It’s the middle of the night and I can not sleep. Only recently have I developed this not-sleeping problem, a problem that I have not had before in my life. Still not quite sure how to deal with it. Tonight, I sat down at my laptop and opened a blank document, thinking that I’d write something. Words came to mind pretty quickly, but theory rather than fiction. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to post it here for now because these are just my clinical musings and not technically empirically based. Insight into Augie the psychologist rather than Augie the writer.
Thoughts on Verbal Operants in Treatment of Anxiety
Without a stable base of self from which to reason and soothe, it is very difficult to use exposure to reduce distress because in these cases, exposure does not lead to inhibitory responses; there is just no cognitive ability for an individual to trust their own reasoning. Therefore, it may be necessary to develop statements of specific qualities first to try and build some stability in the way of thinking.
In my mind, these statements might incorporate the following qualities: generalised, flexible, accepting, and believable.
These sorts of statements are different to those found, let’s say, in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is a type of anxiety disorder. OCD thoughts are often ridged, avoidant of complexity, and sometimes nonsensical. The purpose they serve is to reduce short term distress, which is fair, however, they bypass any meaningful problem solving which creates more distress in the long term.
Generalised Statements:
Statements that are generalised are applicable over a number of contexts and thus more likely to generate wide-spread behaviour change. An example of a general statement that may produce stability is, “While not all factors are within my control (and that’s ok), I can still try my best.”
Flexible Statements:
The quality of flexibility in statements adds sensitivity to specific contexts. It makes a statement less of a rule and more of a guide. Using a guide rather than a rule helps us experiment in new environments. If we are rigidly bound to any statement, including, “I always try my best”, we are closing ourselves off to possibilities, for example, when we are not our best or when we don’t want to be our best. An example of a flexible statement that may assist in stability in specific contexts is, “Even though I like to try by best, there are times when I am not my best (and that’s ok)”. Even more specific may be a statement such as, “I messed up there. I can’t change that. I can only try and do differently next time (and that’s ok).”
Accepting Statements:
The bracketed additive of ‘and that’s ok’ in each of the example is implied. It is intended as an acceptance of potential limitations. The reason acceptance is important is that it helps us focus on what matters. Even when there are certain issues in the world that are definitely not ok, the energy used and distress created thinking about the extra problems takes precious resources away from the current issue. It’s like trying to multitask; we might be able to do a few things at once, but each extra task we have to attend to means spreading our resources, and there’s no end to the tasks we could be doing. Acceptance of other problems (if only temporary) helps us focus on the problem at hand and increases our ability to tackle it.
Believable Statements:
Last, but not least, believable statements are ones that are perceived to predict reality. The believability of statements will depend on an individual’s past experience. Believable statements incorporate our existing systems of problem solving into our stable base from which new reasoning may occur; they provide a continuation of self through change. It's hard to provide a believable statement because they are subject to such personal bias. I suppose a believable statement for me would be, "Even if I tried my best every day, I will still have bad days". I know this might sound depressing, and when I first came to this realisation sunlight dimmed a bit, but now it is a source of relief for me - it helps me focus on doing what is meaningful rather than doing for the purpose of avoiding distress.
Note: The reason I am tentative about the examples proposes is that we are all wired a bit differently and what a statement means to me can have a different meaning to others. Furthermore, when the mind is resistant to change, it can easily dispose of any concrete example. Openness to new experience is a crucial component of behaviour change, and ‘small wins’ in the beginning are important in facilitating openness… but that’s another topic.
Another Note: Again, another topic, but the word ‘self’ that I use a number of times is something not clearly defined in this piece of writing, and perhaps not clearly defined in my mind. I suppose it could mean the accumulation of learning from an individual’s past experiences, organised by language. To explore this concept further, I have to touch on a wonderful idea called Relational Frame Theory. It goes like this: humans accumulate different ways to associate stimulus over the course of their development, acquiring increasingly complex ways of connecting their experiences using language. For example, we might learn frames of co-ordination, linking a sound to an object. We might learn frames of opposition that helps us distinguish different objects (e.g. distinguishing a cat from a dog). We might learn temporal frames which helps us sequence time. We might learn deictic relationships that help us distinguish different perspectives based on location of observation. All these connections work together to provide a sense of self; strings to form a web as it were. In other words, the self exists as the network rather than any one string. Stability is in the sense of connection rather than any particular connection itself. Depending on the making and atrophy of certain connections, the shape of the web may change over time, but we can get a sense of overall web or ‘self’ nonetheless.
