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.

Moral Paralysis, explained:

Moral paralysis is a state where a person becomes psychologically “stuck” when trying to decide what is morally right or ethical to do. Instead of acting, they freeze, delay, overthink, avoid the decision, or feel unable to move forward because the moral stakes feel too complex, conflicting, or emotionally overwhelming.

It can happen when:

Multiple values conflict with each other
Every option seems harmful in some way
Fear of making the “wrong” choice becomes intense
Social, religious, cultural, or personal beliefs collide
The person feels excessive responsibility or guilt

Common signs

Chronic indecision about ethical choices
Obsessive moral overthinking
Fear of hurting others or violating principles
Avoidance of action altogether
Emotional exhaustion from “trying to be good”
Repeatedly seeking reassurance
Feeling trapped between competing loyalties or truths

Example

A therapist may experience moral paralysis when:

respecting a client’s autonomy conflicts with concern for their safety.

A person leaving a strict belief system may experience it when:

old moral rules conflict with newly emerging values.

A leader may experience it when:

every available decision harms someone.

Psychological causes

Moral paralysis maybe linked to:

anxiety
perfectionism
trauma
scrupulosity (religious or moral OCD)
fear of judgment
cognitive overload
unresolved identity conflict
high empathy without clear boundaries

Philosophical dimension

Philosophers have long discussed this problem.

Difference from moral relativism

Moral relativism says morality may depend on culture or perspective.
Moral paralysis maybe the inability to act because moral uncertainty becomes overwhelming.

Healthy resolution

Overcoming moral paralysis usually may not mean finding perfect certainty. It often involves:

accepting ambiguity
clarifying core values
tolerating uncertainty
recognizing that imperfect action is sometimes necessary
balancing compassion with realism
developing self-trust and moral flexibility

In psychology, mature moral functioning may often mean:

Acting thoughtfully despite uncertainty, rather than waiting for absolute certainty before acting.

Shervan K Shahhian

Relativism is the idea that truth, morality, knowledge, or values are not absolute or universal:

Relativism is the idea that truth, morality, knowledge, or values are not absolute or universal, but depend on perspective, culture, historical context, language, or individual experience.

In simple terms:

What is considered “true,” “right,” or “normal” can vary depending on who is judging it and from what context.

There maybe several major forms of relativism:

Moral Relativism

The belief that moral values differ across cultures or individuals, and there is no single universal moral standard.

Example:

One culture may see arranged marriage as moral and honorable.
Another may see it as restrictive or unethical.

A moral relativist would say moral judgments must be understood within cultural context.

Cultural Relativism

A concept often used in anthropology:

Practices and beliefs should be understood within the framework of the culture they come from, rather than judged by outside standards.

This does not necessarily mean “everything is acceptable,” but it encourages suspension of ethnocentric judgment.

Epistemic Relativism

The idea that knowledge or truth claims depend on frameworks, paradigms, or systems of interpretation.

For example:

Scientific knowledge,
Religious beliefs,
Indigenous ways of knowing,
may each operate within different assumptions about reality.

Aesthetic Relativism

The view that beauty and artistic value are subjective and culturally shaped.

Example:

Standards of beauty differ across societies and historical eras.

Relativism may often contrasted with:

Objectivism: some truths or morals are universally true.
Absolutism: fixed principles exist regardless of context.
Universalism: certain values apply to all humans.

Strengths of Relativism

Encourages tolerance and openness.
Helps reduce ethnocentrism.
Recognizes complexity and context.
Useful in multicultural understanding.

Criticisms of Relativism

Critics argue it may lead to:

Moral paralysis (“Who are we to judge?”)
Difficulty condemning harmful practices universally.
Contradictions (if all truth is relative, is that statement itself absolute?)

In psychology and human development, relativistic thinking may often be associated with:

cognitive flexibility,
dialectical thinking,
tolerance for ambiguity,
and psychological maturity.

It reflects an ability to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously without immediately collapsing into rigid certainty.

Shervan K Shahhian

Nuanced Belief System, explained:

A nuanced belief system is a way of understanding the world that accepts complexity, uncertainty, and multiple perspectives instead of relying on rigid “black-and-white” thinking.

