Tag Archives: Recovery

Dual Perspectives on Shame in Recovery

Hemispheric Synchronization via Active and Proactive Neuroplasticity

We learn through hemispheric synchronization, which is the collaboration of the left and right hemispheres of our brain to achieve optimal coherence. We aggressively and consciously utilize both hemispheres of our brain through active and proactive neuroplasticity.

The primary goal of recovery from social anxiety is the mitigation of our irrational fears and anxieties. In self-empowerment, it is the rebuilding of our self-esteem and motivation. We execute these goals through a three-pronged approach.

Produce rapid, concentrated neurological stimulation to offset the abundance of negative information in our brain’s metabolism.
Replace or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones.
Regenerate our self-esteem through mindfulness of our assets.

Both proactive and active neuroplasticity are necessary for recovery-remission from emotional malfunction. They are the two processes of what Jeffrey Schwartz coined self-directed neuroplasticity. Our brain’s right hemisphere manages our emotions, creativity, intuition, and imagination. That is the function of active neuroplasticity. Proactive neuroplasticity attends to our left hemisphere’s rational, analytical, and quantitative pursuits.

Neuroplasticity

Plasticity is the quality of being easily shaped or molded. Neuroplasticity is our brain’s continuous adaptation and restructuring to sensation, experience, and information. Neuroscience recognizes that our neural network is dynamic and malleable – realigning its pathways and rebuilding its circuits in response to all registered stimuli.

Recovery and Self-Empowerment

Recovery is regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. Self-empowerment is making a conscious decision to become stronger and more confident in controlling our lives. In neuroses such as anxiety, depression, and comorbidities, what has been stolen or lost is our emotional well-being and quality of life. In self-empowerment, it is the loss of self-esteem and motivation. So, both recovery and self-empowerment focus on regaining what has been lost.

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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

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Accelerated Learning

We accelerate and consolidate learning and unlearning by compelling our brain to restructure its neural circuitry. This deliberate realignment confirms that our emotional well-being is self-determined. We are impacted by outside forces over which we have limited to no control, including life’s vicissitudes, physical deterioration, and hostilities. Notwithstanding, our psychological health is determined by how we react to things – how we respond to adversity as well as fortune and opportunity. The onus of recovery and self-empowerment rests with us. We control our emotional well-being.

There is an underlying theme we adhere to in recovery and self-empowerment. We cease to define ourselves by the negative aspects of our being, i.e., our faults and deficiencies, and redefine ourselves by our character strengths, virtues, and attributes. We do not win our battles with defective weapons but with tools of optimal efficiency. Mindfulness (recognition, comprehension, and acceptance) of this pragmatism promotes our transformation.

Human Brain Neuroplasticity

We consciously and deliberately transform our thoughts and behaviors through neuroplasticity, creating healthy new mindsets, skills, and abilities. Our informed and deliberate engagement provokes change rather than reacting and responding to it. Both proactive and active neuroplasticity compel this change.

Information alerts a receptor neuron that sends electrical data to a sensory neuron, stimulating presynaptic neurons that forward it to millions of participating neurons, causing a cellular chain reaction in multiple interconnected areas of our brain.

Long-Term Potentiation

In addition, deliberate neuroplasticity activates long-term potentiation, increasing the nerve impulses’ strength and generating more energy. Additionally, the process creates higher levels of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factors) – proteins associated with improved cognitive functioning, mental health, and memory.

Neural Reciprocation

The neural chain reaction generated by repetition reciprocates, in abundance, the energy of the information. Millions of neurons amplify the electrical activity on a massive scale. Positive information in, positive energy returned in abundance. Conversely, negative information in, negative energy reciprocated in abundance. Thus, the value of positive reinforcement.

Hormonal Neurotransmissions

The heightened activity of our axon pathways boosts the neurotransmissions of chemical hormones, feeding us GABA for relaxation, dopamine for pleasure and motivation, endorphins to boost our self-esteem, and serotonin for a sense of well-being. Acetylcholine supports neuroplasticity, glutamate enhances our memory, and noradrenalin improves concentration. To date, neuroscientists have discovered over fifty chemical hormones.

Three Forms

Human neuroplasticity happens in three forms.

Reactive neuroplasticity is our brain’s response to accessible information – stimuli we do not initiate or may not register, such as a car alarm, lightning, or the smell of baked goods. Our neural network automatically restructures itself according to what we access.

Active neuroplasticity happens through intentional pursuits like creating, yoga, and journaling. We control active neuroplasticity because we consciously choose the activity. A significant component of active neuroplasticity is our altruistic and compassionate social behavior, e.g., teaching, compassion, and random acts of kindness.

Proactive neuroplasticity is rapid, concentrated neurological stimulation to change the polarity of our neural network from toxic to positive. We execute this by our deliberate, repetitive neural input of information.

Our ability to deliberately accelerate and consolidate learning and unlearning is significant. Over the years, our brain structures itself around negative neural inpu t, forming in childhood and increasing exponentially due to our inherent negative bias and the vicissitudes of life. The primary objective in recovery and self-empowerment is replacing or overwhelming negative information with positive neural input.

Proactive Neuroplasticity

Proactive neuroplasticity is the most effective method of positive neural restructuring. Through the deliberate, repetitive, neural input of information (DRNI), we compel our brains to change their negative polarity to positive. This activity is supported by our brain’s left hemisphere – the analytical part responsible for rational thinking.

While proactive neuroplasticity attends to the analytical, active neuroplasticity addresses the emotional, social, and spiritual. What one lacks in neural productivity is fulfilled by the other.

Active Neuroplasticity

Active neuroplasticity replaces our self-destructive thoughts and behaviors while regenerating our self-esteem. Creating healthy new mindsets, skills, and abilities requires positive and repetitive neural input.

Active neuroplasticity happens through intentional pursuits that counteract the years of adverse neural information. We replace or overwhelm our negative tendencies and negotiate a more balanced perspective by rediscovering and utilizing our inherent and acquired character strengths, virtues, and attributes disrupted by our emotional malfunction.

We pay attention to our bodies through exercise, dancing, and yoga. We improve our cognitive functions through culture, creativity, and other mental pursuits. Introspection, meditation, and self-compassion enhance our spirit. Our emotional well-being is addressed through CBT, positive psychologies, and other individually targeted approaches.

Beyond the synthetic and creative products of active neuroplasticity is our ethical and compassionate social behavior. Contributions to others and society are extraordinary assets to our recovery objectives. The value of volunteering – providing support, empathy, and concern for those in need not only promotes positive behavioral change but also accelerates and consolidates neural restructuring. Likewise, the social interconnectedness established by caring augments the regeneration of our self-esteem and self-appreciation.

Inherent Collaboration

Both proactive and active neuroplasticity assist in the positive transformation of our thoughts and behaviors. Their collaboration reinforces and strengthens neural restructuring. Proactive neuroplasticity (rational, analytical, quantitative, DRNI) is self-oriented; active neuroplasticity (emotional, creative, intuitive, qualitative) is self- and other-oriented. Their activities collaborate, as do our two neural hemispheres.

Gestalt psychology considers the human mind and behavior as a whole. Radical behaviorism considers observable behaviors and the diversity of human thought and experience. That calls for a collaboration of science, philosophy, and psychology. Philosophy, existentially defined, welcomes religious and spiritual insight. Neuroscience and psychology collaborate in recovery from emotional malfunction and the pursuit of our goals and objectives. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Self-Esteem/Self-Appreciation

Self-esteem is mindfulness of our qualities and character as well as our defects. It is how we think about ourselves, how we think others think about us, and how we process that information. Healthy self-esteem tells us we are of value, consequential, and desirable. The inherent byproduct of that realization is self-appreciation. It is self-esteem paid forward. Consolidating our self-regard and recognizing what we have to offer drives us to share it with others. Self-appreciation is the natural evolution of self-esteem.

Proactive and active neuroplasticity are necessary collaborative mechanisms for neural restructuring, reframing our thoughts and behaviors, and regenerating our self-esteem and self-appreciation.

