psychology – LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

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

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

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

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

Behavior Analysis, what is it:

Behavior analysis is the scientific study of how behavior works, specifically how behavior is learned, maintained, and changed by interactions with the environment.

At its core, it asks:

What happens before a behavior, what the behavior is, and what happens after that makes it more or less likely to happen again?

The basics

Behavior analysis focuses on observable behavior (what people do) and the conditions that shape it, rather than on assumptions about hidden causes.

A classic framework is the ABC model:

A – Antecedents: What happens right before the behavior
B – Behavior: The action itself
C – Consequences: What follows the behavior and influences whether it repeats

Key principles

Behavior is learned through experience
Consequences matter (reinforcement increases behavior; punishment decreases it)
Context matters (environment, cues, history, and current needs)
Function matters more than form (why a behavior happens is more important than what it looks like)

For example, two people might withdraw socially for totally different reasons,

avoidance of anxiety vs. conserving energy, so the function differs even if the behavior looks the same.

What behavior analysis is used for

Understanding habits and patterns
Behavior change (education, therapy, organizations)
Skill building
Reducing harmful or ineffective behaviors
Designing environments that support desired behavior

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

ABA is a practical application of behavior analysis principles, commonly used in:

Autism support
Education
Behavioral health
Organizational behavior management

When done well, ABA is data-driven, individualized, and ethical, focusing on meaningful outcomes and quality of life.

How it differs from other approaches

It emphasizes what can be observed and measured
It avoids speculation unless it can be tested
It complements cognitive and emotional models rather than replacing them

In more modern practice, especially trauma-informed work, behavior analysis is often integrated with:

Emotional regulation
Somatic awareness
Cognitive processes
Contextual and relational factor
Shervan K Shahhian

Identity-Threat Distortions, explained:

Identity-threat distortions are predictable ways perception and thinking warp when something feels like it endangers who you are (values, role, belonging, competence, morality). The nervous system flips into protect-the-self mode, and accuracy takes a back seat.

Here are the big ones, clean and clinical, but you’ll probably recognize them instantly:

Core identity-threat distortions

1. All-or-nothing identity collapse “If this is true, everything about me is wrong. ”A single challenge becomes a total self-invalidation.

2. Moralization distortion Disagreement = “bad,” “dangerous,” or “evil.”This often shows up when values or belief systems are the threatened identity anchor.

3. Personalization of neutral data Information isn’t about an issue, it’s about me. Curiosity from others feels like an attack.

4. Status-threat amplification Small cues are interpreted as humiliation, rejection, or loss of rank. Especially common when identity is tied to expertise, authority, or intelligence.

5. Temporal foreclosure “This will never recover. ”The future collapses into a single catastrophic outcome.

6. Loyalty distortion “To question this means betrayal. ”Common in groups where belonging = safety.

7. Intentionality projection Others are assumed to be acting with hostile or manipulative intent, even without evidence.

8. Self-protective rigidity Beliefs harden, not because they’re accurate, but because they’re load-bearing for identity stability.

What’s actually happening underneath

This isn’t “cognitive error” in the casual sense—it’s threat physiology:

(Consult a Neurologist)

Amygdala up, prefrontal cortex down
Belonging + survival circuits dominate
Meaning gets compressed and polarized

Accuracy returns only when the identity feels safe again.

Fast ways to unwind identity-threat distortions

Name the threatened identity explicitly(“This feels like a threat to my competence / goodness / belonging.”)
Differentiate self from position(“I can revise a belief without erasing myself.”)
Restore temporal depth(“What would this look like in 6 months if I adapt rather than defend?”)
Regulate first, reason second Logic doesn’t land until the body exits threat mode.

Clinical tell (useful in therapy)

If reasoning becomes:

Urgent
Absolute
Morally loaded
Defensive of belonging

You’re not in belief, updating mode, you’re in identity-protection mode.

Shervan K Shahhian

Cognitive Coping, what is it:

Cognitive coping is about using your thinking to regulate emotion, stress, or threat—basically working with the mind to keep the nervous system from running the show.

Here’s a clean, useful way to understand it.

What cognitive coping actually is

Cognitive coping uses top-down processes (attention, meaning-making, appraisal) to change how a situation is interpreted, which then changes how it feels.

