Author Archives: Shervan K Shahhian, LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, The Most Comprehensive Online Library Regarding Mental Health, Psychology and Parapsychology in the World.

Doctored Degree in Clinical Psychology (PSYD) (ABD) All But Dissertation, a Masters (M.A.) in Clinical Psychology, a Bachelor's Degree (B.A.) in Psychology, a Associate Degree (AA) in Liberal Arts with an emphases in Psychology, Certification in Anger Management, Certification in MRT-Moral Reconation Therapy®, Certification in Clinical Hypnotherapy, and Certification in Advanced Hypnotherapy.

Psychological Free Fall, what is it:

Psychological free fall is not a formal diagnostic term, but it’s often used metaphorically to describe a sudden and destabilizing loss of psychological structure, meaning, or emotional stability.

It refers to the subjective experience of:

Losing your sense of identity
Losing your belief system or worldview
Emotional overwhelm without grounding
A collapse of certainty or control
Feeling like you are “falling” internally with nothing to hold onto

What It Feels Like

People describe it as:

“The ground disappeared under me.”
“Everything I believed is unraveling.”
“I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Intense anxiety or existential dread
Derealization or depersonalization
Sudden collapse of confidence

It can feel similar to:

An identity crisis
An existential crisis
Acute stress reaction
A depressive or anxiety episode

Common Triggers

Psychological free fall can be triggered by:

Divorce, betrayal, or relationship loss
Loss of career or status
Spiritual deconstruction
Trauma exposure
Public humiliation
Collapse of grandiosity or narcissistic defenses
Deep shadow confrontation (especially in intense self-exploration work)

This state often appears when illusions dissolve faster than the psyche can reorganize.

Structurally, What’s Happening?

Psychologically, it’s often:

Collapse of a stabilizing narrative
Ego destabilization
Temporary loss of meaning-making structure
Nervous system dysregulation

The mind feels like it is falling because its previous organizing framework no longer works.

Is It Pathological?

Not necessarily.

It can be:

A precursor to psychological growth
A transition phase toward maturity
A dismantling of false self structures

However, if prolonged or severe, it may indicate:

Major depressive disorder
Panic disorder
Trauma-related disorder
Dissociative instability

Duration, functionality, and level of impairment matter.

Growth vs Breakdown

There’s an important distinction:

Breakdown	Breakthrough
Disintegration without integration	Deconstruction followed by reconstruction
Loss of meaning	Rebuilding meaning
Chronic dysfunction	Temporary destabilization

The difference is whether new structure forms.

From a Depth Psychology Lens

Some might describe this as:

Ego death phase
Descent into the unconscious
Necessary disorientation before individuation

But without containment, it becomes fragmentation rather than transformation.

Stabilizing During Psychological Free Fall

Key interventions:

Nervous system regulation first (sleep, breathing, somatic grounding)
Reduce abstraction (stay concrete, practical)
Limit existential rumination
Strengthen routine and structure
Reality-based thinking over catastrophic interpretation

You don’t build meaning mid-air, you stabilize first.

Shervan K Shahhian

Traumatic Attachment, what is it:

Traumatic attachment (often called trauma bonding) is a strong emotional attachment that develops between a person and someone who mistreats, abuses, or intermittently harms them.

It is not just “staying in a bad relationship.” It is a psychological bond reinforced by cycles of fear, relief, hope, and reward.

What Is Traumatic Attachment?

Traumatic attachment occurs when:

There is abuse, neglect, or emotional harm
The harmful person is also a source of comfort, love, or safety
The relationship includes intermittent reinforcement (kindness mixed with cruelty)
The victim becomes increasingly dependent

This creates a powerful attachment that can feel like love, but is rooted in survival dynamics.

How It Forms

From an attachment theory perspective:

Humans are wired to attach to caregivers or attachment figures.
When safety and threat come from the same person, the nervous system becomes confused.
The brain prioritizes connection for survival, even if the connection is harmful.
“Consult a Neurologist“
Stress hormones spike during conflict.
Relief or affection releases dopamine and oxytocin.
The cycle creates a chemical addiction pattern similar to gambling reinforcement.

