Tag Archives: mental-health

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

“Radical Honesty” is a communication approach built around telling the truth as directly and completely as possible:

“Radical honesty” is a communication approach built around telling the truth as directly and completely as possible, especially about your own thoughts, feelings, and intentions, instead of filtering, softening, or avoiding discomfort.

At its core, it’s a reaction against the everyday habits most people rely on:

White lies, politeness scripts, emotional suppression, and strategic silence. The idea is that those habits create stress, distance, and confusion over time.

What it actually means in practice

Radical honesty isn’t just “saying whatever comes to mind.” Done well, it involves:

  • Owning your internal state
    Instead of: “I’m fine.”
    You say: “I’m actually feeling irritated and a bit hurt.”
  • Dropping social masks
    You don’t pretend to agree, like something, or be okay when you’re not.
  • Admitting uncomfortable truths about yourself
    Jealousy, insecurity, attraction, resentment, things people usually hide.
  • Speaking in real time
    You address things as they arise instead of letting them build into resentment.

The upside

People who practice it seriously might often report:

  • Less internal tension (no energy spent “managing impressions”)
  • Clearer relationships (others know where they stand)
  • Faster conflict resolution (issues surface early)
  • A stronger sense of authenticity

The downside (and why it’s controversial)

Radical honesty may easily go wrong:

  • It can be hurtful if used without empathy
    Brutal honesty or helpful honesty.
  • It can become self-centered
    Dumping every thought or feeling on others isn’t always appropriate.
  • It ignores social context
    Not every situation benefits from full transparency (workplaces, safety, power dynamics).
  • It can damage relationships
    Especially if the other person hasn’t consented to that level of openness.

The difference between radical honesty and just “being blunt”

A useful distinction:

  • Bluntness: “That idea is terrible.”
  • Radical honesty: “I’m noticing I’m having a strong negative reaction to that idea, and I think it’s because I’m worried it won’t work.”

One is an attack. The other is self-revealing.

A more grounded way to use it

If you’re interested in the idea, a balanced version works better than going all in:

  • Be honest about your own experience, not judgments about others
  • Pair honesty with responsibility and empathy
  • Choose timing and context deliberately
  • Ask: “Is this true, necessary, and constructive?”

Radical honesty isn’t about removing all filters, it’s about replacing unconscious, fear based filtering with conscious, intentional communication.

Shervan K Shahhian

Infidelity Recovery is the process couples (or individuals) go through after a betrayal:

Infidelity recovery is the process couples (or individuals) go through after a betrayal, typically emotional or sexual, to rebuild trust, process the trauma, and decide whether and how to move forward.

It’s not a quick “forgive and forget” situation. Psychologically, it resembles recovery from a relational trauma.

What Actually Happens After Infidelity

For the betrayed partner, the experience often mirrors symptoms of acute stress or even trauma:

  • Intrusive thoughts (“mind movies”)
  • Hypervigilance (checking, questioning)
  • Emotional swings (anger, grief, numbness)

For the partner who cheated:

  • Shame and defensiveness
  • Fear of losing the relationship
  • Sometimes minimization or avoidance early on

The 3 Core Phases of Recovery

1. Stabilization (Crisis Phase)

This is the immediate aftermath.

Focus:

  • Stopping the affair completely (no contact)
  • Establishing basic transparency (phones, schedules, etc.)
  • Creating emotional safety

Without this phase, nothing else works.

2. Meaning-Making

This is where things might get deeper, and harder.

The couple explores:

  • Why the infidelity happened (not excuses, but causes)
  • Relationship dynamics (disconnection, unmet needs, avoidance patterns)
  • Individual vulnerabilities (attachment styles, impulse control, etc.)

Therapies like Emotionally Focused Therapy or the Gottman Method are often used here.

3. Rebuilding Trust & Attachment

Trust is not rebuilt through words, it’s rebuilt through consistent behavior over time.

Key elements:

  • Radical honesty
  • Predictability and reliability
  • Emotional attunement
  • Willingness to answer painful questions (within reason)

Trust becomes earned evidence, not blind belief.

