Neuroplasticity is a testament to our brains’ limitless potential for growth and adaptation. Every input of information or experience prompts our neural network to reconfigure, leading to a profound shift in our behavior and perspective.
Our ability to consciously direct our brain to rewire its neural circuitry is a game-changer. The practice of deliberate, repetitive neural input (DRNI) of positive information gives us the power to reshape our thoughts and behaviors, fostering healthy mindsets, skills, and abilities.
“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)
A Brief History
In the 1960s, the science of neuroplasticity was identified by research into the rejuvenation of brain function after a massive stroke. Before that, researchers believed that neurogenesis, or the creation of new neurons, ceased shortly after birth. It was assumed that our brain’s physical structure was permanent by early childhood.
Today, we understand that our neural pathways are not fixed but constantly evolving. The human brain possesses the remarkable ability to continually reorganize pathways and form new connections and neurons, facilitating both learning and unlearning processes.
“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.
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity, the quality of being easily shaped or molded, is the scientific evidence of our brain’s continuous adaptation and restructuring to information and experience. It is what makes learning and registering new experiences possible. Our brain is a dynamic and malleable neural network, constantly realigning its pathways and rebuilding its circuits in response to registered stimuli. Scientists refer to this process as structural remodeling of the brain.
All registered information notifies our neural network to realign, generating a correlated change in behavior and perspective. What is significant is our ability to accelerate and consolidate the process by compelling our brain to repattern its neural circuitry. Neural circuitry refers to the interconnected network of neurons in our brain responsible for transmitting and processing information. By repatterning this circuitry, we can effectively change our thoughts and behaviors.
Three Forms of Human Neuroplasticity
Human neuroplasticity happens in three forms. Reactive neuroplasticityis our brain’s response to stimuli we do not initiate and may or may not register: a car alarm, lightning, or the smell of baked goods. Our neural network automatically restructures itself to what our brain notices, meaning that the stimuli must register, i.e., be detected (noticed) and recorded. Most stimuli do not register. They are nugatory.
Our neural network receives around two million bits of data per second but can process roughly 126 bits. If our brain does not register the information, it does not stimulate or alert the receptor neuron and, therefore, does not forward to participating neurons (pre- and post-synaptic).
Registered information can be positive, negative, or neutral.
Active neuroplasticity happens through intentional pursuits like social interaction, teaching, yoga, and journaling. We control active neuroplasticity because we consciously choose the activity. A significant component of active neuroplasticity is our altruistic and compassionate social behavior – teaching, volunteering, and contributing.
While the benefits of active neuroplasticity are apparent, proactive neuroplasticity is the most effective method of positive neural restructuring. We, as individuals, have the power to compel our brains to change their negative polarity to positive through the deliberate, repetitive neural input (DRNI) of information. DRNI is a self-controlled process executed by the positive statements that we mentally or orally repeat to expedite learning and unlearning. This process requires the construction of substantial and sound information.
However, we cannot discount the benefits of active neuroplasticity, which fulfills the same function at a different level of intensity. Both proactive and active neuroplasticity confirm our ability to govern our emotional well-being. We accelerate and consolidate learning by enabling our brain to repattern its neural circuitry.
Hemispheric Synchronization
Proactive and active neuroplasticity, two processes of what Jeffrey Schwartz called, self-directed neuroplasticity, play vital roles in recovery. Our brain’s right hemisphere, responsible for managing emotions, creativity, and intuition, is the domain of active neuroplasticity. Proactive neuroplasticity, on the other hand, focuses on the left hemisphere’s rational, analytical, and quantitative pursuits. Social anxiety’s negative self-appraisal and irrational thoughts and behaviors consume our right hemisphere to the detriment of the left.
Registering Information
Negative information has inundated our neural network since childhood. How can we offset the life-accumulated and continuing abundance of negativity no matter how much we deliberately input positive neural information? The truth is, we can’t, which is why we continue to be triggered by past experiences. However, it’s not information that’s the problem, but rather how we react and respond to it. That is what we learn in recovery, and it’s a crucial part of our journey towards emotional well-being.