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WHY IS YOUR SUPPORT SO IMPORTANT? ReChanneling develops and implements programs to (1) mitigate symptoms of social anxiety and related conditions and (2) pursue personal goals and objectives – harnessing our intrinsic aptitude for extraordinary living. Our paradigmatic approach targets the personality through empathy, collaboration, and program integration utilizing neuroscience and psychology including proactive neuroplasticity, cognitive-behavioral modification, positive psychology, and techniques designed to regenerate self-esteem. All donations support scholarships for groups and workshops.

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

Testimonials

August 17, 2023Anxiety, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Self-Empowerment, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderCoping Skills, Depression, LGBTQ+, Positive Psychology, RecoveryRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

The Value of Testimonials

Social anxiety disorder is ostensibly the most underrated and misunderstood psychological affliction. It is culturally identifiable by the persistent fear and avoidance of social interaction and performance situations, which causes us to miss the life experiences that connect us with the world.

Nicknamed the neglected anxiety disorder, SAD is routinely misdiagnosed. Few professionals understand it, and even fewer want to deal with it. Experts cite the mental health community’s difficulty distinguishing its symptoms and identifying specific etiological risk factors.

The primary goal of recovery from social anxiety is the mitigation of our irrational fears and anxieties. This is achieved through a three-pronged approach:

Replace or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones.
Produce rapid, concentrated neurological stimulation to overwhelm the negative abundance of our neural network.
Regenerate our self-esteem through mindfulness of our assets.

Consequently, one-size-fits-all approaches are inefficient. Recovery must consider the diversity of human thought and experience. That calls for a collaboration of neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. Philosophy, existentially defined, welcomes religious and spiritual insight. Additionally, individual environments, heritage, experiences, and associations reflect our wants, choices, and aspirations. If they are not given consideration, then we are not valued.

Listening to and sharing the experiences and expertise of others broadens our perspective and understanding. Many of the ideas that eventually become an integral part of recovery come from the thoughts and contributions of colleagues and clients in our groups and workshops. Furthermore, by supplementing our workshops, posts, and publications with innovative and evolving ideas, opinions, and experiences, we better serve the community by providing a full and comprehensive overview of emotional malfunction and methods of recovery.

Client testimonials provide a narrow but measured perspective on how well we are listening and meeting our objectives.

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“Dr. Mullen is doing impressive work helping the world. He is the pioneer of proactive neuroplasticity utilizing DRNI—deliberate, repetitive, neural information.” – WeVoice (Valencia, Málaga, Madrid)

“I joined Robert’s SAD workshop at a time where I felt lost, alone, and unconfident. After a handful of weeks and exercises, Robert’s program provided me with the tools to start seeking and navigating relationships. Maintaining a social life is hard work, and Robert encourages the introspective work necessary to put our best foot forward while maintaining a constructive environment for us to overcome our social hang-ups.” – Bryce S. (Workshop Graduate)

I have never encountered such an efficient professional … His work transpires dedication, care, and love for what he does.” – Jose Garcia Silva, PhD, composer of Cosmos

“I would like to say thank you for a well-organized learning experience. I can’t tell you how much I really appreciate this program. I feel so confident and ready to utilize these resources/tools you’ve provided.” – Trish D. (Workshop Graduate)

“Thank you so much! I’m so excited! I really need this.”
– Kelsey D. (Group Member)

“One of the most difficult things for those of us with social anxiety is to take the leap to join a recovery program. Dr. Mullen’s Social Anxiety Workshop has been a tremendous help for me in getting back control of my anxiety. The weekly workshops are tailored to the individual(s) learning style, and comfortability, so there was never a time I felt in over my head. It was not always easy work, but with Dr. Mullen’s positivity, compassion, and encouragement, I can say it is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P. (Workshop Graduate)

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“I’ve lived with social anxiety for decades. I spent many years (and thousands of dollars) on conventional talk therapy, self-help books, and medication, without experiencing any real change or relief. ReChanneling’s Social Anxiety Workshop produced results within a few sessions, with continuing improvement throughout the workshop and beyond. I’m now much more at ease in situations that were major sources of anxiety and avoidance for me just a few months ago. The shared experience of working through social anxiety with other people who “get it” is powerful … Dr. Mullen is truly committed to our growth and recovery.” – Liz D. (Workshop Graduate)

“A leading expert on social anxiety disorder and its comorbidities, Dr. Mullen is the father of proactive neuroplasticity.” – Lake Shore Unitarian Society, Winnetka, IL

“It is refreshing to work with an organization that possesses sincere commitment, ethics, and genuinely cares about its clients.”
– Sharon Hoery & Associates, Colorado

“I attended the online recovery workshop. Dr. Mullen is considered a leading expert on anxiety and depression, etc. If you want to regain your sense of self-worth and confidence, you may want to consider recovery. It’s a bit of work but well worth the effort.” – Matty S. (Workshop Graduate)

“Dr. Mullen hits the nail on the head with ReChanneling.”
– Reverend Richard Carlini

“I have observed that much of the abuse and trauma in our society is caused by those who are indifferent and unaffected by their destructive actions. This concise narrative allows us to take back our power and realize – we are never alone. Thank you for describing the process of forgiveness with proactive actions. Forgiveness is a spiritually empowering act as “we symbolically wash our hands of the toxicity. “ – Richard

“I like Robert’s SAD recovery program, especially how it’s taking many of my negative thoughts away and replacing them with positive ones. I also appreciate the others that are in our recovery group, as we all mingle quite well. And, of course, Robert is always there as nurturing and positive friend.” – Michael Z. (Workshop Graduate)

“I love his classes because the only pressure comes from within, not from the instructor, who clearly loves and knows what he is doing.” – Leon V. (Workshop Graduate)

“I am simply in awe at the writing, your insights, your deep knowing of transcendence, your intuitive understanding of psychic-physical pain, your connection of the pain to healing, your concept/title, and above all, your innate compassion.” – Janice Parker, Ph

“I do see the light at the end of the tunnel and that’s something I didn’t have before the workshop. As far as I’m concerned, that pretty much says it all.” – David C. (Workshop Graduate)

“What a fascinating post! Thank you, Dr. Mullen” – Gina

“We are, however, responsible for how we play the cards in our hand.” I am glad to hear him write this. Too many use a legitimate problem as an excuse to do nothing. And to whine, complain and blame everybody else instead of doing something about the actual problem.” – Bookstooge

“What a stupendous post. I really enjoyed reading it.” – marouabourni

“A very informative and thought-provoking post.”- Steve

A “productive series that allows one to believe change is possible and sustained. Thanks for these concise and empowering educational videos.” – @aurorealis3249

“I work in the mental healthcare industry, and I see the pessimism and apathy of some of the staff. The negativity of the disease model and how it labels clients creates an atmosphere of disrespect or even disdain for persons fighting mental disorders. I understand how working with persons with psychological problems can get to nurses and counselors after a while but that is what we signed up for. I believe the wellness model of positive client self-image and optimism will go a long way in changing attitudes and perceptions.” – @msavenkow5632

* * *

WHY IS YOUR SUPPORT SO IMPORTANT? ReChanneling develops and implements programs to (1) mitigate symptoms of social anxiety and related conditions and (2) pursue personal goals and objectives – harnessing our intrinsic aptitude for extraordinary living. Our paradigmatic approach targets the personality through empathy, collaboration, and program integration utilizing neuroscience and psychology including proactive neuroplasticity, cognitive-behavioral modification, positive psychology, and techniques designed to regenerate self-esteem. All donations support scholarships for groups and workshops.

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

Coping Strategies for Social Anxiety

July 12, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Coping Mechanisms, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderAutomatic Negative Thoughts, Coping Skills, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-EmpowermentRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

“Success depends upon previous preparation,
and without such preparation, there is sure to be failure.”
– Confucius

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How Can Negative Information Be Neutralized?

Coping Strategies for Social Anxiety

Social anxiety disorder is culturally identifiable by the persistent fear and avoidance of social interaction and performance situations, which causes us to miss the life experiences that connect us with the world.

The primary goal of recovery is to dramatically alleviate the anxieties, apprehensions, and fears associated with social anxiety. To achieve this, we identify three objectives:

Replace or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones.
Restructure: produce rapid, concentrated positive stimulation to offset the abundance of negative information in our brain’s metabolism.
Regenerate our self-esteem through mindfulness of our assets.