What Determines Whether a Relationship Recovers

Recovery maybe possible, but not guaranteed. It depends on:

Positive indicators:

  • Genuine remorse (not just guilt)
  • Full accountability (no blaming the partner)
  • Consistent transparency
  • Willingness to tolerate discomfort

Negative indicators:

  • Continued lying or partial truths
  • Defensiveness (“you pushed me to it”)
  • Rushing forgiveness
  • Repeated betrayals

Important Reality Check

Recovery doesn’t mean going back to the old relationship.

It means:

  • Either building a new, more conscious relationship
  • Or recognizing the relationship cannot be repaired and separating in a healthy way

Individual Recovery (If You’re the Betrayed Partner)

Even if the relationship ends, your work includes:

  • Rebuilding a sense of safety and self-trust
  • Processing grief and anger
  • Avoiding overgeneralization (“I can’t trust anyone”)

One Misconception to Drop

“Time heals this.”

Time alone does nothing.
Structured repair, emotional processing, and behavioral change do.

Shervan K Shahhian

Mindfulness Training is a way of learning to pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings in the present moment:

Mindfulness training is a way of learning to pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings in the present moment, without immediately judging or reacting to them. It could be widely used for stress reduction, emotional balance, and improving focus.

What mindfulness training involves

At its core, it’s about practicing awareness. Instead of getting caught up in worries about the future or replaying the past, you train your mind to stay with what’s happening right now.

Common elements include:

Focused attention (often on the breath)
Body awareness (noticing physical sensations)
Open monitoring (observing thoughts as they come and go)
Non-judgment (not labeling experiences as “good” or “bad”)
Popular mindfulness practices:

  1. Breathing meditation

Sit quietly and focus on your breath, how it feels going in and out. When your mind wanders (it will), gently bring it back.

  1. Body scan

Slowly move your attention through different parts of your body, noticing tension, warmth, or other sensations.

  1. Mindful walking

Pay attention to each step, your balance, and the feeling of your feet touching the ground.

  1. Everyday mindfulness

You can practice while eating, showering, or even washing dishes, just fully engage with the activity instead of doing it on autopilot.

Benefits backed by research

People who practice mindfulness regularly often report:

Lower stress and anxiety
Better concentration and memory
Improved emotional regulation
Better sleep
Reduced symptoms of depression
How to start (simple plan)

You don’t need anything fancy:

Start with 5 to 10 minutes a day
Use a timer
Sit comfortably, close your eyes (optional if safe), and focus on your breath
Expect distractions, it’s part of the training, not a failure
A realistic expectation

Mindfulness isn’t about “clearing your mind” or feeling calm all the time. It’s about becoming more aware of what’s happening inside you and responding more deliberately instead of reacting automatically.

Shervan K Shahhian

Salience Filtering is the mind’s way of deciding what matters right now and what can be ignored:

Salience filtering is the mind’s way of deciding what matters right now and what can be ignored.

At any given moment, your senses are flooded with far more information than you can consciously process, sounds, sights, thoughts, bodily sensations. Salience filtering is the mechanism that selects a small subset of that input and flags it as important (salient) so it enters awareness and guides behavior.

How it works

(CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)

It’s largely governed by the mind’s salience network, especially:

  • Anterior insula: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
  • Anterior cingulate cortex: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)

This system continuously evaluates incoming stimuli based on:

  • Relevance to goals: (“Does this help me?”)
  • Emotional significance: (“Is this threatening or rewarding?”)
  • Novelty: (“Is this new or unexpected?”)

Only what passes this filter becomes the focus of attention.

Simple example

Imagine you’re at a loud party:

  • You ignore dozens of conversations (filtered out)
  • Suddenly, someone says your name across the room, it instantly grabs your attention

Your mind tagged that sound as salient, overriding everything else.

Why it matters

Salience filtering shapes:

  • Attention: (what you focus on)
  • Perception: (what you even notice exists)
  • Memory formation: (what gets stored)
  • Behavioral responses: (what you react to)

When it goes off balance

Distorted salience filtering is linked to several psychological states:

  • Anxiety: neutral stimuli feel threatening (over-tagging danger)
  • Depression: reduced salience of rewarding stimuli
  • Psychosis (schizophrenia): aberrant salience (random things feel deeply meaningful)

In your domain (psychology & mental training)

Salience filtering is tightly connected to:

  • Attentional control
  • Neural priming
  • Visualization / mental rehearsal

You may train it:

  • Focus repeatedly on certain cues, they become more salient
  • Use emotional intensity, increases tagging strength
  • Pair attention with intention, biases future perception

This maybe why practices like visualization or hypnotic suggestion can feel powerful, they reprogram what your mind flags as important.