Let’s hypothesize that our neural network is a color spectrum. Blue represents toxic and unhealthy negative information formed over the years. Yellow is healthy, productive information. Now imagine your neural network as a tall glass of blue water, representing its current level of negativity. Proactive and active neuroplasticity add yellow water to the glass. Over time, the color of the water changes to green. The more we input positive information, the lighter the shade. Green represents positive progress in reconstructing our neural network.
Despite the constant influx of negative experiences and information, stemming from our negative self-appraisal and life’s ups and downs, the deliberate, repetitive input of positive information can bring about significant neurological benefits. These benefits, which we’ll delve into below, have the power to offset the accumulation of toxic input.
Behaviorist B. F. Skinner claimed that the information was more important than the amount. He was onto something, but only half right. Repeated input leads to repeated firing that strengthens the connections between neurons. Just like muscles, the more repetitions, the more robust the energy of the information.
Our Neural Network
Neurons, the fundamental units of our brain and central nervous system, don’t act by themselves but through circuits that strengthen or weaken their connections based on a combination of chemical and electrical activity.
Registered information alerts a receptor neuron which triggers it to fire. Each firing stimulates a presynaptic or sensory neuron, which then transmits the information via an axon or connecting pathway to a synapse. The signal is picked up by the dendrites of the postsynaptic neurons, which relay the information to the nucleus of the cell body. This continuous exchange of electrical energy impulses engages millions of participating neurons, triggering a cellular chain reaction across multiple interconnected brain areas.
Proactive neuroplasticity, the deliberate and repetitious input of information, is the most effective way to promote and retain learning and unlearning. It compels neurons to fire repeatedly, causing them to wire together, consolidating the new connections. Mindfulness of the scientific process can inspire and motivate us to engage in deliberate learning practices, knowing that our brains are capable of such profound change.
Synaptic connections consolidate when two or more neurons are activated contiguously. Again, the more repetitions, the more durable the connection. Hebb’s rule of neuroplasticity, a fundamental principle in neuroscience, states that neurons that fire together wire together. Repeated firing strengthens and solidifies the pathways between neurons. The activity of the axon pathway heightens, causing the synapses to multiply and accelerate the transmission of information.
Repetition is a key factor in learning. We prompt our neural network to restructure by deliberately inputting information. But it’s through repetition that we cause circuits to strengthen and realign. This understanding demonstrates how repetition speeds up the process of learning and unlearning, motivating us to keep practicing and improving.
Neuroplasticity offers us the potential for growth and change. Each input of registered information, intentional or otherwise, causes a receptor neuron to fire. Each time a neuron fires, it reshapes and strengthens the axon connection and the neural bond. The more repetitions, the more neurons are impacted, creating multiple connections that attract the participation of more neurons.
An increase in learning efficacy arises from the sensory neuron’s repeated and persistent stimulation of the postsynaptic cell. Postsynaptic neurons multiply, amplifying the positive or negative energy of the information. This potential for growth and change is the energy that passes from one atom to another during their chain reaction.
Benefits of Neuroplasticity
The substantial benefits of deliberate neuroplasticity over an extended period are evident. Multiple firings activate long-term potentiation, increasing the nerve impulses’ strength along the connecting pathways, and generating more energy. Deliberate and repetitive neuroplasticity causes higher levels of BDNF(brain-derived neurotrophic factors), a protein associated with improved cognitive functioning, mental health, and memory, which plays a crucial role in neuroplasticity.
We know how challenging it is to change, remove ourselves from hostile environments, and break habits that interfere with our optimum functioning. We are hard-wired to resist anything that jeopardizes our status quo. Our brain’s inertia senses and repels changes, and our basal ganglia resists any modification in behavior patterns. Proactive and active neuroplasticity empowers us to assume accountability for our emotional well-being and quality of life by allowing us to control our information input.
Neural Reciprocity
Neural restructuring doesn’t happen overnight. Recovery-remission is a year or more in treatment utilizing appropriate tools and techniques. Meeting personal goals and objectives takes persistence, perseverance, and patience. Substance abuse programs, for example, recommend nurturing a plant or tropical fish during the first year before contemplating an intimate relationship, emphasizing the need for patience and nurturing in the recovery journey.