As strategists for our recovery, we are responsible for developing a cohesive plan to meet our three objectives. These can involve multiple coping strategies. Coping mechanisms are tools and techniques that implement our coping strategies. The distinctions are important.

Recovery Goal: the outcome we seek to achieve.
Recovery Objectives: the steps we take to achieve our recovery goal.
Coping Strategies: The plans of action designed to meet our recovery objectives.
Coping Mechanisms: tools and techniques utilized to implement our coping strategies.

Situations

A situation is a set of circumstances – the facts, conditions, and incidents affecting us at a particular time in a specific place. A feared situation provokes fears and anxieties that negatively impact our activities and associations.

Two Types of Situations

Anticipated situations are those that we know, in advance, will provoke our fears and anxieties. Examples range from restaurants and the classroom to job interviews, family gatherings, and social events. They can be one-time situations like a job interview or social event. They can be recurring situations such as the classroom or work environment.

Unexpected situations are those that catch us by surprise. Examples include an accident, the unexpected houseguest, and losing your wallet.

Automatic Negative Thoughts

Automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) are the immediate, involuntary, emotional expressions that occur when our situational fears challenge us. They are the unpleasant, self-defeating things we tell ourselves that define who we are, who we think we are, and who we think others think we are.

ANTs result from our negative self-appraisal, e.g., “No one will talk to me.” “I will do something stupid.” “I am a loser.” Adverse behaviors consequently accompany these self-maligning thoughts.

Identifying situations and unpacking associated fears and corresponding ANTs are crucial to recovery. Our responses are as distinctive as human thought and experience.

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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

* * *

9 STEPS TO MODERATE SITUATIONAL FEARS AND ANXIETIES

Alleviating our associated fears and corresponding ANTs demands an integrated approach. Through the 9-Step Process for Rational Response, we learn to:

1. Identify our feared situation. Where are we when we feel anxious or fearful, and what activities are involved? What are we thinking? What might we be doing? Who and what impacts these insecure feelings?

2. Unpack our associated fear(s). One way to identify our fears and anxieties is to ask ourselves: What is problematic about the situation? How do I feel (physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually)? What is my specific concern or worry? What is the worst thing that could happen to me? What do I imagine will happen to me?

3. Unmask our corresponding ANTs. How do we express our fear or anxiety? What are our involuntary emotional expressions or images? How do we negatively self-label? What do we tell ourselves? “I am incompetent.” “I am stupid.” “I am undesirable.”

4. Examine and analyze our fears and ANTs. What are the origins of our fears and anxieties? How do we express them? Discovery approaches include cognitive comprehension, introspection, psychoeducation, and the vertical arrow technique.

5. Generate rational responses. We become mindful of the irrationality and self-destructive nature of our associated fears, anxieties, and corresponding ANTs. We unmask, examine, and analyze the cognitive distortions and maladaptive behaviors that validate or reinforce them. Then, we devise rational responses to counter their false assumptions.

6. Reconstruct our thought patterns. Through proactive neuroplasticity and other cognitive approaches, we convert our thought patterns by replacing or overwhelming them with healthy, productive ones. This process is an essential component of recovery.

7. Devise a structured plan. Utilizing our learned tools and techniques, we develop our coping strategies and mechanisms to challenge our situations, associated fears and anxieties, and corresponding ANTs.

8. Practice the plan in non-threatening situations. We strengthen our rational responses by repeatedly implementing our plan in simulated situations and practicing exercises, including role-play and other workshop interactivities.

9. Expose self to the situation. We challenge our fears and anxieties on-site in real-life situations. This action transpires after a suitable period of graded exposure to accommodate the reconstruction of our neural network and ensure familiarity with our strategies and coping mechanisms.

Coping Strategies

Researchers point to over 400 coping strategies to address emotional malfunction, including problem-focused, emotion-focused, social, and meaning-focused.

Our social anxiety recovery program emphasizes response-focused and solution-focused strategies but considers multiple approaches to facilitate an individually targeted recovery program.

Emotion-focused coping strategies focus on managing or regulating our emotional response to feared situations. Identifying the emotions associated with a stressor is essential to mitigating them. In the first three of our 9-Step Process for Rational Response, we identify the feared situation, associated fears, and corresponding ANTs.

Problem-focused coping strategies employ the same tools and techniques as our solution-focused strategy. One crucial difference: the pathographic disease model of mental health focuses on the problem, whereas the wellness model we favor emphasizes the solution.

Recovery is a here-and-now process. The past is immutable. We have no control over it beyond our reaction and response to it. It is the here-and-now and how it reflects on the future that is of value in recovery.

Meaning-focused coping strategies entail rationalizing or delegating responsibility for our thoughts and behaviors to a moral or religious code or influence. These, however, can encourage negatively valanced emotions like shame, guilt, and blame, which are major impediments to recovery. The more rational approach emphasizes personal accountability and self-determination.

Social coping strategies are essential to counter our fears of human interconnectivity and avoidance of social situations. Graded exposure includes practiced cognitive-behavioral techniques that reduce sensitivity to our feared situations. The 9-Step Process for Rational Response encourages systematic desensitization of our fears/anxieties in non-threatening workshop environments before exposure to real-life situations.

Avoidance-focused coping strategies pursue alternate activities to avoid situations that endanger our emotional well-being. They are short-term solutions. In the long term, we mitigate our fears/anxieties by learning to respond rationally to them, allowing us to engage in feared situations at our discretion.

Restructuring, replacing, and regenerating comprise the framework for recovery and self-empowerment. A coalescence of coping strategies is needed to accommodate these goals as well as the diversity of human thought and experience.

Best Coping Strategies for Social Anxiety

Response-based coping strategies, which we focus on in our recovery program, pay particular attention to generating rational responses to our maladaptive thoughts and behaviors. We learn to rechannel our emotional angst to intellectual evaluation and response. We facilitate this component of recovery in the first four of the 9-Step Process for Rational Response.

Solution-based coping strategies keep our attention centered on finding solutions rather than researching the origins of our problems. Recovery is a here-and-now and how it reflects on the future process. We define ourselves by our character strengths, virtues, and attributes rather than our symptoms.

Recovery relies on self-reliance and self-motivation. The onus of emotional well-being rests with the recovering individual. A comprehensive recovery program is individually targeted to emphasize the solution rather than the problem.

* * *

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

The Character Resume

July 6, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Depression, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Self-Empowerment, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderAutomatic Negative Thoughts, LGBTQ+, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-esteemRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety and social anxiety disorder is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

“Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power,
but in character and goodness. People are just people,
and all people have faults and shortcomings,
but all of us are born with a basic goodness.”
– Anne Frank

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The Character Resume

A character resume is a written compilation of our positive qualities, achievements, and happy memories. Mindfully retrieving and cataloging these qualities compels us to embrace our value, confirming we are desirable, consequential, and worthy.

Self-esteem is mindfulness of our value to self, society, and the world. The trajectory of our negative self-beliefs disrupts the development of our positive self-qualities. This trajectory erodes mindfulness of our inherent and acquired character strengths, virtues, and attributes. Fortunately, these qualities are not erased but misplaced, repressed, or compartmentalized away from our consciousness.

Recovery is regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. In social anxiety and related conditions, what has been stolen or lost is our emotional well-being and quality of life.

Insufficient Satisfaction of Needs

Self-esteem can be further understood as a complex interrelationship between how we think about ourselves, how we think others perceive us, and how we process and present that information. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reveals how childhood disturbance and subsequent negative self-beliefs disrupt our emotional development by denying us satisfaction of certain fundamental needs.

Core beliefs of abandonment, detachment, exploitation, and neglect subvert certain biological, physiological, and emotional support. This lacuna negatively impacts our self-esteem which we express by undervaluing our positive qualities. Again, this does not signify obliteration, but diminishment or latency due to inactivity or suppression.

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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

* * *

Purpose of the Character Resume

In his examination of anxiety and depression, Aaron Beck, the pioneer of cognitive-behavioral therapy, maintained that social anxiety provokes feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and unworthiness. The concept of undesirability revealed itself in our SAD recovery workshops. Until we commit to recovery, we continue to be manipulated by these destructive self-beliefs.

