8 posts · 2,243 views
Essays, musings and links about resilience, well-being, psychology and neuroscience. Instead of the self-help, "7-easy-step" approach, I believe that an understanding of the complexity of human nature (S. Pinker's term) provides the best guidance.
Cole Bitting
8 posts
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- April 28, 2010
- 02:50 PM
- 226 views
How Confusion and Doubt Drive All Behavior
by Cole Bitting in Fable
Anxiety and False Assurances First
Confusion Second
Relief Third, Hopefully
Large rocks hurtle towards our heads. What happens? We duck. The process, however, is complex.
It involves answering two questions: what is that? and how do I behave? This anthropomorphic perspective is backwards and flawed. It suggests searching (for what, that and how) and then behaving.
The whole process (what, that and how) can be instinctive, like ducking the rock: body-as-it-was, object, body-as-it-is.1 Usual........ Read more »
Brewin, C., Gregory, J., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010) Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117(1), 210-232. DOI: 10.1037/a0018113
Tedeschi, R., & Calhoun, L. (2004) TARGET ARTICLE: "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence". Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1-18. DOI: 10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01
Brewin, C., Dalgleish, T., & Joseph, S. (1996) A dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Review, 103(4), 670-686. DOI: 10.1037//0033-295X.103.4.670
- April 6, 2010
- 01:45 PM
- 234 views
Growth Needs Context
by Cole Bitting in Fable
What is Context? How Do We Use It?
What Happens When We Lose It?
One of our most essential life skills is the ability to build context - the core assumptions which enable effective choice of behavior. The literatures on posttraumatic growth, many forms of therapy, recovery from depression or significant loss describe new context as a foundational achievement: recovery happens as we create better, more valid assumptions about ourselves and the world around us.
Two other foundational qualities ........ Read more »
Tedeschi, R., & Calhoun, L. (2004) TARGET ARTICLE: "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence". Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1-18. DOI: 10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01
Brewin, C., Gregory, J., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010) Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117(1), 210-232. DOI: 10.1037/a0018113
- March 15, 2010
- 10:16 AM
- 293 views
How Loss Creates Depression And Growth
by Cole Bitting in Fable
The Creative Destruction of Loss: Can We Grow More Than We Wither?
Height is a trait: the taller the man, the greater the (evolutionary) fitness, at least to a certain point. The average height of a population closely approximates the optimal height. There is a distribution around this optimal norm: some are taller and some are shorter. Neuroticism,1 like height, is also a trait.
Language is an adaptation - an innate capacity baked into our DNA. Language skill is a trait, influenced by ge........ Read more »
NETTLE, D. (2004) Evolutionary origins of depression: a review and reformulation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 81(2), 91-102. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2003.08.009
Brewin, C., Gregory, J., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010) Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117(1), 210-232. DOI: 10.1037/a0018113
Brewin, C., Dalgleish, T., & Joseph, S. (1996) A dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Review, 103(4), 670-686. DOI: 10.1037/0033-295X.103.4.670
Nettle, D. (2009) An evolutionary model of low mood states. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 257(1), 100-103. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.10.033
Watkins, E. (2008) Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 163-206. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163
Nettle, D. (2006) The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. American Psychologist, 61(6), 622-631. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.61.6.622
- February 25, 2010
- 12:50 PM
- 249 views
It's What You Learn, Not What You Think
by Cole Bitting in Fable
Some symptoms of OCD might be describable as pathological doubt, for instance, that one’s hands are clean or that the doors are locked. A review of OCD treatments states, “pathological doubt is one of the central manifestations of this illness. The person goes to the door, shuts it, locks it, feels that it is locked, knows that it is locked, turns around, and walks away. All of a sudden, he or she feels that it is absolutely necessary to go back and check. It appears clinically that the m........ Read more »
Dolbier, C., Jaggars, S., & Steinhardt, M. (2009) Stress-related growth: pre-intervention correlates and change following a resilience intervention. Stress and Health. DOI: 10.1002/smi.1275
Watkins, E. (2008) Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 163-206. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008) Rethinking Rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 400-424. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00088.x
- February 18, 2010
- 11:02 AM
- 309 views
Growth Needs Sadness
by Cole Bitting in Fable
It appears that few people consciously intend to make meaning out of trauma or to benefit from it. Posttraumatic Growth is most likely a consequence of attempts at psychological survival.
Tedeschi and Calhoun, Posttraumatic Growth 1
After a traumatic event, what then? The trauma itself causes significant psychological distress and need for psychological adjustment to alleviate the distress. Without adjustment, the posttraumatic distress persists (and if pathological is PTSD).
Trauma i........ Read more »
Tedeschi, R., & Calhoun, L. (2004) TARGET ARTICLE: "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence". Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1-18. DOI: 10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01
Dolbier, C., Jaggars, S., & Steinhardt, M. (2009) Stress-related growth: pre-intervention correlates and change following a resilience intervention. Stress and Health. DOI: 10.1002/smi.1275
- February 11, 2010
- 01:01 PM
- 283 views
Posttraumatic Growth from Awe?
by Cole Bitting in Fable
The emotion awe is little studied, but is unique and perhaps exceptionally important because of its ability to induce accommodation - a state which creates flexibility in values and beliefs. Awe, simply put, facilitates personal change and growth. Awe also is an emotion associated with the negation of self, and the regulation of the self in the presence of negation might affect the ability to cope with and heal trauma.
In their article, The nature of awe: Elicitors, appraisals, and effects on........ Read more »
Shiota, M., Keltner, D., & Mossman, A. (2007) The nature of awe: Elicitors, appraisals, and effects on self-concept. Cognition , 21(5), 944-963. DOI: 10.1080/02699930600923668
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003) Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition , 17(2), 297-314. DOI: 10.1080/02699930302297
- February 2, 2010
- 02:50 PM
- 321 views
Growth From Suffering
by Cole Bitting in Fable
In their article, Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence,1 Tedeschi and Calhoun create a valuable framework for evaluating a routine consequence of trauma - personal growth.
Traumatic events are “profoundly disturbing,” cause significant anxiety and stress, can give rise to “dysfunctional patterns of thinking,” including “repetitive intrusions of thoughts and images,” cause unpleasant, potentially significant physical reactions, and can cause or exacerba........ Read more »
Tedeschi, R., & Calhoun, L. (2004) TARGET ARTICLE: "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence". Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1-18. DOI: 10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01
- January 28, 2010
- 12:54 PM
- 328 views
Mirror The Body, Mirror The Emotion
by Cole Bitting in Fable
In their study, Evidence for mirror systems in emotions,1 Bastiaansen et al., examine the relationship between mirror systems and embodied simulation.
This examination highlights and advances the connections between body changes, emotions and the simulation of body changes and emotions. These systems also play a significant role in the creation of consciousness.2 The neuroscientific sense of body-mind connection provides great insight into the development of resilience and cultivation of well-b........ Read more »
Bastiaansen JA, Thioux M, & Keysers C. (2009) Evidence for mirror systems in emotions. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 364(1528), 2391-404. PMID: 19620110
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