A person with a nuanced belief system usually:

avoids absolute conclusions,
tolerates ambiguity,
updates beliefs when new evidence appears,
and recognizes that truth can have emotional, cultural, scientific, spiritual, and personal dimensions simultaneously.

For example:

A rigid belief system might say: “People are either good or bad.”
A nuanced belief system might say: “People can be caring in some situations and harmful in others, depending on trauma, environment, awareness, and choice.”

Another example:

Rigid: “Science and spirituality cannot coexist.”
Nuanced: “Science studies measurable phenomena, while spirituality may explore meaning, consciousness, and subjective experience.”

Nuanced thinking may often associated with:

psychological maturity,
cognitive flexibility,
emotional intelligence,
reflective thinking,
and tolerance for uncertainty.

In psychology, nuanced belief systems maybe connected to concepts like:

Dialectical thinking: holding two seemingly opposite truths at once,
Cognitive complexity: seeing multiple layers of reality,
Integrative thinking: combining different viewpoints into a larger understanding.

People with nuanced belief systems may:

question inherited assumptions,
revise their worldview over time,
appreciate symbolism and metaphor,
and distinguish between literal truth, subjective truth, and empirical fact.

A nuanced belief system may not necessarily mean:

having weak convictions,
relativism (“everything is true”),
or indecisiveness.

Someone can hold strong values while still remaining open-minded and intellectually flexible.

Nuance becomes especially important in areas like:

religion and spirituality,
politics,
psychology,
ethics,
identity,
and consciousness studies,
because these subjects involve human experience that is often layered and difficult to reduce to simple answers.

In therapeutic and developmental psychology, increasing nuance is often seen as part of adult cognitive and emotional growth. It may help people navigate:

relational conflict,
existential questions,
cultural differences,
and uncertainty without collapsing into fear or dogmatism.
Shervan K Shahhian

Faith Deconstruction is the process of re-examining and often questioning beliefs you once held:

Faith deconstruction is the process of re-examining and often questioning beliefs you once held as certain, usually religious or spiritual ones. For some people, it’s triggered by new information, personal experiences, moral conflicts, or simply growing and seeing the world differently.

It doesn’t always mean losing faith entirely. For some, it leads to a reshaped or more nuanced belief system. For others, it results in stepping away from religion altogether. It can be gradual or sudden, and it often comes with a mix of emotions, confusion, grief, relief, curiosity, even isolation.

A few common elements people experience during deconstruction:

Questioning teachings you were raised with
Re-evaluating authority (leaders, texts, traditions)
Wrestling with ethical or philosophical concerns
Exploring other perspectives or belief systems
Redefining identity and community

It may feel destabilizing because belief systems might often be tied to identity, family, and meaning. At the same time, some people describe it as freeing, like they’re finally allowed to think honestly.

Shervan K Shahhian

Mental Health Consulting is a broad professional service:

Mental Health Consulting is a broad professional service where a trained expert helps individuals, organizations, schools, healthcare systems, or businesses understand and improve psychological well-being, emotional functioning, and mental health practices.

Unlike psychotherapy, consulting is usually more focused on guidance, assessment, strategy, education, problem-solving, and systems improvement rather than ongoing clinical treatment.

Common forms include:

Individual mental health consulting
Organizational or workplace consulting
Trauma-informed consulting
Behavioral consulting
School or educational consulting
Wellness and resilience consulting
Crisis-response consulting
Performance and stress-management consulting

For individuals, a consultant may help with:

Emotional regulation strategies
Stress and burnout prevention
Relationship dynamics
Communication skills
Psychological education
Behavioral patterns
Life transitions
Goal clarification
Resilience building

For organizations, consultants may help with:

Employee mental wellness
Burnout reduction
Trauma-informed leadership
Conflict management
Psychological safety
Team dynamics
Crisis intervention planning
Diversity and inclusion climate
Wellness program design

Mental health consultants often come from fields such as:

Clinical psychology
Counseling psychology
Psychiatry
Social work
Marriage and family therapy
Organizational psychology
Behavioral science
Coaching and human development

A key distinction:

Therapy treats diagnosable mental health conditions and emotional suffering.
Consulting usually provides expert guidance, education, and strategic support without necessarily treating a disorder.