The successful pursuit of any ambition varies by individual and is subject to multiple factors. However, progress is exponential once we begin the deliberate neural input of positive information. The reciprocating energy from neuroplasticity is not just abundant; it’s a game-changer.
The repeated firing of participating neurons involves millions of neurons that amplify energy on a massive scale. Positive energy is multiplied millions of times and reciprocated in abundance. This is the awe-inspiring power of neuroplasticity, a force that can truly transform the recovery journey.
The power of neuroplasticity is that a system of positive, repetitive input, such as positive personal affirmations, constructive self-talk, and engaging in positive activities, can offset decades of irrational, self-destructive thoughts and behaviors. It provides the mental and emotional wherewithal to effectively pursue our personal goals and objectives, putting us in control of our recovery journey.
Our brain automatically transmits chemical hormones to reward neural input. We receive transmissions of GABA for relaxation, dopamine for pleasure and motivation, endorphins for euphoria, and serotonin for well-being. Acetylcholine supports our positivity, glutamate enhances our memory, and noradrenalin improves concentration.
Every time we input positive information, our brain releases chemical hormones that make us feel viable and productive. These hormones empower us to overcome the negative energy channeled by the things that impede our potential. This is the true value of positive reinforcement.
In addition, positive information decreases the influx of fear—and anxiety-provoking hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine.
Our brain doesn’t think, however. It is an organic reciprocator that provides the means for us to think. It maintains our heartbeat, nervous system, blood flow, etc. And it also tells us when to breathe, stimulates thirst, and controls our weight and digestion.
Since our brain does not differentiate between productive and toxic information, it transmits the same chemical hormones to adverse and harmful information. Thus, the scientific validation of the power of positive experience and information.
Constructing Our Information
We construct the information we input in our neural network by context, content, and intention. These factors determine the integrity of the information and its correlation to durability and learning efficacy. The most effective information is calculated and specific to our purpose.
For instance, if we’re challenging negative thoughts, the information could be positive personal affirmations or cognitive-behavioral strategies. If we’re focused on a specific challenge, the information could be problem-solving techniques or relevant knowledge. What is our end goal – the personal milestone we want to achieve?
The process is theoretically simple but challenging due to the commitment and endurance required for the long-term, repetitive process. We don’t advance at Wimbledon without decades of practice with rackets and balls; philharmonics cater to pianists who have spent years at the keyboard. This commitment is not just a requirement, but a necessity that fuels our determination and keeps us focused on our goals.
DRNI is a key concept in proactive neuroplasticity. It refers to a calculated regimen of deliberate, repetitive neural information that is tedious and fails to deliver immediate, tangible results. On the other hand, active neuroplasticity is more emotionally responsive and beneficial in the short run. Both are necessary for hemispheric synchronization.
The ability to balance our emotions, creativity, and intuition with our left hemisphere’s rational, analytical, and quantitative pursuits generates our emotional intelligence, which enables us to regulate our emotions and understand those of others, providing healthier emotional well-being and interpersonal relationships.
The positive impact of neuroplasticity is exponential due to the abundant reciprocation of positive energy and the neurotransmission of hormones that generate motivation, persistence, and perseverance.Deliberate neuroplasticity alleviates symptoms of physiological dysfunction and discomfort and promises to transform our pursuit of goals and objectives.
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.
My book on social anxiety is in the editing phase. I have been fortunate to be included in Springer’s latest volume on Love, due this spring (“Social Anxiety’s Failure to Establish, Develop, and Maintain Healthy Relationships”).
Now, it is time to get back on the road. Unfortunately, my recent speaking engagements and monthly discussions have been online, which does not satisfy the booking agencies.
I am currently looking for more speaking engagements. I am particularly interested in presenting at a conference or seminar. If anyone has contacts with organizations seeking speakers on neuroplasticity, recovery from social anxiety, or the other related topics listed below, please let me know. (“rmullenphd@gmail.com”.)
Compensation or stipend is secondary to having the event taped for future work, as it allows me to reach a wider audience and continue my advocacy for mental health.
As always, I am honored by your encouragement and support.
