Robert F Mullen, PhD
Director/ReChanneling
For each new subscriber, ReChanneling donates $25 for workshop scholarships.
The distinction between social anxiety and social anxiety disorder is in severity. We are not all affected by the same symptoms or relentlessness. The characteristics and traits are equivalent. These conditions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior. While comorbidities dramatically benefit, the recovery methods identified are for social anxiety and social anxiety disorder, and reference to one includes the other.
The Character Resumé
Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything.
Maybe it is about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you,
so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.
– Paul Coelho
Our character comprises the mental, emotional, and moral qualities distinctive to our individuality. Traditional psychology and its extensions use the term “character” to refer to our patterns of behavioral traits such as passive-aggressive, narcissistic, anal, hysterical, borderline, and so on. The pathographic or disease model of mental healthcare, the modus operandi for centuries, continues to be the overriding psychological perspective, focusing on the biological and neurological origins of mental illness, i.e., the study of the origins of our harmful behaviors.
The wellness model, a pivotal concept in early positive psychology (1998-), shifted the focus from the pathography of mental illness to the healthy aspects of behavior – our character strengths, virtues, and attributes. It emphasized that character is not just a collection of traits but a dynamic expression of positive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that underscore our emotional, mental, and moral character.
Positive psychology 2.0, a corrective evolution, embraced both positive and negative aspects of our character, recognizing the dialectical opposition of human experience. It proposed that optimal human functioning is not just about positivity but about living a balanced and meaningful life, engaging fully with our positive and negative aspects.
The next and current wave of positive psychology (3.0) broadened the scope of research and practice beyond the individual to include relationships, groups, organizations, and societies – how our character and values reflect and contribute to the community to which we belong, influence, and are influenced.
“Dr. Mullen is doing impressive work helping the world. He is the pioneer of proactive neuroplasticity utilizing DRNI – deliberate, repetitive, neural information.” – WeVoice (Madrid, Málaga)
Character Strengths, Virtues, and Attributes
Positive psychology identifies 24 character strengths universally recognized for creating individual stability and resilience. These strengths are not just traits, but powerful tools that can empower us to overcome challenges and lead a fulfilling life.
These strengths are classified into six distinct virtues: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
Positive attributes refer to behavioral moralities contributing to our character and emotional well-being.
Recovery Goal and Objectives
The primary goal of recovery from social anxiety and related conditions is the alleviation of our irrational fears and anxieties. We execute these goals through a three-pronged, complementary approach.
- Replace or overwhelm our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones.
- Produce rapid, concentrated positive stimulation to offset the abundance of negative information in our brain’s metabolism.
- Regenerate our self-esteem through positive reinforcement and mindfulness of our assets, utilizing methods targeted toward our individuality.
From childhood disturbance to our current emotional status, social anxiety has inundated our neural network with adverse stimuli through negative core and intermediate beliefs, SAD symptomatology, and cognitive biases, leading to destructive, irrational thoughts and behaviors. We call this SAD’s negative trajectory. Our brain’s current metabolism is replete with abundant negative information.
Why Create a Character Resumé?
Childhood disturbances generate negative core beliefs that influence our intermediate attitudes, rules, and assumptions. Our attitudes refer to our emotions, convictions, and behaviors. Rules are the principles or regulations that affect our behaviors, and assumptions are what we believe is accurate and authentic information.
Maladaptive attributions produce a cognitive bias that compels us to misinterpret information and make self-destructive decisions. Since humans are hard-wired with a negativity bias, we already respond favorably to adversity. Add our SAD-induced negative trajectory, and our neural network is replete with toxic information.
We convey this through our thoughts and behaviors and the words we use to express them.
Adversity consumes and conditions us throughout our lives. According to reliable sources, we have heard the word “no” from our parents roughly 135,000 times by age sixteen. Some of us use the same unfortunate characterizations repeatedly. It is not just the words we say aloud in criticism and conversations. The self-annihilating words we silently call ourselves support our adverse thoughts and behaviors.
A character resumé, a tool created and expanded during treatment, manages the three significant recovery objectives. It is a document that lists our positive qualities, achievements, and memories as reminders of our strengths and capabilities. Through introspection and memory work, we become mindful of the qualities that social anxiety’s overwhelming negativity has subverted.
This renewed awareness aids in replacing and offsetting our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones. Through proactive neuroplasticity, they become a vital component of the repetitive input of positive information into our neural network. Additionally, mindfulness and reinforcement of these assets dramatically regenerate our self-esteem.
Replace
Our goal is not just to replace or offset our adverse thoughts and behaviors but to empower ourselves with healthy, productive ones. We construct our character resumé with positive qualities, achievements, and memories to counter the abundance of negative self-beliefs acquired throughout life.