To highlight Sun Tzu’s words of wisdom, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” I am continually amazed at how little SAD persons know their symptoms. It is as if, by ignoring them, they do not exist or will somehow go away. Ignorance is a major impediment to recovery. How can we fix something if we do not know why it malfunctions? How do we regenerate our character qualities if we remain blissfully unaware of what they are? Thus, the value of the character resume.

An objective of recovery is to become mindful of our inherent and acquired character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements. This recognition includes mutual consideration of our shortfalls, as well. Again, we are repairing our brokenness.

Overwhelming Negativity

Childhood disturbance generates negative core beliefs that influence our intermediate attitudes, rules, and assumptions. These attributions produce a cognitive bias that compels us to misinterpret information and make self-destructive decisions. Since humans are hard-wired with a negativity bias, we already respond more favorably to adversity. Add our SAD symptomatology and our neural network is replete with toxic information.

We convey this in our thoughts, behaviors, and the words we use to express them.

Throughout our lives, we are consumed and conditioned by adversity. SAD sustains itself through our negative self-beliefs and image. By the age of sixteen, we have heard the word no from our parents roughly 135,000 times. Some of us use the same unfortunate characterizations over and over again. It is not just the words we say aloud in criticism and conversations. The self-annihilating words we silently call ourselves support our adverse thoughts and behaviors.

Additionally, we are continuously impacted by outside negative forces over which we have limited to no control, including life’s vicissitudes, physical deterioration, and social hostilities.

Our neural network is replete with negative Information. A character resume is a constant visual reminder of our value and significance.

Recovery Goal and Objectives

Replace or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones.
Produce rapid, concentrated positive stimulation to offset the abundance of negative Information in our brain’s metabolism.
Regenerate our self-esteem through mindfulness of our assets.

Replace

The goal is to replace or overwhelm our adverse thoughts and behaviors with positive ones. Our character resume is constructed with our positive qualities, achievements, and memories. It is these attributions that replace the abundance of negative self-beliefs acquired throughout life. These qualities that were lost, misplaced, or compartmentalized, are retrieved and recognized through recovery approaches, e.g., personal introspection and inventory, memory work, cognitive comprehension, and other tools and techniques. They are subsequently input into our character resume.

Restructure

Proactive neuroplasticity produces rapid, neurological stimulation to change the polarity of our neural network. Our brain receives around two million bits of data per second but is capable of processing roughly 126 bits, so it is important to provide substantial information. DRNI is the deliberate, repetitive, neural input of Information. A deliberate act is a premeditated one; we initiate and control the process. Repetition accelerates and consolidates neural renewal and connectivity. Information that is sound, reasonable, goal-focused, and unconditional determines its strength and integrity. The information we assemble in our character resume generates the most efficient words and statements to accelerate and consolidate the process of neural restructuring.

Regenerate

To regenerate means to renew or restore something damaged or underproduced. Because of the disruption in our optimal development, many positive self-qualities that construct our self-esteem are latent or dormant – underdeveloped or suspended.

These self-qualities (e.g., confidence, reliance, compassion, and other self-hyphenates) are damaged but not lost. Disruption interrupts productivity. It does not destroy it. Like stimulating the unexercised muscle in our arm or leg, we can regenerate our self-esteem.

Due to our negative self-analysis, we tend to repress, misplace, and forget our inherent and developed assets. They are not erased or lost. But we compartmentalize them in the recesses of our minds because our social anxiety compels us to focus on our negative qualities.

Elements of a Character Resume

What goes into our character resume? The simple answer is anything and everything that stimulates a positive personal response, including our successes, achievements, contributions, personal milestones, talents, charitable deeds, and happy memories.

What Goes Into our Character Resume?

Entries into our character resume include our positive personal affirmations, rational response to our ANTs, affirmative visualizations, character strengths, virtues, and attributes rediscovered through various exercises, retrievable happy memories, and self-esteem attributes from multiple inventories.

Character Strengths, Virtues, and Attributes. Make a list of your positive qualities. Renewed mindfulness of our assets is essential for regenerating our self-esteem.

Positive Autobiography. List your successes, achievements, contributions, personal milestones, talents, charitable deeds, and service to others. Recollecting and listing these accomplishments encourages you to recognize and embrace the extraordinariness of your lives.

Positive Personal Affirmations are self-motivating, empowering statements that help us focus on goals, challenge negative, self-defeating beliefs, and reprogram our subconscious minds.

Self-Esteem Self-Analysis. What do we like about ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially?

Write these things down. Our brain receives around two million bits of data per second but processes roughly 126 bits. If we don’t write things down, they don’t register, and we forget them.

When challenged by our negative self-appraisal or automatic negative thoughts, we have a constant reminder of our qualities and assets – a written evaluation of our value and significance. It is an indispensable resource that helps address those situations that generate self-destructive thoughts, behaviors, and other adverse self-beliefs.

* * *

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

Know the Enemy: Social Anxiety Disorder

June 27, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderAutomatic Negative Thoughts, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-esteemRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

“Dr. Mullen is doing impressive work helping the world. He is the pioneer of proactive neuroplasticity utilizing DRNI – deliberate, repetitive, neural information.” – WeVoice (Madrid Málaga)

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear.”
– Nelson Mandela

DIT

Recent Posts

SAD Symptoms, Fears, and Apprehensions

Know the Enemy: Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is the most underrated, misunderstood, and misdiagnosed disorder. Nicknamed the neglected anxiety disorder, few experts understand SAD and even fewer know how to address it.

According to the Social Anxiety Institue of Phoenix, recovery is best conducted by someone who has experienced social anxiety disorder and effectively mitigated its symptoms. I have done both.

Know Your Enemy

To successfully engage this sinister adversary, we must learn its tactics and the scope of its weaponry. From that, we devise our stratagem. That is the substance of recovery. This is a battle for control over our emotional well-being and quality of life.

As the world’s third-largest mental health care problem, SAD is culturally identifiable by our persistent fear of social interaction and performance situations. Our suspicions of criticism, ridicule, and rejection are so severe, we avoid the healthy life experiences that interconnect us to others and the world. It is not the fears that devastate our lives; it is the things we do to avoid them. We have far more to fear from our distorted perceptions than what we might encounter in the real world. Our imagination takes us to dark and lonely places.

Automatic Negative Thoughts

Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) are anxiety-provoking thoughts or emotions that occur in anticipation of or reaction to a situation. They are unpleasant expressions of our self-perspectives – predetermined assumptions of what will happen when we expose ourselves to our fears.
(“I am incompetent. “No one will talk to me.” “I’ll say something stupid.”) .

These cognitively distorted responses stem from an endless feedback loop of hopelessness, helplessness, undesirability, and worthlessness, leading to self-destructive thoughts and behaviors.

We fear the unknown and unexplored. We obsess about upcoming events and how we will reveal our shortcomings. We experience anticipatory anxiety for weeks before a situation and anticipate the worst. We remember those events in high school when we were the last to be chosen. The times we felt shunned when we tried to interconnect. SAD sustains itself by focusing on the negative aspects of our life.

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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

* * *

Defining Recovery

The definition of recovery is regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. In neuroses such as anxiety, depression, and comorbidities, what has been stolen or lost is our emotional well-being and quality of life.

Symptoms

Chronic and debilitating, SAD attacks on all fronts, manifesting in mental confusion, emotional instability, physical dysfunction, and spiritual malaise. Emotionally, we are despondent and lonely. We are subject to unwarranted sweating, trembling, hyperventilation, nausea, and muscle spasms. Mentally, our thoughts are discordant and irrational. Spiritually, we define ourselves as inadequate and insignificant. Additionally, many of us endure depression and turn to substance abuse to blunt the pain of our condition.

The Here and Now

While we understand the relevance of past circumstances, the focus of recovery is on the present and the solution. In the case of David Z., his recollections of childhood physical and emotional abuse helped him understand his mistrust and intimacy avoidance. Recovery, for the most part, is a here-and-now endeavor. Understanding the past is not unhelpful, but it is not our priority. The past is immutable, the future definable by our actions in the present.

Trapped and Crippled

Do you feel trapped in a vicious circle, restricted from living a normal life: Do you feel alienated from your peers and isolate yourself from family and friends? Do you spurn new relationships in anticipation of rejection? Do you repeat the same mistakes over and over again?