You’re not changing the event—you’re changing:

the story about it

the focus of attention

the meaning assigned to it

Common forms of cognitive coping

These are the big ones clinicians usually mean:

Cognitive reappraisal “Is there another way to understand what’s happening?”

Perspective-taking Zooming out in time, context, or role (e.g., “How will this look in a year?”)

Reality testing Checking assumptions: “What evidence do I actually have?”

Normalization “This reaction makes sense given the context.”

Self-talk / inner dialogue Using language to soothe, guide, or ground.

Meaning-making Integrating the experience into a larger narrative (“This is hard and it fits into my growth arc.”)

What cognitive coping is good at

It works best when:

arousal is mild to moderate

the nervous system is already somewhat regulated

the person has cognitive flexibility online

It’s especially helpful for:

rumination

anticipatory anxiety

moral injury / shame narratives

existential or identity-based distress

Where cognitive coping breaks down

This is key—and often missed.

Cognitive coping fails when:

the body is in high threat (fight/flight/freeze)

shame or attachment threat is activated

the prefrontal cortex is offline

That’s when it turns into:

intellectual bypass

arguing with emotions

“I know this isn’t rational but I still feel it”

increased self-criticism for “not coping correctly”

Cognitive coping vs body-based regulation

Think of it like this:

Body-based regulation: calms the signal

Cognitive coping: interprets the signal

Best practice (and what you’ve been circling lately):

Body first → cognition second

Once the body settles even 10–15%, cognitive coping suddenly works again.

A gentle integration move

Instead of “changing the thought,” try:

“What would a regulated mind naturally think right now?”

That question respects the nervous system and cognition.

Shervan K Shahhian

Global Self-Condemnation, what is it?

Global self-condemnation is a cognitive–emotional pattern in which a person judges their entire self as bad, defective, or unworthy based on specific mistakes, traits, or experiences.

Rather than thinking “I did something wrong,” the person concludes “I am wrong.”

Core Characteristics

Totalizing self-judgment: One flaw, failure, or behavior is taken as evidence that the whole self is bad.
Stable and global: The judgment feels permanent (“always,” “fundamentally”) and applies across contexts.
Moralized shame: Not just regret or guilt, but a sense of being inherently corrupt or unredeemable.
Resistant to evidence: Positive feedback or success doesn’t disconfirm the belief.

Common Forms

“I am a bad person.”
“There’s something wrong with me at my core.”
“If people really knew me, they’d reject me.”
“My past defines who I am.”

How It Differs From Related Constructs

Guilt → Behavior-focused (“I did something wrong”)
Shame → Self-focused but situational (“I feel bad about who I was then”)
Global self-condemnation → Identity-level and absolute (“I am bad, period”)

In CBT terms, it’s a global self-rating error.
In trauma psychology, it often reflects internalized blame or attachment injury.
In psychodynamic language, it resembles a harsh superego or introjected critical object.

Developmental & Trauma Links

Chronic criticism or moral shaming in childhood
Conditional attachment (“you’re lovable only if…”)
Religious or ideological absolutism
Trauma where self-blame preserved a sense of control
Environments where mistakes threatened belonging or safety

Psychological Functions (Why It Persists)

Paradoxically, global self-condemnation can:

Create a false sense of control (“If I’m bad, at least it makes sense”)
Prevent hope (which would risk disappointment)
Maintain attachment to critical caregivers or belief systems
Serve as a protective identity against vulnerability

Clinical Markers

Language of essence rather than action
Difficulty accepting compassion
Collapse into shame after minor errors
Strong resistance to self-forgiveness
Identity fusion with past behavior or symptoms

Therapeutic Reframes

Effective work usually involves:

De-globalizing identity (separating self from actions)
Restoring moral complexity (good people can do harmful things)
Contextualizing origins (how the belief once protected the person)
Developing self-compassion without bypassing responsibility
Relational repair (being seen without condemnation)

A key shift is from moral absolutism to human fallibility.

Shervan K Shahhian

Strengths-Based Psychotherapist, who are they:

A Strengths-Based Psychotherapist is a clinician who centers therapy on a person’s capacities, resilience, adaptive intelligence, and existing resources, rather than defining the client primarily by symptoms, deficits, or pathology.