One important reality check

It may feel like salience is revealing hidden truths or external signals, but neurologically: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST), it’s a selection and weighting system, not a detection of objective importance in the environment. It tells you what your mind prioritizes, not necessarily what is inherently meaningful.

Shervan K Shahhian

Attention Shaping is the deliberate process of training:

Attention shaping is the deliberate process of training, guiding, or conditioning where and how your attention moves, so that over time, it becomes more efficient, stable, and aligned with your goals.

Think of it as sculpting the habits of your awareness, rather than just “trying to focus” in the moment.

What it really means

At a deeper level, attention shaping is about rewiring attentional patterns through repeated experience. Instead of reacting automatically to distractions, you gradually bias your mind toward certain stimuli, thoughts, or tasks.

It operates through principles from Cognitive

Psychology and Neuroscience like:

  • Reinforcement: what you repeatedly attend to becomes easier to attend to
  • Neuroplasticity: attention pathways strengthen with use: (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)
  • Salience filtering: your mind learns what matters and what to ignore

How attention shaping works

Attention shaping typically involves three mechanisms:

1. Selective reinforcement

You consistently bring attention back to a target (task, sensation, idea).
Over time, the mind learns: “this is important.”

Example:
Focusing on your breath in meditation strengthens the ability to return to it.

2. Reduction of competing stimuli

You minimize distractions so attention doesn’t scatter.

Example:
Turning off notifications trains your mind not to expect constant novelty.

3. Cue based guidance

You use cues or triggers to direct attention automatically.

Example:
A golfer focusing on a specific swing cue before each shot, this ties into your interest in performance psychology.

In practice (real world examples)

  • Meditation training: shaping sustained attention and awareness
  • Sports performance: directing attention to key cues (timing, posture, rhythm)
  • Therapy (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy): shifting attention away from rumination toward constructive thought patterns
  • Hypnosis / mental rehearsal: guiding attention inward and narrowing focus

Important distinction

Attention shaping is not just control, it’s conditioning.

  • Control: forcing attention in the moment
  • Shaping: making future attention naturally go where you want

This is why it’s more powerful:

it reduces effort over time.

A deeper psychological insight

Attention shaping gradually builds what you’ve been exploring as:

  • Attentional sovereignty: you decide what gets your awareness
  • Automaticity: attention flows without conscious effort
  • Perceptual biasing: your mind starts seeing what it’s trained to notice

Simple formula

You can think of attention shaping like this:

Repeated focus, reduced distraction, meaningful cues:

trained attention system

Shervan K Shahhian

Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) is a relationship based therapeutic approach:

Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) is a relationship based therapeutic approach that may use play as the primary language for helping children regulate emotions, process experiences, and build resilience. It blends traditional play therapy with neuroscience, attachment theory, and mindfulness.

What makes it “synergetic”?

The term refers to the idea that the therapist and child form a co-regulating system. Change doesn’t come just from the client expressing themselves, it emerges from the interaction between the client and therapist.

Instead of the therapist staying neutral, they actively use their own emotional presence to help the client learn regulation.

Core principles

1. Regulation before resolution
SPT prioritizes helping client their nervous system before trying to “fix” behavior.
A dysregulated client can’t process or integrate experiences effectively.

2. The nervous system is central
SPT draws heavily on concepts from interpersonal neurobiology
Play becomes a way to work directly with arousal, stress responses, and emotional states.

3. Co-regulation, self-regulation
The therapist models calm, grounded presence. Over time, the client internalizes this and develops their own regulation skills.

4. Authentic therapist presence
Unlike strictly non-directive models, the therapist may:

  • Set limits
  • Share observations
  • Stay emotionally engaged rather than neutral

How it looks in practice

A session might include:

  • Free play (to access the child’s inner world)
  • Emotional expression through toys, art, or movement
  • Therapist tracking the client ’s internal state (“Your body looks really tight right now…”)
  • Gentle boundary-setting when needed

Example:
If a client becomes aggressive in play, the therapist doesn’t just stop the behavior, they help the client notice and regulate the underlying activation.