As one client sorrowfully confided, “Anxiety has crippled me, locked me in a cage and has become my master.”

Feeling anxious or apprehensive in certain situations is normal; most of us are nervous speaking in front of a group and anxious when visiting our dentist. The typical individual recognizes the normality of a situation and accords appropriate attention. The SAD person dreads it, dramatizes it, and obsesses about its perceptual ramifications. We make mountains out of molehills and spend our days in tortuous anticipation of projected negative outcomes. We guarantee our failure through SAD-fulfilling prophecies.

We intuitively know it is an irrational and maddening way to live. We have tried everything to circumvent our behavioral patterns, yet nothing seems to work. That is because SAD thrives on counterproductivity, a tactic that provokes the opposite of the desired effect.

Established recovery approaches fail because they are not designed to address this peculiarity. SAD is the ultimate enigma – an intractable condition difficult to comprehend. The purpose of recovery is to unravel the enigma.

Do you feel like you are under a microscope, and everyone is judging or criticizing you? Do you worry you are making a poor impression on individuals who do not matter? Are you inordinately concerned about what you might do, how you look, and how you express yourself?

We live with persistent anxiety and fear of social situations such as dating, interviewing for a position, and contributing to class. We anticipate others will deem us incompetent, stupid, or undesirable. Often, mere functionality in perfunctory situations – eating in front of others, riding a bus, using a public restroom – is unduly stressful.

The fear that manifests in social situations seems so fierce, we feel it is uncontrollable, a conclusion that manifests in perceptions of weakness and helplessness. We avoid situations where there is the potential for mistakes; imperfection is intolerable. Constant negative self-evaluation disrupts our desire to pursue a goal, attend school, or form relationships.

Social Interaction

Do you imagine you are the curiosity in the room – the scrutiny of everyone’s attention? Do you worry that people will notice you sweating or blushing? That your voice will tremble and become incoherent?

We are overly concerned that our fears and anxieties are glaringly obvious to everyone. The overriding fear of being found wanting manifests in our self-perspectives of incompetence and unattractiveness. We walk on eggshells, supremely conscious of our awkwardness, surrendering to the GAZE―the anxious state of mind that comes with the fear of being the center of attention.

We are reminded of that phrase from the Book of David: “You have been weighed on the scales and you have been found wanting.” It is a self-perception difficult to reconcile when SAD is the scale upon which we are being weighed.

Our social interactions are clumsy, small talk inelegant, and attempts at humor embarrassing. Our anticipation of repudiation motivates us to dismiss overtures to offset the possibility of rejection. SAD is repressive and intractable, imposing self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors. It establishes its authority through defeatist measures produced by cognitively distorted and maladaptive interpretations of reality.

Maladaptive Behaviors

Maladaptive behaviors are actions that prevent us from adapting, adjusting, or participating in different aspects of life. Introduced by Aaron Beck, the pioneer of cognitive-behavioral therapy, maladaptive behaviors are prevalent, but not exclusive, in social anxiety and depression. As a result of our negative core and immediate beliefs, our belief system and self-appraisal become distorted, and we adapt negatively (maladapt) to positive situations. Like other defense mechanisms, these behaviors are mostly unconscious and automatic psychological responses designed to protect us from our fears/anxieties.

Intended as temporary safeguards against situations that challenge our conscious minds, these behaviors manifest in many ways, such as avoiding social situations and avoiding things that cause discomfiture or stress. In the long term, however, maladaptive behaviors only perpetuate our anxiety and depression by preventing us from addressing the issues that negatively impact our emotional well-being.

COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

Cognitive distortions are exaggerated or irrational thought patterns that perpetuate our anxiety and depression. We twist reality to reinforce or justify our toxic behaviors and validate our irrational attitudes, rules, and assumptions. Our attitudes refer to our emotions, convictions, and behaviors. Rules are the principles or regulations that influence our behaviors, and our assumptions are what we believe to be accurate or authentic. Social anxiety and other emotional malfunctions paint an inaccurate picture of the self in the world with others.

Understanding how we use cognitive distortions as subconscious strategies to avoid facing certain truths is crucial to recovery. Social anxiety drives our illogical thought patterns. Countering them requires mindfulness of our motives and rational responses. Our compulsion to twist the truth to validate our negative self-appraisal is formidable; it is vital to understand how these distortions sustain our social anxiety.

We are highly susceptible to cognitive distortions when under stress. They are emotional IEDs, capable of destroying our confidence and composure. Cognitive distortions are rarely cut and dried but tend to overlap and share traits and characteristics. That’s what makes them difficult to distinguish clearly. Because of their similarities, distinguishing one from the others is challenging, but as long as we remain mindful of their self-destructive nature, we can learn to recognize and even anticipate them to devise rational responses. After time and with practice, our reactions become automatic and spontaneous.

Do you incessantly replay adverse events in your head? Do you constantly relive all the discomforting things that happened to you during the day? Do you avoid meeting people or going on dates because you anticipate disaster? Do you beat yourself up for all those lost opportunities?

We circle the block endlessly before confronting a situation, then end up avoiding it entirely. We avoid recognition in the classroom, our hearts pounding, hands sweaty, hoping we will not be singled out. We lay awake at night, consumed by all the negative events of the day.

We crave companionship but shun social situations for fear others will find us unattractive or stupid. We avoid speaking in public, expressing opinions, and fraternizing with peers.

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is mindfulness of our value and significance to ourselves, society, and the world. It is honest and nonjudgmental mindfulness of our flaws as well as our assets. It can be further understood as a complex interrelationship between how we think about ourselves, how we think others perceive us, and how we process and present that information. Persons living with SAD have significantly lower implicit and explicit self-esteem relative to healthy controls. Our negative core and intermediate beliefs are directly implicated. Our symptomatic fears and anxieties aggravate this deficiency.

Negatively Valenced Emotions

We blame ourselves for our lack of social skills. We feel shame for our inadequacies. We guilt ourselves when we avoid getting close to someone, terrified of rejection. Negatively valanced is a psychological term used to characterize specific emotions that adversely affect our daily lives. Emotions like shame, guilt, and resentment negatively impact our thoughts, behaviors, and relationships. We know these feelings are irrational, we know we are not responsible for its onset, but our social anxiety compels us to self-loath and self-destruct. Then to top it off, we consistently beat ourselves up for these feelings that are the product of emotional malfunction that is not of our doing.

Recovery

We do not have to live like this. We do not have to be afraid to connect with others. We do not have to constantly agonize over how we will be perceived. We do not have to worry about criticism and ridicule from strangers. By deliberately and repetitively feeding our neural network with healthy information, we proactively transform our thoughts and behaviors from self-doubt and avoidance to self-assured expressions of our relevance and contributions.

We must stop beating ourselves up. We did not ask for our social anxiety disorder. We did not make it happen; it happened to us. We are, however, responsible for doing something about it. We are the captains of our ship. The onus of recovery is on us; no one else does it for us. It comes down to a simple choice. Are we happy with who we are now, or would we like to change for the better? Do we choose to be miserable or to be happy? It is cut and dried. The tools and techniques for recovery are ours for the taking.

We are engaged in a war that is not easily won – a life-consuming series of battles. The process of proactive neuroplasticity is theoretically simple but challenging, due to the commitment and endurance required for the long-term, repetitive process. We do not don tennis shorts and advance to Wimbledon without decades of practice with rackets and balls. Philharmonics cater to pianists who have spent years at the keyboard.

Neural restructuring requires a calculated regimen of deliberate, repetitive, neural information that is not only tedious but also fails to deliver immediate tangible results, causing us to readily concede defeat and abandon hope in this era of instant gratification. However, once we initiate the process of recovery, utilizing the appropriate tools and techniques, progress is exponential. The rewards far outweigh the process.

* * *

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will
ever do. It takes enormous courage and the realization that
you are of value, consequential, and deserving of happiness.

Emotional Malfunction: Why Me?