The unpredictability strengthens the bond.

Signs of Traumatic Attachment

Defending or rationalizing the abuser
Intense loyalty despite repeated harm
Feeling unable to leave, even when you want to
Mistaking intensity for love
Craving the “good moments” after abuse
Fear of abandonment greater than fear of harm
Self-blame for the other person’s behavior

Common Contexts

Abusive romantic relationships
Narcissistic or coercive dynamics
Parent-child relationships with inconsistent care
Cult-like or high-control environments
Hostage-like psychological situations

How It Differs from Healthy Attachment

Healthy attachment:

Stable
Predictable
Safe
Allows autonomy

Traumatic attachment:

Intense
Chaotic
Fear-based
Identity-eroding

Healthy love feels secure.
Trauma bonds feel urgent.

Why It’s So Hard to Break

Breaking a traumatic attachment can feel like:

Withdrawal from addiction
Losing your identity
Psychological free fall
Existential panic

The nervous system equates separation with danger.

Clinical Insight

Disorganized attachment
Repetition compulsion
Trauma reenactment
Object constancy deficits
Developmental trauma

It’s not weakness, it’s a survival adaptation that became maladaptive.

Shervan K Shahhian

Borderline-Level Defenses, what are they:

Borderline-level defenses are a group of psychological defense mechanisms that are more primitive than neurotic defenses but more organized than psychotic defenses. They are typically associated with borderline personality organization.

These defenses are common in individuals with intense emotional instability, identity diffusion, and unstable relationships, but they can also appear temporarily in highly stressed individuals.

Core Borderline-Level Defenses

1. Splitting

Seeing people (or oneself) as all good or all bad, with no middle ground.

“They are perfect.”
Later: “They are evil.”

This reflects difficulty integrating positive and negative aspects of the same person.

2. Projective Identification

Not just projecting unwanted feelings onto someone else, but subtly behaving in ways that pressure the other person to actually feel or enact what is projected.

Example:

A person unconsciously feels anger.
They accuse the therapist of hostility.
Their behavior becomes provocative.
The therapist starts feeling irritated.

3. Primitive Idealization

Overvaluing someone unrealistically:

“You are the only person who understands me.”
“You are extraordinary.”

Often followed by devaluation when disappointment occurs.

4. Devaluation

The flip side of idealization.

Sudden shift to: “You are useless.”
Intense contempt or dismissal.

5. Denial (Primitive Form)

Refusal to acknowledge emotionally threatening reality, even when evidence is clear.

6. Omnipotence

An exaggerated sense of power or specialness to defend against vulnerability.

“I don’t need anyone.”
“Rules don’t apply to me.”

Structural Context

Borderline-level organization includes:

Identity diffusion (unstable self-concept)
Primitive defenses (like splitting)
Intact reality testing (unlike psychosis)

This differs from:

Neurotic organization: repression, rationalization
Psychotic organization: severe reality distortion

Clinical Insight

Borderline-level defenses often appear in contexts of:

Intense attachment needs
Fear of abandonment
Grandiose or persecutory relational narratives
Rapid shifts in perception of mentors, institutions, or belief systems

Importantly, these defenses are not “bad”, they are protective adaptations formed early in development, often in response to inconsistent or traumatic attachment.

Shervan K Shahhian

Signs of Psychological Immaturity, explained:

Psychological immaturity refers to patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that are underdeveloped for a person’s age or role.

Core Signs of Psychological Immaturity

1. Poor Emotional Regulation

Overreacting to minor stressors
Frequent emotional outbursts
Difficulty tolerating frustration
Mood swings driven by external events

This reflects limited development of affect regulation capacity.

2. Externalization of Blame

Chronic victim mindset
Inability to take responsibility
“It’s always someone else’s fault” thinking

Linked to low ego strength and fragile self-concept.

3. Low Frustration Tolerance

Quitting easily
Avoiding difficult conversations
Impulsive decision-making to escape discomfort

Developmentally, this resembles earlier-stage coping patterns.