We retrieve and become mindful of them through recovery approaches, e.g., personal introspection and inventory, memory work, cognitive comprehension, and other tools and techniques. This process requires determination and commitment, but the rewards are immense.
Restructure
Proactive neuroplasticity is a powerful tool that produces rapid neurological stimulation to change the polarity of our neural network through the deliberate, repetitive neural input (DRNI) of information. In simpler terms, it’s the process of intentionally rewiring our brain by repeatedly exposing it to positive information.
Our brain receives around two million bits of data per second but processes roughly 126 bits, so providing substantial positive information, which we can pull from our character resumé, is essential.
A deliberate act is premeditated; we initiate and control the process. Repetition accelerates and consolidates neural renewal and connectivity. Sound, reasonable, goal-focused, and unconditional information determines its strength and integrity. The positive traits we include in our character resumé generate the most efficient words and statements to accelerate and consolidate the process of neural restructuring.
Regenerate
Regeneration is the process of renewing or restoring something damaged or underproduced. Due to our negative self-analysis, we tend to repress, misplace, and forget our inherent and developed assets. These self-qualities (e.g., confidence, reliance, compassion, and other self-hyphenates) are damaged but not lost.
Despite the disruptions in our optimal development, the qualities that establish our self-esteem are not lost. They may be latent or dormant but can be developed and restored. Disruption interrupts productivity, but it does not destroy it.
Like stimulating the unexercised muscles in our arms or legs, our self-esteem can be regenerated.
Space is Limited
For Information
“It is one of the best investments I have made in myself, and I will
continue to improve and benefit from it for the rest of my life.” – Nick P.
Supports Multiple Learning Styles
Learning styles are the methods clients use to understand and retain information. Creating a carefully crafted character resumé that identifies our positive qualities and achievements satisfies multiple learning styles and increases awareness and retention. A character resumé supports auditory learning through the repetition of positive neural input, visual learning through patterns and colors, verbal learning through the written word, logical learning through the patterns and logic of the outline, and linguistic learning through reading, writing, and listening.
Positive Psychology in Recovery
Positive psychology (1.0), which focuses on character strengths, virtues, and attributes, is a powerful tool in recovery. By recognizing and emphasizing our positive aspects, we counter the abundance of neural negativity and adverse self-appraisal.
When extended, positive psychology’s 24-character strengths provide a diverse array of attributes that can empower the client, shifting the focus from negative to positive. This shift is not just a change, it’s an inspiration, a motivation to embrace our potential and worth.
PP 2.0 and PP 3.0 are essential recovery components but do not directly contribute to our character resumé. However, they factor strongly in the evolution of our recovery.
Positive Psychology 2.0
Recovery is not just about recognizing our strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements. It’s also about acknowledging our shortcomings. This balanced perspective is critical to repairing our brokenness and moving forward.
Notwithstanding, due to decades of negative self-appraisal perpetrated by social anxiety, our neural network is already grossly imbalanced by negativity, and we are already abundantly aware of our flaws and deficiencies, real and perceptual.
Additionally, recovery is based on identifying the irrational fears and anxieties that perpetuate our thoughts and behaviors and establish our automatic negative thoughts (ANTs). PP 2.0 equips us with the tools to navigate these challenges.
Positive Psychology 3.0
Positive psychology 3.0broadened the scope of research and practice beyond the individual to include relationships, groups, communities, organizations, and societies – how we contribute to the community.
Self-esteem, a crucial aspect of our recovery, is the awareness of our qualities and character, including our imperfections. It encompasses our self-perception, our perception of how others view us, and how we process this information. A healthy level of self-esteem reassures us of our worth and significance.
Our renewed awareness leads to self-compassion and self-appreciation. As we recognize our unique contributions, we are inspired and motivated to share them with others. Interconnectedness is a natural and significant progression of self-esteem, fostering a sense of caring and empathy.
Positive psychology plays a significant role in our recovery journey. It’s not just about self-care but about understanding our worth and potential and championing these self-beliefs in others. This moral evolution is a natural development of recovery, and positive psychology is a critical player in this process.
Method Integration
It’s crucial to understand that positive psychology is just one component of an effective recovery program. A comprehensive plan includes closely related programs such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, active and proactive neuroplasticity, recovery-oriented cognitive therapy, schema therapy, cognitive-behavioral modification, acceptance and commitment therapy, rational emotional behavior therapy, and gradual exposure therapy. Recognizing the role of positive psychology in this comprehensive context underscores the effectiveness of a well-rounded recovery plan.
Elements of a Character Resumé
What goes into our character resumé? The answer is anything and everything that stimulates a positive personal response. The character resumé is not a static document but an evolving, living entity. Entries can include our rediscovered character strengths, virtues, and attributes; positive personal affirmations; positive autobiography; rational responses to our automatic negative thoughts (ANTs), happy memories; things we enjoy; and self-esteem self-analysis or other self-esteem inventories.