June 20, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Self-Empowerment, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderAutomatic Negative Thoughts, Coping Skills, Depression, LGBTQ+, RecoveryRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

“Dr. Mullen is doing impressive work helping the world. He is the pioneer of proactive neuroplasticity utilizing DRNI – deliberate, repetitive, neural information.” – WeVoice (Madrid Málaga)

“Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything.
Maybe it is about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you,
so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”
– Paul Coelho

EDIT

Recent Posts

Regenerating Our Self-Esteem

Proactive Neuroplasticity

Emotional Malfunction: Why Me?

Our condition emanates from childhood disturbance which influences our core beliefs which inform our intermediate beliefs. Social anxiety and related conditions offset during adolescence. Enhanced by our inherent negative bias and subsequent cognitive bias, maladaptive thoughts and behaviors flourish throughout our adulthood, disrupting our emotional well-being and quality of life.

Like proverbial wandering lambs, we expose our flanks to the wolves of irrationality. Social anxiety disorder and comorbidities compel us to view ourselves as helpless, hopeless, undesirable, and worthless. That is how our malfunction sustains itself.

The trajectory of our negative thoughts and behaviors is not perfectly linear but is a collaboration of complementary and overlapping stages. Complementarity describes how a unit can only function optimally if its components work in concert. Our social anxiety is sustained by our negative core and intermediate beliefs, influenced by childhood disturbance and the onset of our disorder.

Space is Limited
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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

* * *

Core Beliefs

Our trajectory begins with our core beliefs – the deeply held convictions that determine how we see ourselves in the world. We formulate them in childhood in response to information, experiences, inferences, and deductions and by accepting what we are told as accurate. They mold the unquestioned underlying themes that govern our assumptions and, ostensibly, remain as our belief system throughout life. When we decline to question our core beliefs, we act upon them as though they are accurate and true.

Core beliefs are more rigid in SAD persons because we tend to store information consistent with negative beliefs, ignoring evidence that contradicts it. This produces a cognitive bias – a subconscious error in thinking that leads us to misinterpret information, impacting the accuracy of our perspectives and decisions. That is different from our inherent negativity bias, which is the human tendency to prioritize negative stimuli, events, and situations.

Childhood Disturbance

During the development of our core beliefs, we are subject to a childhood disturbance, be it accidental, intentional, real, or imagined. Childhood disturbance is a broad and generic term for anything that interferes with our optimal physical, cognitive, emotional, or social development.

These disturbances are universal and indiscriminate. Cumulative evidence that a toxic childhood is a primary causal factor in lifetime emotional insecurity and instability has been well-established.

Negative Core Beliefs

Childhood disturbance generates negative core beliefs about the self. Feelings of abandonment, detachment, neglect, and exploitation are expected consequences of childhood disturbance. These develop negative core beliefs about the self and others.

Self-oriented negative core beliefs compel us to view ourselves as inconsequential.

Other-oriented negative core beliefs cause us to define others as demeaning, dismissive, malicious, and manipulative.

Emotional Malfunction

The next stage in our trajectory is the onset of our emotional malfunction, which corresponds with the development of intermediate beliefs. Roughly 90% of disorder onset happens during adolescence, albeit symptoms often manifest later in life.

SAD infects around the age of thirteen due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Researchers recently discovered a specific serotonin transporter gene called “SLC6A4” that also may correlate with SAD. Nonetheless, the susceptibility to onset originates in childhood.

Disturbance, negative core beliefs, and onset generate low implicit and explicit self-esteem and heavily influence our intermediate beliefs.

Insufficient Satisfaction of Needs

Self-esteem is mindfulness of our value to ourselves, society, and the world. It can be further understood as a complex interrelationship between how we think about ourselves, how we think others perceive us, and how we process and present that information.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reveals how childhood disturbance disrupts our natural development. The orderly flow of social and emotional development requires satisfying fundamental human needs. Childhood disturbance and negative core beliefs subvert specific biological, physiological, and emotional needs like familial support, healthy relationships, and a sense of safety and belongingness. This lacuna negatively impacts our self-esteem, which we express by undervaluation or regression of our positive self-qualities.

Negative Intermediate Beliefs

The onset of SAD happens during the development of our intermediate beliefs. These establish our attitudes, rules, and assumptions. Attitudes refer to our emotions, convictions, and behaviors. Rules are the principles or regulations that govern our behaviors. Our assumptions are what we believe to be accurate or factual. Intermediate beliefs are less rigid than core beliefs and are influenced by our social, cultural, and environmental information and experience.

Negative Self-Beliefs and Image

These attributions produce distorted and maladaptive understandings of the self, others, and the world. Adaptive thoughts and behaviors are positive and functional. Maladaptive thoughts distort our reasoning and judgment, compelling us to ‘adapt’ negatively (maladapt) to situations. Distorted and irrational beliefs lead to malfunctional behaviors and vice versa.

Situations, ANTs, and Cognitive Distortions

A situation is a set of circumstances – the facts, conditions, and incidents affecting us at a particular time in a specific place. A feared situation provokes fears/anxieties that negatively impact our activities and associations.

We articulate our situational fears/anxieties through preprogrammed, self-fulfilling prophecies called ANTs. Automatic negative thoughts are involuntary, anxiety-provoking assumptions that spontaneously appear in response to anxiety-provoking situations. Examples include the classroom, a job interview, a social event, and a family occasion. ANTs are negatively oriented, untruthful, and have no real power over you unless you enable them. Assumptions caused by our negative self-beliefs impact their content and expression.

Cognitive distortions are the exaggerated or irrational thought patterns involved in the perpetuation of our anxiety and depression. They twist our thinking to reinforce or justify our toxic behaviors. A prime example would be filtering, where we selectively choose to dwell on the negative aspects of a situation while overlooking the positive. We distort reality to avoid or validate our irrational attitudes, rules, and assumptions.

Solutions

We are not defined by our defects. Our character strengths, virtues, and achievements define us. Through recovery, we dissociate ourselves from our condition. By stepping outside of the target, we perceive things rationally and objectively.

We learn to identify and analyze our negative attributions. ANTs, cognitive distortions, and maladaptive thoughts are emotional reactions to situations that call for rational evaluation and response.

The objective of recovery and self-empowerment is to regain what has been stolen, misplaced, or lost. For social anxiety, it is our emotional well-being and quality of life. In self-empowerment, it is our self-esteem and motivation. In regaining these things, we consciously and deliberately transform our adverse habits, creating healthy new mindsets, skills, and abilities. Recovery is letting go of our negative self-perspectives and beliefs. Recovery opens us to possibilities unencumbered by prior acts.

* * *

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

Guest Posts and Reflections

May 30, 2023Anxiety, Depression, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderLGBTQ+, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-esteemRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

ReChanneling accepts guest posts on social anxiety and related conditions for publication on our website as part of our broader outreach into the community. Listening to and sharing the stories, experiences, and expertise of others broadens our perspective and those of our readers.

Many ideas that eventually become an integral part of recovery come from the thoughts and contributions of colleagues and clients in our groups and workshops.

Furthermore, by supplementing our articles and reviews with other ideas, opinions, and experiences, we better serve the community by providing new advances in the understanding and treatment of social anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and other comorbid conditions.

Do you feel trapped in a vicious circle, restricted from living a normal life? Do you feel alienated from your peers and isolate yourself from family and friends? Do you spurn new relationships in anticipation of rejection? Do you repeat the same mistakes over and over again?
Do you feel like you are under a microscope, and everyone is judging or criticizing you? Do you worry you are making a poor impression on individuals who do not matter? Are you inordinately concerned about what you might do, how you look, and how you express yourself?
Do you imagine you are the curiosity in the room – the scrutiny of everyone’s attention? Do you worry that people will notice you sweating or blushing? That your voice will tremble and become incoherent?
Do you incessantly replay adverse events in your head? Do you constantly relive all the discomforting things that happen to you during the day? Do you avoid meeting people or going on dates because you anticipate disaster? Do you beat yourself up for all those lost opportunities?

ReChanneling develops and implements programs to (1) mitigate symptoms of social anxiety and (2) pursue personal goals and objectives – harnessing our intrinsic aptitude for extraordinary living. Our paradigmatic approach targets the personality through empathy, collaboration, and program integration utilizing scientific and clinically practical methods including proactive neuroplasticity, cognitive-behavioral self-modification, and positive psychology.

Space is Limited
Register Early

“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

* * *

Topics should focus on (a) mental health, (b) social anxiety {disorder}, (c) anxiety, depression, and comorbidities, or (d) self-empowerment.