4. Black-and-White Thinking

Splitting (people are all good or all bad)
Moral rigidity
Inability to tolerate ambiguity

Associated with cognitive immaturity and sometimes borderline-level defenses.

5. Dependency Patterns

Excessive need for reassurance
Fear of independence
Overreliance on authority figures

Can reflect incomplete separation-individuation.

6. Impulsivity

Acting before thinking
Risky behaviors without foresight
Poor delay of gratification

Related to underdeveloped executive functioning.

7. Fragile Self-Esteem

Defensive when criticized
Needing constant validation
Grandiosity masking insecurity

Often oscillates between inferiority and superiority.

8. Avoidance of Self-Reflection

Resistance to introspection
Projection of inner conflicts
Minimal insight into patterns

This is a key differentiator between immaturity and simple lack of experience.

Deeper Structural Markers

Heavy reliance on primitive defenses (denial, projection, splitting)
Identity diffusion
Weak capacity for mentalization

From another lens:

Arrested progression in emotional autonomy
Limited integration of self and other perspectives

What Psychological Maturity Looks Like (Contrast)

Emotional self-regulation
Accountability
Nuanced thinking
Capacity for delayed gratification
Secure identity
Reflective functioning

Important Clinical Distinction

Psychological immaturity is:

Not the same as low intelligence
Not always pathological
Often context-specific
Sometimes trauma-related (developmental arrest)
Shervan K Shahhian

Psychological Maturity, explained:

Psychological maturity refers to the level of emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal development that allows a person to think clearly, regulate emotions, take responsibility, and relate to others in balanced, adaptive ways.

It is not about age, it’s about integration and self-awareness.

Core Components of Psychological Maturity

1. Emotional Regulation

Ability to feel emotions without being overwhelmed by them
Responding rather than reacting
Tolerating frustration and ambiguity

This connects to research in emotional intelligence.

2. Self-Awareness

Recognizing one’s strengths and limitations
Awareness of unconscious motivations
Capacity for introspection

3. Responsibility

Owning one’s choices
Not blaming others for internal states
Accepting consequences

4. Cognitive Flexibility

Ability to hold multiple perspectives
Tolerating complexity and nuance
Avoiding black-and-white thinking

5. Secure Attachment & Relational Capacity

Ability to form stable, reciprocal relationships
Healthy boundaries
Empathy without self-loss

6. Integration of Shadow

Accepting one’s darker impulses
Not projecting disowned parts onto others
Greater psychological wholeness

Signs of Psychological Immaturity

Impulsivity
Chronic blame
Fragile ego
Emotional dependency
Grandiosity or victim identity
Inability to self-reflect

From a Clinical Perspective

Psychological maturity often overlaps with:

Ego strength
Mentalization capacity
Affect tolerance
Differentiation of self
Object constancy

In psychodynamic language, it reflects movement from primitive defenses (splitting, projection) toward mature defenses (sublimation, humor, suppression).

In Short

Psychological maturity =Self-awareness + Emotional regulation + Responsibility + Complexity tolerance + Relational balance

It is less about perfection and more about integration.

Shervan K Shahhian

Mental Health Subjectivism, explained:

Mental Health Subjectivism is the philosophical view that mental health is primarily determined by an individual’s personal experience rather than by objective, universal standards.

In simple terms:

A person is mentally healthy if they feel psychologically well or experience themselves as functioning well, regardless of external judgments.

Core Idea

Mental health is defined by subjective inner experience, such as:

Sense of meaning
Emotional satisfaction
Personal coherence
Self-acceptance
Felt well-being

This contrasts with approaches that define mental health through:

Functional impairment
Social norms
Biological markers

Philosophical Roots

Mental health subjectivism draws from:

Phenomenology
Existential psychology
Humanistic psychology

These traditions emphasize the first-person perspective over external classification.

Example

Two people meet criteria for depression:

Person A feels deeply distressed and hopeless.
Person B reports feeling at peace with their slowed pace of life and does not feel impaired.