Positive Personal Affirmations. PPAs are self-motivating and empowering statements that help us focus on goals, challenge negative, self-defeating beliefs, and reprogram our subconscious minds. Providing all the neural benefits of positive reinforcement, PPAs self-describe who and what we aspire to in our emotional development.
PPAs are rational, reasonable, possible, positive, unconditional, problem-focused, brief, and first-person present or future time. Think of PPA’s as aspirations or self-fulfilling prophecies that, through deliberate repetition, help replace our abundance of negative with positive neural information. Practicing positive personal affirmations is a highly effective form of deliberate, repetitive neural input of information.
Positive Autobiography. Our positive autobiography helps regenerate mindfulness of our successes, achievements, contributions, personal milestones, talents, charitable deeds, and service to others. Mindfully retrieving these positive events and occasions encourages us to recognize and embrace the extraordinariness of our lives, confirming that we are valuable, desirable, consequential, and worthy of all the good things life offers.
Rational Coping Statements are the logical, self-affirming responses to our situational fears, anxieties, and automatic negative thoughts. Example: If we fear rejection in a social situation, rational responses might be, “I belong here as much as anyone.” “I am valuable and significant.” “I am equal to anyone here.” “My fear is irrational.” We execute rational responses through the following process.
- Identify our Feared Situation. Where are we when we feel anxious or fearful, and what activities are involved? What are we thinking? What might we be doing? Who and what impacts these insecure feelings?
- Identify our Associated Fear(s). One way to identify our fears (anxieties) is to ask ourselves: What is problematic about the situation? How do I feel (physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually)? What is my specific concern or worry? What is the worst thing that could happen to me? What do I imagine will happen to me?
- Unmask our Corresponding ANTs. How do we express our fear or anxiety? What are our involuntary emotional expressions or images? How do we negatively self-label? What do we tell ourselves? “I am incompetent.” “I am stupid.” “I am undesirable.”
- Examine and Analyze Our Fear(s) and ANTs. What are the origins of our fears and anxieties? How do we express them? Discovery approaches include cognitive comprehension, introspection, psychoeducation, and the vertical arrow technique.
- Generate Rational Coping Statements. We become mindful of the irrationality and self-destructive nature of our associated fears, anxieties, and corresponding ANTs. We unmask, examine, and analyze the cognitive distortions and maladaptive that validate or reinforce them. Then, we devise rational responses to counter their false assumptions.
Happy Memories and Things We Enjoy. These two subjective lists are developed and expanded throughout the recovery program as introspection and other positive recovery methods reclaim them from the recesses of our minds. Due to our cognitive biases and distortions, we forget the pride, joy, and satisfaction these events and experiences bring to our thoughts, behaviors, and positive patterns within our neural network. Happy memories and joyful experiences are potent forces in regenerating our self-esteem.
Self-Esteen Self-Analysis. There are a plethora of clinically approved self-esteem inventories and scales, including, but hardly limited to, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), and Sorenson Self-Esteem Test.
One that we utilize as a valuable element of our character resumé is called Self-Esteem Self-Analysis, a subjective evaluation that encourages introspection and self-awareness, helping us identify what we like about ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially.
In Conclusion
A written record of our achievements and strengths is a powerful tool for self-reflection and self-improvement, helping us stay organized and in control of our personal development.
When challenged by negative self-appraisal or automatic negative thoughts, our character resumé constantly reminds us of our qualities and assets—a written evaluation of our value and significance. This indispensable resource helps alleviate self-destructive thoughts, behaviors, and other adverse self-beliefs.
Proactive Neuroplasticity YouTube Series
WHY IS YOUR SUPPORT SO NECESSARY AND ESSENTIAL? ReChanneling develops and implements programs to (1) mitigate symptoms of social anxiety and related conditions and (2) pursue personal goals and objectives – harnessing our intrinsic aptitude for extraordinary living. Our paradigmatic approach targets the personality through empathy, collaboration, and program integration utilizing neuroscience and psychology, including proactive neuroplasticity, cognitive-behavioral modification, positive psychology, and techniques designed to regenerate self-esteem. All donations support scholarships for groups and workshops.
INDIVIDUAL RECOVERY. The symptoms of social anxiety make it challenging for some to participate in a collective workshop. Dr. Mullen works one-on-one with a select group of individuals uneasy in a group setting. ReChanneling offers scholarships to accommodate the costs. What is missed in group activities is provided in our monthly, no-cost Graduate Recovery Group. In this supportive community, graduates interact with others who have completed the program. Contact ‘rmullenphd@gmail.com’.
Committing to recovery is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
It takes enormous courage and the realization that you are of value,
consequential, and deserving of happiness.