Scholarly articles and reviews

Original or previous content from your postings. You can link your article or items within your article to previously posted and similar information. You can provide links to your website or other accounts as appropriate. Copyrighted materials will require your approval.

Personal reflections and experiences

Share your experiences, challenges, success stories, and words of wisdom and encouragement to others experiencing social anxiety and related conditions. How do you cope with your symptoms and situations, and what are your recovery methods? These reflections and contributions are of enormous benefit to others who are going through similar experiences.

Please mail your submissions to rmullenphd@gmail.com. If you have questions or need additional information, please complete the following form.

* * *

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

The 3Rs of Recovery: Restructure, Replace, Regenerate

April 18, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Self-Empowerment, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderDepression, LGBTQ+, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-esteemRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F. Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

DIT

Recent Posts

Coping Strategies

Emotional Reasoning

The 3Rs of Recovery: Restructure, Replace, Regenerate

Restructure, replace, and regenerate are complementary objectives in recovery and self-empowerment. They require interdisciplinary approaches.

Neuroscience and the psychological understanding of repetition in learning support neural restructuring. CBT and positive reframing help us offset our irrational thoughts and behaviors with healthy productive ones. Positive psychology’s emphasis on character strengths, virtues, and attributes spearheads the regeneration of our self-esteem and motivation.

Goal and Objectives

Offset, replace, or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones.
Produce rapid, concentrated neurological stimulation to offset the abundance of negative information in our brain’s metabolism.
Regenerate our self-esteem through mindfulness of our assets.

These comprise our overall strategy.

Recovery and Self-Empowerment

Recovery is regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. Self-empowerment is making a conscious decision to become more confident and competent in controlling our lives. In emotional malfunction, our emotional well-being and quality of life have been stolen. In self-empowerment, it is the loss of self-esteem and motivation. Hence, both recovery and self-empowerment deal with regaining or rebuilding what has been lost.

Space is Limited
Register Early

“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

* * *

Restructure Our Neural Network

All information notifies our neural network to realign, generating a correlated change in behavior and perspective. Our deliberate, repetitive neural input of information that constitutes proactive neuroplasticity compels our brain to consolidate and accelerate the restructuring of our neural circuitry.

Replace Negative Thoughts and Behaviors

Childhood disturbance prompts our negative core and intermediate beliefs, which establish the attitudes, rules, and assumptions that compel maladaptive behavior and automatic negative thoughts of incompetency, undesirability, and other forms of negative self. We reframe and replace our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy new mindsets, skills, and abilities through CBT, positive reframing, and other approaches.

Regenerate Our Self-Esteem

Our neural network has structured itself around negative information due to years of self-destructive appraisal and the general vicissitudes of life. Through the rediscovery and recognition (mindfulness) of our character strengths, virtues, attributes, as well as achievements, we regenerate the latent properties of our self-esteem disrupted by childhood disturbance and the onset of our emotional malfunction.

Multiple Approaches

Just as there is no absolute way to do or experience learning and unlearning, so also what helps us at one time in our life may not help us at another. Consequently, one-size-fits-all approaches to recovery and self-empowerment are exclusionary and inefficient. We are best served by integrating approaches, developed through clinical study, client targeting, cultural assimilation, and therapeutic innovation. Our environment, heritage, experiences, and associations reflect our wants, choices, and aspirations. If they are not given consideration, then we are not valued. Recovery builds upon our strengths, virtues, and achievements. We do not triumph in battle through incompetence and weakness but with skill and careful planning.

A coalescence of science and east-west psychologies is essential to capture the diversity of human thought and experience. Science gives us proactive neuroplasticity; cognitive-behavioral modification and positive psychology’s optimal functioning are Western-oriented, and Eastern practices provide the therapeutic benefits of Abhidharma psychology and the overarching truths of ethical behavior. Crucial to recovery and self-empowerment are individually targeted approaches that focus on the regeneration of our self-esteem.

Complementarity

Complementarity isa state or system of corresponding components combining in such a way as to enhance or emphasize the qualities of each other. We are concerned here with two systems: the complementarity of psychological and scientific approaches to recovery and the simultaneous mutual interaction of our mind, body, spirit, and emotions to sustain them.

Individual Over Diagnosis

Hippocrates famously wrote, “It’s far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has.” We focus on the individual over the diagnosis through personality-based solutions. Emphasis on the positive aspects of the human condition over pathographic models compensates for malfunction-induced negative self-beliefs and images. Training in prosocial behavior and emotional literacy support typical interventions.

Behavioral exercises are used to practice social skills. Data provide evidence for mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions. Motivational enhancement strategies help clients overcome their resistance to new ideas and concepts.

Discipline Collaboration

Radical behaviorism considers the diversity of human thought and experience, which is more expansive than mind and body. That calls for a collaboration of science, philosophy, and psychology. Philosophy, existentially defined, welcomes religious and spiritual insight. Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. Our mind, body, spirit, and emotions are interconnected parts of the whole that cannot exist independently of the whole or the parts. Each component overlaps, influences, and is interdependent on the others, albeit one dominates until superseded by another. They collaborate in the holism of our personality as the gestalt of our humanness.

Underrated, Misunderstood, and Neglected

* * *

Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

Dealing with the Loss Generated by Change

March 28, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Self-Empowerment, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderAutomatic Negative Thoughts, Depression, LGBTQ+, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-esteemRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

EDIT

Recent Posts

Coping Strategies

Emotional Reasoning

3Rs of Recovery

Dealing with the Loss Generated by Change

By definition, transformation produces both gain and loss. Recovery and self-empowerment regain what has been stolen, misplaced, or lost. For social anxiety, it is our emotional well-being and quality of life. In self-empowerment, it is our self-esteem and motivation.

By regaining these things, we lose their negative attributions. When we transform our adverse habits and create healthy new mindsets, skills, and abilities, we concurrently experience the abatement of bad habits and self-destructive compulsions, which leaves us with a sense of emptiness and even boredom.

Most human suffering is related to love and loss. but we usually think of loss in the broader sense – that of a job, home, or a loved one. We fail to consider the emotional consequence of seemingly inconsequential and immaterial loss such as opportunity or aspiration.

In recovery, the mitigation of irrational thoughts and behaviors carries a loss of emotional extremes and behavioral excess. And that absence is viscerally felt.

Replacement Creates Loss

To replace is to take the place of something. That something is, ostensibly, no longer extant. It is essential to appreciate the sense of loss we experience, for example, when we offset our adverse thoughts and behaviors. Even though we compensate with healthy substitutions, we are impacted by the residual effects of that which has been replaced.

Why is it important to be mindful of this loss? Because it affects us psychologically and physiologically. It is human nature to experience the loss of things that have been part and parcel of our being for years. In early recovery, this can have adverse emotional consequences. We are still fragile to change. Awareness of this inevitability, no matter how inappreciable, can help circumvent any potential recidivism.

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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

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Transformation

To recover is to transform – to effect a rigorous and dramatic change in form and nature. Transformation changes our sense of identity, compelling us to reevaluate our attitudes, rules, and assum ptions. It causes a readjustment in our behaviors and our perspective. It refocuses our cognitive efforts.

Through proactive neuroplasticity, we change the form and configuration of our neural network. It loses and gains synapses, causes neurogenesis, and rewires circuits. We experience loss when we replace or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones. In regaining our self-esteem, we lose the negative self-qualities that disrupted its growth. Hence, our form and nature change. This metamorphosis is evidence of the power of transformation. We are not the same entity. It is natural, however, to miss the former.

Our Resistance to Change

We are genetically hard-wired to resist change. We are physiologically structured to attack anything that disrupts our equilibrium. Experiencing loss produces changes in our heart rate, metabolism, and respiration. Inertia senses and resists these changes, while our basal ganglia oppose any modification in our behavior patterns. A crucial part of our neural network, the basil ganglia, is involved in processes like emotions, motivations, and habits, so we are psychologically impacted by change as well.

Neurological Impact

We know that our neural network does not distinguish healthy from toxic information. It provides the same benefits whether the stimulus is negative or positive. It reciprocates the energy of that information in abundance. It activates the same long-term potentiation, provides the same BDNF proteins associated with improved cognitive functioning, and provides the same fifty or so chemical hormones that support us physiologically and psychologically.

