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CFT: Session 3
Home work check in: Practice SRB twice per day last week….
This session: 3 Types of emotional systems 1. Driven, excited, vital 2. Contented, safe, connected 3. Anger, Anxiety, Disgust
All are normal, all helped us to survive, we all have them…
The Threat system: Make us pay attention to threat: things
that might harm us… Emotions: Anger, fear, anxiety, disguist Activates powerful bursts of emotion
that activate our survival response: Fight Flight Freeze/submit
Threat emotions are pushy… We have evolved to pay more attention
to threat:
Better safe than sorry…. Threat emotions are very efficient (fast
and automatic) Kept our ancestors alive Threat based learning can persist very
strongly from one incident (imagine what happens after repeated incidents??)
Keeps going and going:
How? New brain (ability to think about the
future, worry, create imagery) feeds the initial fear, keeping it going, sometimes for a lifetime (e.g. worry and rumination)
When it’s balanced with the other systems, it can keep us safe
But.. it often takes up more than it’s fair share of brain space.. Not in balance.
The Drive System: Our ancestors needed to acquire things to
survive and prosper: food, shelter, comfort, mates, social position
Feelings: Excitement, lust, ambition Actions: wanting, pursuing, achieving,
consuming Activates Dopamine (related to addiction),
continual pursuit of pleasure rushes… When balanced, keeps us goal-oriented
The Soothing System Associated with feelings of safeness,
calm, peacefulness, contentment Associated with experiences of
kindness, affection, acceptance and connectedness
During this state, our attention opens, becomes reflective, relaxed.
We want to explore, be curious, giving to others, and social
Safeness and Social Connection: Disrupted attachment
histories, interpersonal trauma causes closeness to be associated with threat instead of safety
Dilemma? What do we do when experience has
taught us to fear the very connections that we need to feel safe?
Getting the safeness system “online” Different systems “organize the mind” in
different ways:
In a dark alleySomeone begins to follow you
Fear
Attention
Thinking and
Reasoning
Motivation
Behavior
Images
Emotions:Mind and
Body
Relaxing at the beachWith a good friend…
Safe and Soothed
Attention
Thinking and
Reasoning
Motivation
Behavior
Images
Emotions:Mind and
Body
Summary: The three circles allow us to shift from,
“there’s something wrong with me” to we all have these feelings because they helped our ancestors survive
We see that self-attacking continues to activate the threat system, compassion gets the safeness system working
Homework: Complete the self-critical vs self
compassion thought record Catch, Challenge then Change!
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