Cognitive Defusion

Alex. Pre-PhD intern. Clinical Psychology/Neuroscience. I'm just kind of here.

[academicssay]

Academic referencing explained | ht @drshawna (Twitter)

[cognitivedefusion]

Friendly reminder:

Your therapist is not/should not be your friend. If you view them that way, or if they treat you that way, that's probably worth exploring.

[errantscience]

There are people out there writing papers without using referencing software, terrifying but true

[cognitivedefusion]

Long time no post. Where are you from?

Oh hi! Originally the Midwest, eventually Colorado, now California :o

[cognitivedefusion]

Alex; are you still around?

More or less, though more less than more.

[cognitivedefusion]

It's been a minute. May consider posting more here and there.

[cognitivedefusion]

My grandson 3 years, 10 months. At preschool, he has exhibited avoidance and anxiety. For example, when given an evaluative “test,” he clams up and disengages eye contact with the questioner. Also, on field trips to the city library, he was so fearful and crying so much that the teacher had to walk him back to the preschool. How best to get an accurate diagnosis in the Houston/Galveston, TX area? Is it enough to talk to the pediatrician or should the parents find a counselor/psychologist?

Since I can’t even begin to make inferences regarding the nature of your grandson, I would vote to go the route of finding an evidence-based psychologist who can administer a proper assessment to determine whether the behavior you’re describing is developmentally normative or indicative of something else (e.g., the onset of a disorder, or at least unhelpful behavioral patterns).

Just make it clear that you’re in the information-gathering phase and hoping for a thorough psychodiagnostic assessment.

[cognitivedefusion]

Hello Alex, I am an ACT Trainer with ACBS, and with your permission, I'd like to use your relational framing diagrams on anxiety in my training events. I can list your website address on the slide if you like. Please let me know if this is okay with you. Thank you, Lou Lasprugato

An absurdly late reply, I’m sure, as I haven’t been active on here for a couple years and imagine you won’t see this message! In the slim chance you do: you are welcome to use anything you like. I know Part III used images (the one with Simpsons characters) from some other website that I can’t remember at this point, but everything else was made on my end.

The series:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part XI

[cognitivedefusion]

Here is the most recent edition of The Behavior Therapist investigating the biomedical model of psychological disorders, and how reducing mental disorders strictly to neurological markers is not only empirically erroneous (i.e., there are still zero biomarkers for any mental disorder) but can actually be harmful (e.g., worsened prognoses, increased negative stigma).

File under REQUIRED READING. This has some of the brightest minds in the field today.

[cognitivedefusion]

Hi! I'll be applying for clinical psych PhD programmes in the upcoming application cycle. I'd like to e-mail my POIs and see if they're accepting students and to find out more about their current research programmes. However, I am not from the US, so I'm not that familiar with the American school timetables. Could I ask when would be a good time to start contacting them? July/Aug? Thanks! :)

I can only speak from my experience, but I would hold off until August/September. A lot of the time they won’t know until then because it depends on departmental funding, which varies from one program to the next. Some POIs knew by August, some didn’t know until a month before application deadlines (and some won’t know until after applications are turned it).

[cognitivedefusion]

You were the one who (unintentionally) influenced me to get therapy instead of only medication for my depression/schizophrenia/dissociation. My fourteen-month mark without any kind of episode just passed. I thought that I was basically doomed because I had a chemical imbalance- which I may, for the psychosis, but the depression and dissociation were results of my poor coping skills. You made me realize that I wasn't broken. Thank you so, so much.

I’m so very happy to hear you found a course of treatment which worked for you! I wish you the absolute best of luck (and impressive hard work on your part) to continue your promising results!

[ocdcentral]

[recoveryplace-blog]

How to handle your panic attacks and anxiety attacks, step by step.

Retreat. If you feel phobic, exit the situation until anxiety subsides. Retreat is a temporary leave until you feel better. Escape can reinforce your phobia.

Talk to another person. This helps get your...

[cognitivedefusion]

“Surviving” panic attacks...The definition of “survive” is to continue existing in spite of danger. The thing about panic attacks is they are not dangerous. They are really entirely harmless based on all medical and psychological accounts.

The anxiety leads people to believe they are dangerous, but they aren’t, and that’s the entire point of exposure: to directly and behaviorally challenge the notion that panic attacks are harmful in some way. To show someone they can endure a panic attack or the anxiety stemming from the threat of one and be perfectly okay.

Relaxing and coping just reinforces the notion that they are dangerous or harmful.

[cognitivedefusion]

Hi! I want to be a neurosurgeon someday, do you reckon I should take psychology OR a biology major as my pre-med? Thanks a lot!

I would definitely go the biology route.

[cognitivedefusion]

Hi! Your blog inspired me to do my critical thinking assessment on exposure therapy. As you know, despite evidence supporting its efficacy, many therapists are reluctant to use exposure therapy due to many inferential and reasoning errors (based on subjective perceptions/experiences). So I argued for the importance of critical thinking in psychology, based on this specific example of exposure therapy. I guess I'm writing to thank you for running this insightful and thought-provoking blog! :)

Hey, thanks! Glad it has inspired you to research into the matter yourself.

[sanders4prez]

Bernie Sanders on Education in America (x)

[ask-the-bespectacled-baltic-blo]

I really don’t want this blog to get political. I don’t. But at present, it’s the only one I’m using, and I have to say this: if you are an American leftist or liberal who can vote in the next presidential election, I am begging you to look into this guy. He is so little known compared to Hilary Clinton, but he’s so much better. I want to stop hearing people saying “I don’t really like Hilary, but she’s the only liberal running, so” because she’s not. Bernie Sanders 2016.

[spiritscraft-deactivated2025031]

Vote in the primary, I don’t care what party you are or who you are favoring, get involved in the process. All of the parties have primaries or caucuses. You can get involved in Green, Libertarian, Democrat, Republican, Workers, Independent and any number of other parties and help choose who they will put forward in the General Election. You can make a difference.

[ladoddsy]

Look up what is required to vote in your local primaries. A lot of them require you to join the party so if you want to vote you need to get on it prompt. The Democratic Leadership will not support Sanders, it is upon the people’s shoulders to do that.

[cognitivedefusion]

Bold text.

[vox]

Want to know what sets Bernie Sanders apart from Hillary Clinton? Look at their donors.

Clinton’s top donors are banks. Sanders’ top donors are unions.

Image: OpenSecrets.org, screenshot from Bombed

[cognitivedefusion]

Ecstatic that Bernie is running. He’s one of the only major US politicians with a career-long track record that is congruent with his ideology.

This is so important.