Loss can also provoke confusion and depression, generate feelings of guilt, and cause us to withdraw from friends and activities. Mindfulness and preparedness effectively mitigate any adverse reactions. As the godfather of positive psychology Abraham Maslow assures us, “… the loss of illusions and the discovery of identity, though painful at first, can be ultimately exhilarating and strengthening.”

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Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.

It’s Not Your Fault!

March 15, 2023Anxiety, Behavior, Mental Health, Neuroplasticity, Psychology, ReChanneling, Self-Empowerment, Social Anxiety, Social anxiety disorderAutomatic Negative Thoughts, Depression, LGBTQ+, Positive Psychology, Recovery, Self-ImprovementRobert F. Mullen, Ph.D.

Recovery from social anxiety and related conditions.

Robert F. Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling

Subscriber numbers generate contributions that support scholarships for workshops.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided are applicable to most emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, ADHD, PTSD, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.

It’s Not Your Fault!

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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It’s Not Your Fault!

Social anxiety is not behavior caused. We did not make it happen; it happened to us. Emotional malfunction is the consequence of childhood disturbance. Social anxiety sensed our vulnerability and infected us during adolescence.

We did not ask for our social anxiety or encourage it. It is not retribution for immortal conduct or disagreeable habits. It is indiscriminate and ubiquitous and afflicts at least one in four adults and adolescents.

Attributions

We have examined the multiple reasons we resist recovery. Public opinion, the media, the pathographic focus of psychology, stigma, and even our families deter us from revealing our social anxiety. These external attributions to our resistance are the tip of the iceberg, however.

We contribute our baggage as well. Many of us choose to remain ignorant of SAD’s destructive capabilities. Some go to enormous lengths to remain oblivious to its symptoms as if, by ignoring them, they do not exist or will somehow go away.

We cling to irrational and misguided assumptions due to our willful pursuit of ignorance or fears of revelation. We avoid confrontation due to unjustifiable shame and guilt.

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“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.

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It’s Not Your Fault.

Cumulative evidence that a toxic childhood is a primary causal factor in emotional instability or insecurity has been well established. During the development of our core beliefs, we are subject to a childhood disturbance – a broad and generic term for anything that interferes with our optimal physical, cognitive, emotional, or social development. SAD senses our vulnerability and swoops in, negatively impacting our emotional well-being and quality of life.

When we research its origins, we uncover the likelihood no one is responsible. The disturbance may be accidental or intentional, real or perceptual. The suggestibility of a child is legendary. A toddler whose parental quality time is disrupted by a phone call may develop a sense of abandonment. Nonetheless, as I’ve said before, while not liable for the cards we have been dealt, we are responsible for how we play the cards we’re left holding.

The negative cycle we find ourselves in has convinced us that there is something wrong with us when the only thing we are doing is viewing ourselves and the world inaccurately. That is a natural reaction to our symptoms. SAD sustains itself by feeding us irrational thoughts and behaviors.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are Not Alone

Roughly, 124 million U.S. adults and adolescents experience anxiety disorders. 60% of those have depression, and far too many resort to substance abuse. Anxiety and depression are the primary causes of the notable increase in adolescent suicide over the last decade. An estimated 40 million U.S. adults experience social anxiety disorder and roughly one-in-three college students have a lifetime anxiety disorder diagnosis. So, when you start to sweat and hyperventilate at a social event, remember, you are in good company. Social anxiety is common, universal, and indiscriminate.

It is Not the Consequence of Our Behaviors

Combined statistics reveal that the vast majority of emotional malfunction onsets at adolescence or earlier. Excepting conditions like PTSD or clinical narcissism that impact later in life, the susceptibility to disorders originates in childhood. Emotional malfunction is hereditary, environmental, or the result of trauma. Perhaps parents are controlling or do not provide emotional validation. Maybe we were subjected to bullying or from a broken home. Behaviors later in life may impact the severity but are not responsible for the condition itself. While our lifetime behavior can impact the severity, the origins of our malfunction happen in childhood. This disputes moral models that we are to blame for our disorder, or that it is God’s punishment for sin.

We are Not Mental

Not only is the description inaccurate, but it promotes hostile perceptions of incompetence and derangement. It is the dominant source of stigma, guilt, and self-loathing. The word mental defines a person or their behavior as extreme or illogical. In adolescence, anyone unpopular or different was a mental case or a retard. The urban dictionary defines mental as someone silly or simpleminded. It is often associated with violent or divisive behavior. Add the words illness or disorder and we have the public stereotype of the dangerous and unpredictable individual who cannot fend for themselves and should be isolated. Emotional malfunction is not ‘mental,’ biologic, hygienic, neurochemical, or psychogenic, but all of these things.

To the early civilizations, mental illnesses were the domain of supernatural forces and demonic possession. Hippocrates and diagnosticians of the 19th century favored the humours (bodily liquids). Lunar influence, sorcery, and witchcraft are timeless culprits. In the early 20th century, it was somatogenic. The biological approach argues that disorder is due to our brain’s physical structure and functioning. The pharmacological approach promotes it as a brain chemistry imbalance. The first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (1952) leaned heavily on environmental and biological causes. Social anxiety sustains itself through the simultaneous mutual interaction of mind, body, spirit, and emotions.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are Hopeful, Powerful, Desirable, and Worthwhile

In his extensive examination of anxiety and depression, Aaron Beck, the pioneer of cognitive-behavioral therapy, asserted that social anxiety generates feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and unworthiness. The concept of undesirability revealed itself in my SAD recovery workshops. Until we commit to recovery, we continue to be guided by these destructive self-beliefs.

We are not helpless unless we choose to be. Multiple resources are available to anyone with the motivation and commitment to recover.

Likewise, we are not hopeless. Once we recognize the irrationality of our fears, we see them for what they are: powerless abstractions.

We are not undesirable. SAD compels us to view ourselves inaccurately. It reinforces or justifies our negative self-image, convincing us our cognitive distortions are the truths of a situation instead of emotional interpretations. Our fears and anxieties manifest in how we think about ourselves, how we think others think about us, and how we process that information. Any assumption of undesirability is self-centered and irrational.

We are not worthless but integral and consequential to all things. We are unique in every aspect; there is no one like us. We are the totality of our experiences, beliefs, perceptions, demands, and desires with unique DNA, fingerprints, and outer ears. There is and never has been a single human being with our sensibilities, our memories, our motivations, and our dreams.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Yet, we continue to beat ourselves up for our perceptual inadequacies. We blame ourselves for our defects as if they are the pervading forces of our true being, rather than symptoms of our malfunction.

We are not defined by our social anxiety disorder but by our character strengths, virtues, and achievements. When we break our leg do we become that injured limb or are we simply an Individual with a broken leg?

To moderate our social anxiety, we identify the situations that provoke them. Further self-examination unpacks the associated fears and corresponding negative thoughts and behaviors. We need to know the enemy to conquer it. Once that happens, we take control.

We cannot fix the complexity of our emotional malfunction unless we know what is broken. SAD is the most underrated, misunderstood, and misdiagnosed disorder. Nicknamed the neglected anxiety disorder, few professionals understand it, and fewer know how to challenge it. One has to experience it to know it.

We dread situations that provoke our fears of criticism and ridicule. We anticipate being judged negatively. We reject overtures anticipating rejection. Unless we are fortune tellers or mind-readers, assuming to know what another person is thinking or planning is irrational. It is a symptom of our condition.

We worry we might do or say something foolish. Fretting about something that may or may not happen is illogical. If it happens, it happens. We learn from it and move on. Avoiding doing things or speaking to people out of fear of embarrassment eliminates opportunities and diminishes possibilities.

Once we know ourselves and know the enemy, nothing is standing in the way of recovery. In fact, we turn the enemy’s weapons into assets. The process is theoretically simple, albeit time-consuming, repetitive, and personally revealing. However, the rewards dramatically outweigh the commitment.

SAD sustains itself by inflicting anxiety and fear, but they have no power on their own. We fuel them; we give them strength and power. We control our emotional well-being and quality of life, and only we can compel change. The onus of recovery is on us.