Distress Tolerance Skills - VIDEO 2 - QUIZ

The Surprising Science of Putting on the Mental Brakes

• Human beings have a remarkable ability to reason and problem solve, but at times, our minds take us in the wrong direction.

• We need to know how to slow down and put on the mental brakes, which can be challenging.

• The speaker is a clinical psychologist who knows that even gifted and talented individuals will suffer from negative thoughts and emotions.

• The speaker shares the surprising science of where the mental brakes are located, based on 30 years of work studying language and cognition through the lens of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

• Humans are the only creatures that learn the names of objects and understand the relationships between words like "before" and "after", "cause" and "effect", and "bigger" and "smaller".

• However, this problem-solving tool can also turn on us, leading to negative thoughts and emotions that can be difficult to control.

• Simply trying to rely on problem-solving to put on the brakes can lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder and other issues.

• The human nervous system is like a calculator with no minus or delete button, meaning that once something is in our heads, it stays there.

• There are ways of changing how our thoughts function when they show up, such as mindful awareness of thoughts, which involves watching our minds work with a sense of dispassionate observation.

• Other methods include defusion, which involves seeing thoughts as just words and not necessarily true or important, and acceptance, which involves accepting and embracing negative thoughts and emotions rather than trying to push them away.

• These methods have been tested in hundreds of scientific studies on RFT and close to 1,000 studies on ACT.

• The speaker suggests that wisdom traditions, such as spiritual and religious practices, can also provide insights into how to change what we do.Using Mental Brakes to Avoid Mental Breaks

• The speaker suggests using contemplative practice to watch the process of thinking with distance and dispassionate curiosity.

• Giving the mind a name, such as "George," can help create separation and allow for listening with distance.

• Singing difficult thoughts, like "I'm really bad," to a tune like "Happy Birthday" can help put on the brakes and remind that it's just a voice talking.

• Saying a difficult thought in different voices, like a cartoon character or least preferred politician, can also help create separation and make it feel different.

• Writing a difficult thought on a sticky note and wearing it as a badge can help drain its energy and create a public declaration to let it go.

• Putting difficult thoughts on screensavers can give a regular opportunity to notice and question their impact on life.

• Imagining a child's voice saying a difficult thought can create self-compassion and kindness towards oneself.

• Mental brakes are not about changing thoughts, but about learning to deal with the language tiger and ride it without being pushed in the wrong direction.

• Mental brakes are necessary skills for avoiding mental breaks.

• Titchener's theory of language and cognition, which focused on the idea that language loses its meaning when taken out of context, is demonstrated through word repetition exercises.

• Word repetition exercises, like repeating "milk" for 20 seconds, can diminish distress and believability of a thought.

• The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking a self-kind and compassionate posture towards oneself and one's thoughts.