What it’s used for

SPT is commonly applied with children experiencing:

  • Anxiety or emotional dysregulation
  • Trauma or attachment disruptions
  • Behavioral challenges
  • ADHD-related impulsivity
  • Social or relational difficulties

How it differs from classic play therapy

ApproachTherapist roleFocus
Child-Centered Play TherapyMostly non-directiveExpression & self-discovery
Synergetic Play TherapyActively engaged, regulating partnerNervous system + relationship

Why it’s effective

SPT aligns with modern neuroscience:

  • Emotional regulation is learned through relationships
  • The body (not just cognition) stores and processes experience
  • Safe relational experiences reshape neural pathways

A grounded perspective

Given your background in psychology and interest in deeper mechanisms:
SPT is not about mystical or external influences, it’s rooted in observable processes like:

  • autonomic regulation
  • attachment dynamics
  • mirror neuron systems

It can feel powerful or even “intuitive,” but its mechanisms are well explained within developmental and clinical science.

Shervan K Shahhian

The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) is a contemporary therapeutic approach:

The NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) is a contemporary therapeutic approach designed to treat developmental trauma, the kind that arises from chronic early-life experiences like neglect, misattunement, or inconsistent caregiving, rather than single shocking events.

Core Idea (in plain terms)

NARM looks at how early relational experiences shape:

  • your identity
  • your emotional regulation
  • your sense of connection to self and others

Instead of asking “What happened to you?” it also asks:

“How did you adapt to survive, and how are those adaptations affecting you now?”

The 5 Developmental Survival Styles

NARM proposes that people develop patterns to cope with unmet needs in childhood:

  1. Connection: Difficulty feeling belonging or connection
  2. Attunement: Disconnection from one’s own needs
  3. Trust: Issues with reliance and safety in relationships
  4. Autonomy: Trouble asserting oneself or setting boundaries
  5. Love/Sexuality: Conflicts around intimacy and self-worth

These aren’t “pathologies”, they’re intelligent adaptations that once helped you survive.

How NARM Works in Therapy

Unlike traditional trauma models that focus heavily on past events, NARM emphasizes:

1. Present Moment Awareness

  • Focus on what is happening right now in your body and emotions
  • Tracks patterns as they arise in real time

2. Identity Level Healing

  • Works with core beliefs like:
    • “I’m not enough”
    • “I don’t matter”
  • These are seen as adaptations, not truths

3. Relational Healing

  • The therapist-client relationship becomes a corrective emotional experience
  • Emphasis on authenticity and mutual presence

4. Bottom Up, Top Down Integration

  • Combines body awareness (bottom-up) with cognitive insight (top-down)

What Makes NARM Different

Compared to something like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or classic Psychoanalysis:

  • It doesn’t pathologize symptoms
  • It avoids over-identifying with trauma narratives
  • It focuses on agency, not just wounds
  • It works directly with shame and identity, not just behavior

Example

Someone who grew up feeling unseen might:

  • Adapt by becoming hyper independent
  • Develop a belief: “I don’t need anyone”

NARM would gently explore:

  • The cost of that adaptation today
  • The longing underneath it
  • The possibility of reconnecting safely

Why It’s Gaining Attention

NARM aligns with modern understandings of:

  • Attachment Theory
  • Neuroscience
  • The role of implicit memory and regulation

It’s especially useful for:

  • Chronic relationship patterns
  • Identity issues
  • Complex trauma (often called C-PTSD)

A grounded note

NARM is a legitimate, clinically used model, but like all therapies:

  • It’s not a universal solution
  • Effectiveness depends on the therapist and the client fit
  • Shervan K Shahhian

Controlled Attentional Training, explained:

Controlled attentional training could be a structured way of deliberately directing, stabilizing, and shifting your attention instead of letting it be pulled around automatically by thoughts, emotions, or external stimuli.

At its core, it treats attention like a trainable system, similar to a muscle, rather than something fixed.

What it actually means

You’re practicing three core abilities:

1. Sustained attention
Holding focus on one target (breath, task, image) without drifting.

2. Attentional shifting
Moving your focus intentionally from one thing to another.

3. Attentional inhibition
Ignoring distractions, both internal (thoughts, anxiety) and external (noise, interruptions).

Why it matters (psychologically)

Controlled attentional training directly affects:

  • Anxiety regulation: (reduces rumination loops)
  • Performance under pressure: (keeps cognition task-focused)
  • Cognitive flexibility: (ability to switch perspectives)
  • Automaticity: (lets trained skills run without interference)

It could be used in approaches like:

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Attention Training Technique (from metacognitive therapy)

What it looks like in practice

Here are a few classic training methods:

1. Focus anchoring

Pick a single anchor (breath, sound, visual point).