A strict medical model may diagnose both.
A subjectivist approach would argue that Person B may not be “mentally ill” if their lived experience is not one of suffering.

Strengths

✔ Respects individual differences
✔ Avoids over-pathologizing
✔ Centers personal meaning
✔ Reduces stigma

Criticisms

✖ Risk of ignoring serious impairment
✖ Hard to standardize for treatment
✖ May conflict with public safety concerns
✖ Difficult in cases of poor insight (e.g., severe mania or psychosis)

In Clinical Psychology

In practice, most modern clinicians integrate both:

For example, even if someone feels powerful during mania, clinicians may intervene if the condition threatens safety.

Subjective distress
Objective dysfunction
Risk assessment
For example, even if someone feels powerful during mania, clinicians may intervene if the condition threatens safety.

Shervan K Shahhian

Mental Health Realism, an explanation:

Mental Health Realism is not a formal diagnostic term, but it generally refers to a grounded, balanced, and reality-based approach to understanding mental health.

It emphasizes seeing psychological life as it truly is, neither catastrophizing nor idealizing it.

Here are the core ideas:

1. Realistic View of Human Psychology

Mental health realism accepts that:

Suffering is part of being human
Emotions fluctuate
Trauma leaves marks
Growth is gradual, not dramatic

This aligns with thinkers like Viktor Frankl, who argued that meaning can coexist with suffering, and Albert Ellis, who emphasized rational, reality-based thinking in therapy.

2. Rejects Toxic Positivity & Catastrophizing

Mental health realism avoids:

“Everything will be fine” denial
Doom-based thinking (“Nothing will ever change”)
Spiritual bypassing
Pathologizing normal emotions

Instead, it asks:

What is actually happening?
What is within my control?
What is outside my control?

This echoes principles found in Man’s Search for Meaning and in Stoic philosophy.

3. Emotion Without Illusion

Mental health realism includes:

Accepting anxiety without assuming danger
Feeling sadness without labeling it depression
Recognizing trauma without building identity around it

It is close to modern therapeutic models like:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Both focus on flexible, reality-oriented cognition.

4. Agency + Limitation

A realistic stance balances:

Personal responsibility
Biological vulnerability
Environmental impact
Social context

It rejects both:

“You are broken forever”
“Just think positive”

5. Psychological Maturity

Mental health realism is often a marker of maturity:

Ambiguity tolerance
Emotional regulation
Long-term thinking
Reduced ego reactivity

Developmentally, this resembles what Erik Erikson described as later-stage psychosocial integration.

In One Sentence

Mental Health Realism:
Clear perception plus Emotional acceptance plus Rational flexibility plus Responsible action

Shervan K Shahhian

Idealism, what is it:

Idealism is a philosophical view that says reality is fundamentally mental, spiritual, or idea-based rather than purely material.

In simple terms:

What is ultimately real is mind or consciousness, not matter.

Core Idea

Materialism says:

Matter=produces mind.

Idealism says the reverse:

Mind=produces or structures what we call matter.

From an idealist perspective, the physical world is either:

Dependent on consciousness
Constructed by consciousness
Or inseparable from consciousness

Major Forms of Idealism

1. Subjective Idealism

“To be is to be perceived.”
Objects exist only insofar as they are perceived.
Reality is made of perceptions in minds.

2. Transcendental Idealism

We never know reality “as it is in itself.”
We only know reality as structured by the human mind.
Space and time are mental frameworks, not independent things.

This doesn’t deny the external world, it says we can only know it through the mind’s organizing structures.

3. Absolute Idealism

Reality is a single, unified spiritual whole.
History and consciousness unfold dialectically.
The universe is the development of Absolute Mind.

4. Modern Idealism

In contemporary philosophy of mind, some argue:

Consciousness is fundamental.
The universe may be mind-like at its base.
Physical reality could emerge from informational or mental processes.