Speaking Engagements
Speaker Workshop Facilitator Author Educator
Director ReChanneling Inc Social Anxiety & Related Conditions
Keynote and WorkshopTopic
Identifying and Alleviating Social Anxiety’s Impact on Productivity and Leadership
How My Recovery from Debilitating Social Anxiety Can Help You JumpStart Your Career
How Neuroplasticity Can Dramatically Alleviate Your Social Anxiety
Related Topics Reclaiming Self-Esteem Overcoming Social Anxiety and Depression Regulating and Replacing Negative Emotions
My mission is to empower you to rediscover your inherent potential, power, and resilience.
Abstract
Statistics tell us that two out of ten people experience anxiety, and half of those suffer from social anxiety. This can manifest in various ways, such as avoiding social situations, feeling constantly judged, or experiencing doubt and confusion. Seventy percent of those also have depression, and far too many turn to substance abuse. In the fast-paced and demanding world of academia and business, these conditions can lead to missed opportunities, decreased performance, and a lack of motivation to thrive in the workplace and classroom. In the words of Aaron Beck, the pioneer of cognitive-behavioral therapy, we feel helpless, hopeless, and worthless.
Our ability to deliberately accelerate and consolidate learning by compelling our brain to repattern its neural circuitry is a powerful tool for change. We possess the inherent power to transform our thoughts and behaviors. We can deliberately compel our brain to repattern its neural circuitry, empowering us to lead a more fulfilling and balanced life.
As someone who has experienced the hardship of social anxiety disorder for the first half of my life, I understand the toll it can take. I was trapped in its vicious cycle of fear and anxiety, restricted from living a ‘normal’ life. My fear of disapproval and rejection compelled me to avoid the life-affirming experiences that connect us with others and the world.
I have spent the last twenty years researching recovery methods and fusing them into workshops, lectures, and publications worldwide. I discovered how to resolve the adverse self-appraisal that disrupts a life of productivity and prosperity. I’m passionate about helping individuals reclaim their strengths, virtues, and achievements and unlock their full potential.
In my speeches and workshops, I share practical strategies and insights for overcoming the doubts and fears of social anxiety to create a mindset of resilience and potential. Drawing upon my own experiences and teachings, I demonstrate how the deliberate, repetitive input (DRNI) of positive information, which involves consistently exposing ourselves to our positive and affirming strengths and abilities, offsets the negative polarity of our neural network caused by adverse core and intermediate beliefs.
Complementary mechanisms replace our negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones and regenerate our self-esteem by rediscovering and reinvesting our character assets.
Understanding neuroplasticity, the brain’s continuous adaptation and restructuring to experience and information, is empowering. It’s what makes learning and registering new experiences possible. Our neural network is dynamic and malleable – realigning its pathways and rebuilding its circuits in response to stimuli. This knowledge gives us the power to control our inner narrative and rewrite the story of our lives.
Through my workshops and coaching programs, I empower individuals to recognize that their weaknesses and failures do not define them. Their character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements make them the best they can be. Understanding and appreciating this is a powerful source of motivation and self-worth.
A coalescence of neuroscience and psychology captures the diversity of human thought and experience. Through interactive exercises and group discussions, participants learn practical techniques for managing their thoughts and emotions, building resilience, and cultivating a growth mindset. They discover that they can control their inner narrative and rewrite the story of their lives.
Whether you’re a student, organizer, or professional striving to excel in your field or a potential leader blocked by self-doubt and uncertainty, my keynote speech and workshops can help you recognize your inherent abilities and limitless potential. Together, we can reframe the negativity of your life into a future filled with confidence, resilience, and success.
The pioneer of proactive and active neuroplasticity utilizing the deliberate, repetitive neural input (DRNI) of information.
Former playwright and equity actor in more than a dozen productions. “… outstanding with commanding and polished stage presence” (Hollywood Reporter). Ties to Jimmy Burrows (Frasier, Friends), John Cleese, Mike Frankovich (producer), Gordon Jenkins (Sinatra’s arranger), Sal Mineo, Tennessee Williams …
Co-wrote musical, Ward 22 with Michael Dare (John Belushi’s “Captain Preemo”). Debuted at Jerome Lawrence’s home (Mame, Inherit the Wind).
Wrote/directed LA production of A Country Musical.