However, there can be overlap depending on licensing, setting, and services offered.

Some consulting approaches integrate modalities like:

Mindfulness training
Cognitive-behavioral strategies
Somatic approaches
Trauma-informed care
Attachment theory
Systems thinking
Performance psychology

In modern workplaces and healthcare systems, mental health consulting may focus on:

Prevention rather than crisis-only intervention
Emotional safety
Nervous-system regulation
Reducing chronic stress
Building psychologically healthy environments

Related fields include:

Clinical Psychology
Counseling Psychology
Organizational Psychology
Behavioral Science
Trauma Psychology
Shervan K Shahhian

Positive Masculinity refers to healthy, constructive ways of expressing masculinity:

Positive masculinity refers to healthy, constructive ways of expressing masculinity, grounded in responsibility, emotional awareness, integrity, and respect for others. It’s not about rejecting masculinity, but refining it into something adaptive and prosocial.

A useful contrast is with toxic masculinity, which describes rigid expectations like emotional suppression, dominance at all costs, or aggression as proof of strength. Positive masculinity keeps the strengths, drops the dysfunction.

Core traits of positive masculinity

1. Emotional intelligence
Being able to recognize, regulate, and express emotions without shame. This aligns with emotional intelligence, a cornerstone of psychological resilience.

2. Responsibility and accountability
Owning your actions, decisions, and their consequences, without defensiveness or blame-shifting.

3. Strength with restraint
Strength isn’t just physical, it’s the ability to remain grounded, especially under pressure, and not default to aggression.

4. Respect for others
Treating people, regardless of gender, status, or background, with dignity. No need to dominate to feel secure.

5. Purpose and contribution
Channeling drive into meaningful goals: building, protecting, mentoring, creating.

6. Healthy leadership
Leading through example, not intimidation. Think guidance, not control.

Psychological framing

From a clinical lens, positive masculinity integrates:

Secure identity formation
Adaptive coping strategies
Balanced agency (assertiveness without hostility)
Capacity for attachment and empathy

It’s less about “being a man” in a stereotypical sense and more about integrated adult functioning.

Real world examples

A father who sets boundaries but is emotionally available
A leader who listens and adjusts instead of overpowering
A man who can face failure without collapsing into shame or rage
Someone who protects others without needing recognition

A blunt truth

If masculinity requires domination, emotional shutdown, or constant validation, it’s fragile, not strong. Positive masculinity is stable because it doesn’t depend on proving itself every moment.

Shervan K Shahhian

Relational Trauma refers to psychological harm that happens within relationships, especially when trust, safety, or connection is repeatedly broken:

Relational trauma refers to psychological harm that happens within relationships, especially when trust, safety, or connection is repeatedly broken. It often develops in close, significant relationships like those with parents, caregivers, partners, or even close friends.

Instead of a single traumatic event, relational trauma is usually chronic and interpersonal, such as:

Emotional neglect (not being seen, heard, or valued)
Inconsistent or unpredictable caregiving
Abuse (emotional, physical, or sexual)
Betrayal or repeated boundary violations
Manipulation, gaslighting, or control

Because humans are wired for connection, trauma in relationships tends to shape how someone experiences themselves and others.

Common effects

People with relational trauma might experience:

Difficulty trusting others or feeling safe in relationships
Fear of abandonment or, on the flip side, emotional detachment
People-pleasing or over-accommodating
Strong emotional reactions (anxiety, shame, anger) in close relationships
Trouble setting or maintaining boundaries
A negative self-image (“I’m not worthy,” “I’m too much,” etc.)

Why it runs deep

When trauma comes from someone who was supposed to provide safety or love, it creates an internal conflict:

“I need connection to survive, but connection also hurts.”

That tension can carry into adult relationships, even when the current people are safe.

Healing is possible

Recovery usually involves:

Building safe, consistent relationships (including with a therapist)
Learning to recognize and regulate emotional responses
Reworking core beliefs about self-worth and trust
Practicing boundaries and self-protection
Processing past experiences (through therapy modalities like attachment-based therapy, EMDR, somatic work, etc.)