Idealism vs. Realism vs. Materialism

View	What is fundamental?
Materialism	Matter
Dualism	Mind and matter
Idealism	Mind
Realism	Reality exists independent of mind

Psychological Meaning of “Idealism”

In everyday language, idealism also means:

Believing in high ideals
Wanting the world to match moral or spiritual standards
Optimism about human potential

That’s different from philosophical idealism, though historically connected.

Why It Matters

Idealism directly impacts questions like:

What is consciousness?
Does reality exist without observers?
Are mystical experiences glimpses of deeper structure?
Is the universe mental at its foundation?

Shervan K Shahhian

Realism, what is it:

Realism is the view that reality exists independently of our thoughts, beliefs, or perceptions. In simple terms:

The world is what it is, whether we believe in it or not.

But “realism” has different meanings depending on the field.

Philosophical Realism

In philosophy, realism argues that objects, facts, or truths exist independently of the mind.

Example:

A mountain exists even if no human sees it.

This contrasts with idealism, associated with thinkers like George Berkeley, who argued that reality depends on perception (“to be is to be perceived”).

A classic realist thinker is Aristotle, who believed the physical world exists independently of human thought.

Scientific Realism

Scientific realism says that scientific theories describe real things, even unobservable ones.

Example:

Electrons are real.

Black holes are real. Even though we cannot directly see them.

Scientific realism contrasts with instrumentalism (the view that theories are just useful tools, not necessarily true descriptions of reality).

Moral Realism

Moral realism claims that moral facts exist objectively.

Example:

“Murder is wrong” is not just opinion, it’s objectively true.

This opposes moral relativism or subjectivism.

5. Realism in Art & Literature

Realism in art tries to depict life as it truly is, without romanticizing or idealizing it.

Writers like Leo Tolstoy and Gustave Flaubert focused on everyday life, ordinary people, and psychological depth.

Core Idea of Realism

Across all fields, realism shares one central principle:

There is an objective structure to reality that exists independently of our wishes, emotions, or beliefs.

Shervan K Shahhian

Neuropsychologist, who are they:

Neuropsychologists are Psychologists who specialize in the relationship between the brain and behavior. They focus on how brain structure and function affect thinking, emotion, personality, and everyday functioning.

Here’s the clean breakdown:

What neuropsychologists do

They assess, diagnose, and help treat conditions that affect the brain, such as:

Brain injuries (TBI, concussion, stroke)
Neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD, autism)
Neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s)
Epilepsy, tumors, infections
Cognitive and emotional changes due to medical illness
Effects of trauma on memory, attention, and executive function

Their core tool: assessment

Neuropsychologists are best known for neuropsychological testing, which evaluates:

Memory
Attention and concentration
Executive functions (planning, inhibition, flexibility)
Language
Visuospatial skills
Processing speed
Emotional and personality functioning

These tests help answer questions like:

Is this memory problem neurological or psychological?
What brain systems are likely affected?
How severe is the impairment?
What kind of support or treatment will help most?

How they’re trained

A neuropsychologist typically has:

A doctoral degree (PhD or PsyD) in psychology
Specialized training in brain–behavior relationships
A neuropsychology focused internship and postdoctoral fellowship
Clinical training in assessment, diagnosis, and rehabilitation

They are not medical doctors, but they work closely with:

Neurologists
Psychiatrists
Neurosurgeons
Rehabilitation teams

Where they work

Hospitals and medical centers
Rehabilitation clinics
Memory and dementia clinics
Universities and research centers
Forensic and legal settings
Private practice

How they differ from related roles

Neuropsychologist vs neurologist:
Neurologists treat brain disease medically; neuropsychologists assess cognitive and behavioral impact.
Neuropsychologist vs psychiatrist:
Psychiatrists prescribe medication; neuropsychologists specialize in detailed cognitive and behavioral evaluation.
Neuropsychologist vs clinical psychologist:
Neuropsychologists focus much more on brain-based causes of behavior.

Big picture role

Neuropsychologists sit at the intersection of neuroscience and psychology, translating brain function into real-world understanding of:

How a person thinks?
Why they behave the way they do?
What has changed?
What can improve? Shervan K Shahhian