Project manager, then European contract negotiator for British Telecom and AT&T
Authored multiple academic articles on social anxiety, depression, and recovery featured in 84 countries.
Publicist to Edith Eva Eger (holocaust survivor) New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller; featured in primetime CBS special, Hitler and Stalin
Treatment advisor and producer’s representative at the Cannes Film Festival 1989
Presenter over sixty virtual discussions on social anxiety, depression, and empowerment
200,000 readers of weekly posted articles on ReChanneling.org website and social media
About Dr. Robert F. Mullen
For over thirty years, Robert Mullen navigated the challenges of severe social anxiety. Often referred to as the neglected anxiety disorder, SAD was a new, underrated, misunderstood, and frequently misdiagnosed condition. Bewildered, angry, and depressed, Robert was a social pariah convinced there was something wrong with him, experiencing first-hand the controlling, devious, and manipulative nature of his disorder.
In his mid-forties, Robert Mullen returned to university, challenging SAD’s grip on his emotional well-being. It was a journey of trial and error, but the answers eventually revealed themselves. He now dedicates his career to the millions of people worldwide who struggle with anxiety and depression. His commitment to this cause is a beacon of hope for many.
Before his pivotal decision, Robert’s career was a tapestry of diverse experiences. He spent several years as an equity actor and playwright in Hollywood, with minor roles in TV and film. He was a publicist and manager for artists and writers, including Auschwitz survivor and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Edith Eva Eger. His journey also led him to serve as a film project treatment advisor and representative at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, Robert ran his own artists’ management company before becoming an international contract negotiator for AT&T and British Telecom.
It was at university that Robert honed his talents in public speaking for a variety of organizations. Post-doctorate, he created the nonprofit group ReChanneling, which 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.
Robert’s work has not just made a mark, but a profound impact in the field of mental health. He has published numerous articles and chapters and produced a YouTube series on recovery. He is credited as the pioneer of proactive neuroplasticity, a technique supported by the deliberate, repetitive neural input (DRNI) of information. This approach has been instrumental in developing workshops, lectures, and seminars that have helped hundreds of clients.
Robert’s paradigmatic approach targets the personality through empathy, collaboration, and program integration. It utilizes neuroscience and psychology techniques designed to replace or overwhelm negative thoughts and behaviors with healthy, productive ones, while producing rapid, concentrated positive stimulation to offset the abundance of negative information in our brains’ metabolism.
Dr. Robert Mullen teaches clients mindfulness (recognition, comprehension, and acceptance) of their inherent capabilities and potential. To be the best we can be, we must not define ourselves by our deficits and shortfalls but by our character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements.
I’ve been there… I’ve experienced the despair of social anxiety and its network of fear and avoidance of human connection.
I had no courage, no self-esteem, no purpose.
No one understood my condition.
I created an innovative method of recovery and rediscovered my potential and defined my purpose:
To share my experiences and expertise with those who continue to suffer.
Speaking engagements include:
American Academy of Religion – Atlanta/Berkeley/Phoenix American River College, Sacramento Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, Portland University British Telecom, San Bruno, CA Bunnings Group Limited, AUS (SF Convention) The Exchange for the Performing Arts, Sacramento First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco Folsom Lake College, CA Lakeshore Unitarian Society, Winnetka, IL Six+ years of Monthly Online Discussions on Social Anxiety Marshall Hospital, Placerville, CA Sacramento AIDS Foundation San Francisco Media Alliance Scottish Rites Temple, Los Angeles Society for Asian & Comparative Philosophy, Monterey
Social Anxiety Disorder
The distinction between social anxiety disorder and social anxiety is a matter of severity; reference to one includes the other. The recovery tools and techniques provided apply to comorbid emotional malfunctions, including depression, substance abuse, generalized anxiety, and issues of self-esteem and motivation. These malfunctions originate homogeneously, their trajectories differentiated by environment, experience, and the diversity of human thought and behavior.