Core Principles

1. Symptoms Are Adaptations, Not Defects

A strengths-based therapist understands that:

Anxiety = heightened threat detection
Dissociation = protective attentional control
Hypervigilance = survival-optimized perception
Emotional numbing = pain-containment strategy

The question shifts from “What’s wrong?” to:

“What strength is trying to protect you here?”

2. The Client Is the Expert

Rather than positioning the therapist as the authority:

The client’s lived experience is treated as valid data
Meaning is co-constructed, not imposed
Insight arises from inside the system, not outside correction

This resonates with IFS, somatic psychology, and non-ordinary perception models.

3. Identity Is Larger Than Diagnosis

Diagnoses may be used pragmatically, but they do not define the person.

The therapist emphasizes:

Personal values
Moral intelligence
Creativity
Spiritual or transpersonal meaning
Survival wisdom embedded in the nervous system

What Strengths-Based Therapy Looks Like in Practice

Language Shifts

Deficit Framing Strengths Framing “You’re avoidant” “You’ve learned how to preserve safety” “You’re dysregulated” “Your system is responding to perceived threat” “You’re resistant” “A part of you is protecting something important”

Clinical Techniques Often Used

Narrative reframing
Internal Family Systems (parts as protectors)
Somatic tracking of competence
Trauma-informed meaning-making
Resilience mapping
Post-traumatic growth exploration
Transpersonal inquiry (when appropriate)

Strengths-Based vs Pathology-Centered Therapy

Pathology Model Strengths Model Focus on deficits Focus on capacities Correct symptoms Understand purpose Normalize through diagnosis Normalize through adaptation Therapist interprets Client discovers ixing Integrating

Why This Matters for Trauma & Non-Ordinary States

In trauma and altered states:

Pathology models can re-traumatize
Strengths models restore agency
The nervous system is treated as intelligent, not broken

This is especially important when working with:

Dissociative phenomena
Hypnagogic imagery
Somatic intuition
Transpersonal or anomalous experiences

In One Sentence

A Strengths-Based Psychotherapist helps clients heal by recognizing their symptoms as intelligent adaptations, amplifying existing capacities, and supporting integration rather than correction.

Shervan K Shahhian

The difference between law enforcement psychology and forensic psychology:

Here’s a clear and simple breakdown of Law Enforcement Psychology vs. Forensic Psychology, since they’re often confused but serve different functions:

Law Enforcement Psychology

Focus: Supporting the well-being, performance, and decision-making of police and other law-enforcement personnel.

What it deals with:

Psychological screening for police applicants
Fitness-for-duty evaluations
Counseling officers (stress, trauma, burnout, PTSD)
Crisis negotiation and crisis intervention
Training officers on bias, de-escalation, communication, use-of-force judgment
Improving police–community relations
Enhancing teamwork, leadership, and resilience within departments

Think of it as:

“Psychology for the police.”

Forensic Psychology

Focus: Applying psychological principles to legal questions in courts, investigations, and the justice system.

What it deals with:

Competency to stand trial evaluations
Insanity defense evaluations
Risk assessments (violence, reoffending, sexual offense risk)
Expert testimony in court
Child custody evaluations
Eyewitness credibility and memory issues
Criminal profiling (rarely, and usually done with behavioral analysts rather than clinical psychologists)
Working with victims, offenders, attorneys, and judges

Think of it as:

“Psychology for the legal system.”

Key Differences at a Glance

Area	Law Enforcement Psychology	Forensic Psychology
Primary Clients	Police officers, departments	Courts, attorneys, offenders, victims
Goal	Improve officer performance and wellness	Inform legal decisions
Typical Settings	Police agencies, academies	Courts, prisons, forensic hospitals
Main Activities	Selection, training, counseling	Evaluation, testimony, risk assessment

Overlap?

Yes, in areas like:

Crisis negotiation
Threat assessment
Understanding criminal behavior
Consulting on cases

But their purpose differs:

Law enforcement psychology → help officers do their job better and safely
Forensic psychology → help the justice system make informed decisions

Shervan K Shahhian