Shervan K Shahhian

Creating Emotional Safety, how:

Creating emotional safety may not be about being “nice all the time”, it’s about building a relationship where people can be real without fear of punishment, rejection, or humiliation. It’s foundational in therapy, leadership, and intimate relationships, and heavily emphasized in approaches like Attachment Theory.

Here’s what actually creates emotional safety in a practical, grounded way:

1. Predictability: “I know how you’ll respond”

People feel safe when your reactions are consistent.

Avoid sudden emotional swings or unpredictable anger
Respond instead of reacting
Follow through on what you say

Unpredictability: vigilance, not safety

2. Non-judgmental listening

This is where some people might think they’re good, but aren’t.

Listen to understand, not correct or fix
Don’t immediately evaluate (“That’s irrational,” “You shouldn’t feel that way”)
Reflect back what you hear

Example:

Unsafe: “That doesn’t make sense.”
Safe: “That really affected you. Tell me more.”

3. Emotional validation

Validation doesn’t mean agreement, it means acknowledgment.

“That makes sense given what you went through”
“I can see why you’d feel that way”

This may align with emotional attunement models used in Emotionally Focused Therapy.

Without validation, people feel invisible or wrong

4. Repair after rupture

Safety isn’t the absence of conflict, it’s how you handle it.

Own your part without defensiveness
Apologize specifically (“I shut you down earlier, that wasn’t fair”)
Reconnect intentionally

Repair attempts maybe one of the strongest predictors of relationship stability.

5. Emotional regulation (your side)

If you can’t regulate yourself, you can’t create safety for others.

Notice escalation early (tight chest, faster speech, irritability)
Take pauses instead of pushing through
Return when calmer

Dysregulation in one person spreads quickly to the other

6. Boundaries (clear, not harsh)

Surprisingly, boundaries increase safety.

Say what is and isn’t okay
Be consistent
Avoid passive-aggressive behavior

Example:

“I want to keep talking, but not if we’re yelling. Let’s pause and come back.”

7. No weaponizing vulnerability

This is a dealbreaker.

Don’t bring up someone’s past disclosures during conflict
Don’t mock, minimize, or expose their insecurities

Once vulnerability is used against someone, safety collapses fast

8. Warmth and responsiveness

Small behaviors matter more than big speeches.

Eye contact
Tone of voice
Turning toward bids for connection (“Hey, listen to this…”)

Gottman calls these “bids”, and consistently responding to them builds long-term trust.

9. Psychological permission to be imperfect

People feel safe when they don’t have to perform.

Allow mistakes without overreaction
Normalize emotional complexity
Avoid perfection standards

This connects with the concept of Psychological Safety, often used in teams but just as relevant in relationships.

What destroys emotional safety (quick reality check)

Contempt (eye-rolling, sarcasm, superiority)
Chronic criticism (attacking the person, not the behavior)
Defensiveness
Stonewalling

Bottom line

Emotional safety is built through repeated micro-experiences:

“When I show up honestly, I’m met with understanding, not danger.”

It’s less about techniques and more about consistency over time.

Shervan K Shahhian

Parapsychology: “Consciousness Traveling”:

“Consciousness traveling” may mean a few very different things depending on the lens you’re using, psychological, neuroscientific, or more esoteric. It’s worth separating them so you don’t end up mixing fundamentally different phenomena.

Psychological / experiential (most grounded)

Here, “traveling” doesn’t mean your consciousness literally leaves your body, it means your sense of self shifts location or perspective.

Common examples:

Mental time travel, vividly reliving the past or imagining the future
Deep visualization, feeling “present” in an imagined place
Dissociation, sense of being detached or observing yourself
Flow states, losing awareness of your physical surroundings

Your mind is constructing a virtual reality model, and attention moves within it. No actual displacement, just reallocation of awareness.

Neuroscience view: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST

From a mind perspective, consciousness maybe tied to:

distributed neural activity
attentional networks
sensory integration

So “travel”: changes in which neural networks dominate.

