That is really interesting! Sorry to hear that this promising technique backfired. Do you mind sharing any specific examples of what the clash was, what you did, and what “false belief” got stronger, twisting the previously “good” belief?
Yeah, too personal to share on the public internet, sorry. To kind of translate it into the case of Richard as described in the book—imagine if Richard also happened to have some minor doubts around his ability to read body language. They don’t come up in discussion with his therapist since they’re far more minor and apparently unrelated. Then, Richard notices his colleague speaking up confidently and being apparently received well. Instead of deciding that his original belief (being confident is bad) was false, Richard’s brain resolves the conflict by deciding that the colleague was in fact also hated by everyone, and he just *really* can’t read body language. So now Richard has his existing problem (being confident is bad) and also deeply believes he is incapable of reading any body language.
[I should be clear, the situation became rather more dire in translation; my case wasn’t that life-impacting, and after noticing this I was able to reverse the process with additional work.]
That is really interesting! Sorry to hear that this promising technique backfired. Do you mind sharing any specific examples of what the clash was, what you did, and what “false belief” got stronger, twisting the previously “good” belief?
I would also be curious to hear of more specific examples (though of course they might be too personal to share).
Yeah, too personal to share on the public internet, sorry. To kind of translate it into the case of Richard as described in the book—imagine if Richard also happened to have some minor doubts around his ability to read body language. They don’t come up in discussion with his therapist since they’re far more minor and apparently unrelated. Then, Richard notices his colleague speaking up confidently and being apparently received well. Instead of deciding that his original belief (being confident is bad) was false, Richard’s brain resolves the conflict by deciding that the colleague was in fact also hated by everyone, and he just *really* can’t read body language. So now Richard has his existing problem (being confident is bad) and also deeply believes he is incapable of reading any body language.
[I should be clear, the situation became rather more dire in translation; my case wasn’t that life-impacting, and after noticing this I was able to reverse the process with additional work.]