  • Hold attention on it
  • When distraction happens, gently return

This builds control, not suppression.

2. Structured attention shifting

You deliberately move attention in a pattern:

  • Sound, body sensation, visual object, thought, back to sound

This trains flexibility instead of fixation.

3. Open monitoring

Instead of focusing narrowly:

  • Observe whatever arises (thoughts, feelings, sensations)
  • Don’t engage, just notice and release

This weakens attentional capture by intrusive thoughts.

4. Task-embedded training

You apply control during real activities:

  • Reading without re-scanning
  • Staying present in conversation
  • Performing under pressure (sports, speaking)

This is where it becomes functional, not just meditative.

A simple 5 minute protocol

Try this:

  1. Focus on your breath for 1 minute
  2. Shift to sounds for 1 minute
  3. Shift to body sensations for 1 minute
  4. Open awareness (anything that arises) for 1 minute
  5. Return to breath for 1 minute

The key is not perfection, it’s regaining control each time attention drifts.

A useful way to think about it

Untrained attention is:

reactive, sticky, and easily hijacked

Trained attention becomes:

intentional, flexible, and stable

Shervan K Shahhian

Anxiety Reduction Techniques:

Anxiety reduction may not be just one single technique, it could be a combination of how you regulate your body, attention, and interpretation of events. Since anxiety maybe both physiological and cognitive, effective reduction works on multiple levels at once.

Here’s a, grounded breakdown:

1. Regulate the Body First (fastest impact)

Anxiety may begin in the nervous system, before thoughts fully form, (CONSULT WITH A NEUROLOGIST)

  • Slow breathing (4–6 breaths/minute) activates the parasympathetic response
  • Muscle relaxation reduces physical tension loops
  • Movement (walking, light exercise) burns off stress hormones

This may directly reduce symptoms associated with Anxiety.

2. Stabilize Attention

Anxiety may thrive on scattered or future-focused attention.

  • Bring focus to sensory input (what you see, hear, feel)
  • Use attentional anchoring (breath, body, or a simple task)
  • Limit mental “time travel” into imagined outcomes

This counters what’s often called attentional hijacking.

3. Change the Thought Loop (Cognitive Layer)

Anxiety may often be driven by distorted predictions.

Core distortions:

  • Catastrophizing (“This will go badly”)
  • Overgeneralizing (“It always happens”)
  • Mind-reading (“They think I’m failing”)

Techniques:

  • Cognitive reframing: Replace “What if this goes wrong?”, “What’s most likely?”
  • Probability correction: Estimate realistic odds
  • Cognitive diffusion (from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy): see thoughts as events, not facts

4. Behavioral Exposure (long-term reduction)

Avoidance keeps anxiety alive.

  • Gradually face the feared situation
  • Stay long enough for anxiety to decrease naturally
  • Repeat until the brain relearns safety

This maybe one of the most evidence-based methods in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

5. Train Automatic Calm Responses

You may condition calm the same way anxiety gets conditioned.

  • Pair relaxation and trigger imagery
  • Use mental rehearsal of calm performance
  • Build automaticity so calm becomes default under pressure

6. Reduce Baseline Vulnerability

Anxiety could be much easier to trigger when your baseline is off.

  • Sleep quality
  • Caffeine/stimulant intake
  • Chronic stress load
  • Social isolation

These don’t cause all anxiety, but they lower your threshold.

7. Optional Advanced Layer

You might appreciate this angle:

  • Anxiety can be seen as misdirected predictive processing
  • The mind is constantly simulating future states
  • Reduction: improving prediction accuracy, control over attention

Practices like:

  • Visualization (correctly used)
  • Self-hypnosis
  • Controlled attentional training

…can reshape those predictive loops.

Simple Practical Protocol (2–5 minutes)

If you want something immediate:

Slow breath (inhale 4, exhale 6) for ~2 minutes

Name 5 things you can perceive (grounding)

    Relax shoulders/jaw consciously

    Shervan K Shahhian