Fear of situations in which you may be judged negatively
Worry about embarrassing or humiliating yourself
Intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers
Fear that others will notice that you look anxious
Fear of physical symptoms that may cause you embarrassment, such as blushing, sweating, trembling or having a shaky voice
Avoidance of doing things or speaking to people out of fear of embarrassment
Avoidance of situations where you might be the center of attention
Anxiety in anticipation of a feared activity or event
Intense fear or anxiety during social situations
Analysis of your performance and identification of flaws in your interactions after a social situation
Expectation of the worst possible consequences from a negative experience during a social situation – (Mayo Clinic)
Testimonials
Mullen is the pioneer of proactive neuroplasticity utilizing DRNI ‒ deliberate, repetitive, neural information. – WeVoice (Madrid, Málaga, Valencia)
It is refreshing to work with an organization that possesses sincere commitment, ethics, and genuinely cares about its clients. – Sharon Hoery & Associates, Colorado
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.
I have never encountered such an efficient professional … His work transpires dedication, care, and love for what he does. – Jose Garcia Silva, PhD(composer Cosmos)
Social Anxiety Workshop produced results within a few sessions, with continuing improvement throughout the workshop and beyond. I’m now much more at ease in situations that were major sources of anxiety and avoidance for me just a few months ago. – Liz D.
A leading expert on social anxiety disorder and its comorbidities, Dr. Mullen is the father of proactive neuroplasticity. – Lake Shore Unitarian Society, Winnetka, IL
Dr. Mullen is considered a leading expert on anxiety and depression, etc. If you want to regain your sense of self-worth and confidence, you may want to consider recovery. It’s a bit of work but well worth the effort. – Matty S.
I am simply in awe at the writing, your insights, your deep knowing of transcendence, your intuitive understanding of psychic-physical pain, your connection of the pain to healing, your concept/title, and above all, your innate compassion. – Janice Parker, PhD
Publications
2025. Social Anxiety’s Failure to Establish, Develop, and Maintain Healthy RelationshipsinC.-E. Mayer, E. Vanderheiden Handbook of Love, Part 2. Springer
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. ̶ Sun Tzu
Knowing Social Anxiety
Few had heard of social anxiety before 1994. When I returned to university in my late forties, recovery methods were still in their formative stages and, as I later discovered, poorly invested in social anxiety. Even today, experts treat our condition like any other emotional malfunction when it is anything but. Social anxiety, nicknamed the ‘neglected anxiety disorder,‘ presents unique challenges through its cunning ability to make recovery approaches – productive for most disorders – woefully inefficient for those in our condition.
Although it was apparent to me early on that conventional treatment options for social anxiety were ineffective, the reasons were unclear. After much research and personal application, I embarked on a journey of comprehending how social anxiety sustains itself. I discovered that the mysteries of social anxiety, like the sacred Eleusinian sect of ancient Greece, only reveal themselves to the initiated.
In other words, only someone who has walked in our shoes and defeated the oppression of social anxiety can effectively guide you through recovery. Conventional recovery methods, while clinically sound and well-intentioned, are unreliable at best.
“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)
What is Social Anxiety?
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a multifaceted and intricate health condition. In the forward to these posts, I emphasize that the distinction between social anxiety, and the DSM-identified social anxiety disorder is not just a matter of severity; it’s a complex interplay of various factors. As any expert will attest, there are subtle differences. However, the recovery process, sans medication, is individually focused and remains strikingly similar.
SAD is a formidable opponent, a master of disguise that withholds its secrets from those who haven’t experienced its enigmatic and catastrophic nature. It is more mysterious than a hormonal teenager, and deciphering its enigmatic structure is challenging, but together we can methodically unravel its mysteries.
SAD steals our identity, making us feel unwelcome and exposed in social situations because we feel unworthy. The condition crushes our self-esteem, causing us to doubt our worth and abilities. It saps our motivation, causing us to avoid activities and personal connectivity. SAD does not want us to be happy because that takes away its power. It does not want us to know how it operates. It does not want to release us from its insidious grasp.
SAD is the fearful boogeyman who can only be excised by the bright, exposing light of rationality.
SAD makes us feel helpless and hopeless, trapped in a vicious cycle of fear and anxiety, and restricted from living a ‘normal’ life. Our fear of disapproval is so severe we avoid the life-affirming experiences that connect us with others and the world. We fear the unknown and unexplored. We endure anxiety for weeks before a situation, anticipating the worst. And we worry about how others perceive us and how we express ourselves.
