF ALL, your WORTH! The best way to deal with KEYBOARD COWARDS? DELETE -DELETE - DELETE. BLOCK -BLOCK - BLOCK.

(3) THOUGHTS & SNOWFLAKES: The brain creates THOUGHTS like blizzards create SNOWFLAKES.

It’s up to YOU to decide which of your OWN thoughts serves you the best. Select out ONLY those which are the most Accurate, Realistic Thoughts (ART’ys). Live the A.R.T. Life!

(4) INTERNAL LOCUS of CONTROL: Remember, self-worth is designed from the INSIDE OUT.

Shame is created from the inside out as well. This begins and ends with YOU. If you decide to CONSUME the perspectives of OTHERS, then do so like “chicken”; eating the meat and spitting out the bones. No one can MAKE you think anything about yourself without your consent.

(5) SHAME THOUGHT PROCESS: “Shame” is based in a definite thought process that YOU control.

It’s NOT about a FEELING. For instance, “worthless” is NOT a ‘feeling’. “Useless” is not a ‘feeling’.

“Another person will not hurt you without YOUR cooperation; you are hurt the moment you BELIEVE yourself to be.”

— Epictetus

SPECIAL SEGMENTS IN TODAY’S SHOW

***Join Doc Heath as he delves into the Deep, Dark Re...