Thoughts on Verbal Operants in Treatment of Anxiety
Without a stable base of self from which to reason and soothe, it is very difficult to use exposure to reduce distress because in these cases, exposure does not lead to inhibitory responses; there is just no cognitive ability for an individual to trust their own reasoning. Therefore, it may be necessary to develop statements of specific qualities first to try and build some stability in the way of thinking.
In my mind, these statements might incorporate the following qualities: generalised, flexible, accepting, and believable.
These sorts of statements are different to those found, let’s say, in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is a type of anxiety disorder. OCD thoughts are often ridged, avoidant of complexity, and sometimes nonsensical. The purpose they serve is to reduce short term distress, which is fair, however, they bypass any meaningful problem solving which creates more distress in the long term.
Generalised Statements:
Statements that are generalised are applicable over a number of contexts and thus more likely to generate wide-spread behaviour change. An example of a general statement that may produce stability is, “While not all factors are within my control (and that’s ok), I can still try my best.”
Flexible Statements:
The quality of flexibility in statements adds sensitivity to specific contexts. It makes a statement less of a rule and more of a guide. Using a guide rather than a rule helps us experiment in new environments. If we are rigidly bound to any statement, including, “I always try my best”, we are closing ourselves off to possibilities, for example, when we are not our best or when we don’t want to be our best. An example of a flexible statement that may assist in stability in specific contexts is, “Even though I like to try by best, there are times when I am not my best (and that’s ok)”. Even more specific may be a statement such as, “I messed up there. I can’t change that. I can only try and do differently next time (and that’s ok).”
Accepting Statements:
The bracketed additive of ‘and that’s ok’ in each of the example is implied. It is intended as an acceptance of potential limitations. The reason acceptance is important is that it helps us focus on what matters. Even when there are certain issues in the world that are definitely not ok, the energy used and distress created thinking about the extra problems takes precious resources away from the current issue. It’s like trying to multitask; we might be able to do a few things at once, but each extra task we have to attend to means spreading our resources, and there’s no end to the tasks we could be doing. Acceptance of other problems (if only temporary) helps us focus on the problem at hand and increases our ability to tackle it.
Believable Statements:
Last, but not least, believable statements are ones that are perceived to predict reality. The believability of statements will depend on an individual’s past experience. Believable statements incorporate our existing systems of problem solving into our stable base from which new reasoning may occur; they provide a continuation of self through change. It's hard to provide a believable statement because they are subject to such personal bias. I suppose a believable statement for me would be, "Even if I tried my best every day, I will still have bad days". I know this might sound depressing, and when I first came to this realisation sunlight dimmed a bit, but now it is a source of relief for me - it helps me focus on doing what is meaningful rather than doing for the purpose of avoiding distress.
Note: The reason I am tentative about the examples proposes is that we are all wired a bit differently and what a statement means to me can have a different meaning to others. Furthermore, when the mind is resistant to change, it can easily dispose of any concrete example. Openness to new experience is a crucial component of behaviour change, and ‘small wins’ in the beginning are important in facilitating openness… but that’s another topic.
Another Note: Again, another topic, but the word ‘self’ that I use a number of times is something not clearly defined in this piece of writing, and perhaps not clearly defined in my mind. I suppose it could mean the accumulation of learning from an individual’s past experiences, organised by language. To explore this concept further, I have to touch on a wonderful idea called Relational Frame Theory. It goes like this: humans accumulate different ways to associate stimulus over the course of their development, acquiring increasingly complex ways of connecting their experiences using language. For example, we might learn frames of co-ordination, linking a sound to an object. We might learn frames of opposition that helps us distinguish different objects (e.g. distinguishing a cat from a dog). We might learn temporal frames which helps us sequence time. We might learn deictic relationships that help us distinguish different perspectives based on location of observation. All these connections work together to provide a sense of self; strings to form a web as it were. In other words, the self exists as the network rather than any one string. Stability is in the sense of connection rather than any particular connection itself. Depending on the making and atrophy of certain connections, the shape of the web may change over time, but we can get a sense of overall web or ‘self’ nonetheless.
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