For example:

Default Mode Network, internal thoughts, self-reflection
Salience / attention networks, external focus

The “movement” is really state-shifting, not spatial movement.

Out-of-body experiences (OBEs)

This is where the idea gets closer to what people mean by traveling.

OBEs can feel like:

floating above your body
moving through space
entering other environments

They’re often linked to:

sleep paralysis
trauma or extreme stress
meditation or sensory deprivation

Neuroscience: CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST, ties these to disruptions in the temporo-parietal junction, which helps anchor your sense of “self-location.”

So the experience is real, but evidence suggests it’s a constructed perception, not literal travel.

Parapsychology / esoteric interpretations

In fields like remote viewing or astral projection, consciousness is proposed to:

operate independently of the body
access distant locations or information

Programs like those explored by the Stanford Research Institute investigated this. Results were controversial:

Some anomalous findings
But some consistently replicable, controlled proof

So this remains semiproven, though widely explored.

Important grounding point

It’s tempting to interpret intense internal experiences as literal travel, but there’s a big difference between:

“It feels like I went somewhere”
vs.
“I actually left my body and traveled”

Right now, all reliable evidence supports the first, not the second.

If you’re exploring this personally

A more useful framing might be:

You’re training attention and perception, not leaving your body
Experiences can become extremely vivid and convincing
The skill is learning to navigate internal states without over-interpreting them.

Shervan K Shahhian

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy as a body centered form of psychotherapy that integrates talk therapy with awareness of physical sensations, posture, movement, and nervous system responses:

Pat Ogden developed Sensorimotor Psychotherapy as a body centered form of psychotherapy that integrates talk therapy with awareness of physical sensations, posture, movement, and nervous system responses. It is commonly used in trauma treatment, attachment repair, anxiety, dissociation, and emotional regulation.

The core idea maybe traumatic or emotionally overwhelming experiences are not stored only as memories or thoughts, they are also stored in the body through muscle tension, defensive reactions, autonomic nervous system patterns, and habitual movement.

Instead of focusing only on what happened, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy also explores:

What happens in the body right now
Physical sensations
Breathing patterns
Impulses toward movement or protection
Nervous system activation (fight, flight, freeze, collapse):CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST
Procedural memory (“body memory”)

For example, a person describing fear may notice:

Tight shoulders
Shallow breathing
A frozen posture
An urge to pull away or protect themselves

The therapist may help the client observe these reactions safely and gradually process them rather than becoming overwhelmed.

Main Principles

Bottom-Up Processing

Traditional therapies may often work “top-down” through thinking and insight.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy may also use “bottom-up” processing working directly with bodily experience and the nervous system.

Mindfulness of the Body

Clients learn to track:

Sensations
Movement
Tension
Temperature
Heart rate changes
Impulses

This might build nervous system awareness and self-regulation.

Completing Defensive Responses

Trauma sometimes interrupts natural survival actions.

Example:

Wanting to run but being unable to
Wanting to push away danger but freezing instead

Therapy may include small, mindful movements that help the nervous system complete unfinished defensive responses.

Window of Tolerance

The therapist carefully helps the client stay within an emotionally manageable zone, not overwhelmed and not emotionally shut down.

Conditions That Might Be Treated

PTSD and complex trauma
Developmental trauma
Dissociation
Anxiety disorders
Attachment wounds
Chronic shame
Somatic symptoms
Emotional dysregulation

What a Session May Look Like

A therapist might ask:

“What do you notice in your body as you say that?”
“What happens in your chest right now?”
“What impulse does your body have?”
“Can you slowly experiment with that movement?”

Sessions are usually gentle, slow-paced, and focused on safety and regulation.

Related Approaches

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy might overlaps with:

Somatic Psychology
Somatic Experiencing
trauma research
Polyvagal Theory
Attachment-focused therapies
Mindfulness-based therapies

Criticisms and Limitations

Some clinicians might view somatic approaches as highly valuable for trauma treatment, especially when talk therapy alone is insufficient. Others note that research evidence is still developing compared to older cognitive-behavioral methods.

Shervan K Shahhian