SAD is like one of those movies in which aliens invade our bodies. They feed off our misery and hopelessness, thriving off our fears and anxieties. The only thing that can kill them is identifying and overwhelming them with rational mindfulness. We starve them with positivity and self-awareness, causing them to wither and die.
“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.
Two Keys to Understanding Social Anxiety
What is Sun Tzu telling us in this post’s opening quote? To effectively challenge our condition, we must know exactly what we are confronting and how it affects us individually. This knowledge empowers us to appreciate the caliber of its weaponry and fashion superior ones, putting us in control of our recovery.
Knowing the ‘Enemy’
Knowing how our social anxiety controls and manipulates us is one key to recovery. Recognizing the symptoms and characteristics of our condition provides the wherewithal to overwhelm and defeat them.
One of the biggest impediments to recovery is our unwillingness to accept or disclose our condition. Many of us deliberately choose to remain ignorant of SAD’s destructive capabilities or go to enormous lengths to remain oblivious to them, as if, by ignoring them, they do not exist or will somehow go away.
It’s astonishing how many clients, after enduring SAD for their entire lives, choose to remain clueless about the easily identifiable symptoms listed by every reputable mental health institute.
The Symptoms
So, let’s put an end to our ignorance once and for all by identifying the common characteristics of social anxiety disorder.
We fear situations in which we may be judged negatively
We worry about embarrassing or humiliating ourselves.
We have an intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers.
We fear that others will notice that we look anxious.
We fear revealing physical symptoms that may cause us embarrassment, such as blushing, sweating, trembling, or a shaky voice.
We avoid doing things or speaking to people out of fear of embarrassment.
We avoid situations where we fear being the center of attention.
We express anxiety in anticipation of a feared activity or event.
We have intense fear or anxiety during social situations.
We negatively analyze our performance and focus on our faulty interactions after a social situation.
We expect or self-prophesize the worst possible consequences from a negative experience during a social situation.
So, no more excuses. We now have a basic understanding of the common symptoms of our condition. Social anxiety instills in us unsound fears and apprehensions that are disproportionate to the actual situation. Social anxiety steals our autonomy, hopes, and dreams. It crushes our expectations and possibilities, causing us to miss opportunities to connect with the world. We beat ourselves up for our perceived defects and inadequacies. SAD convinces us that we are undesirable and worthless.
Knowing Ourselves
The other equally important key to recovery is understanding how we are adversely affected by SAD. Because we are unique individuals with diverse experiences, environments, beliefs, needs, and aspirations, these challenges are highly subjective and differ with each individual.
While occasional anxiety is a normal part of life, those of us with SAD experience it in a different, more intense way. We tend to personalize and dramatize our anxiety. Often blowing it out of proportion and obsessing over its potential negative outcomes. This can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies where we inadvertently encourage our failures.
Living with SAD means dealing with persistent anxiety and fear in everyday situations. Even simple tasks like eating in front of others, riding a bus, or using a public restroom can become unduly stressful. We often find ourselves seeking invisibility, hoping to avoid any situation that might require us to participate. As Matty S. shared in our workshop, ‘I spent high school trying to hide in every dark corner with a book in my face. I never once ate lunch in four years, and never once went to the bathroom in four years at my high school, for fear of having to interact with people.’
Living with SAD means navigating a paradoxical emotional landscape. We often find ourselves craving companionship while shunning intimacy, fearing that we will be deemed unlikeable. It’s not fear that destroys our lives, but the avoidance strategies we develop to cope with it. At the peak of my anxiety, I would circle the block repeatedly before a social situation to bolster my courage. Often, I ended up in the bar across the street rather than the event, a clear example of how I anticipated and guaranteed my self-loathing through avoidance.
Our social interactions are often clumsy, small talk inelegant, and attempts at humor embarrassing. Our anticipation of repudiation motivates us to dismiss overtures to offset any possibility of rejection. SAD is repressive and intractable, imposing self-destructive thoughts and behaviors. It establishes its authority through defeatist measures produced by distorted and unsound interpretations of reality.
Sharing our experiences with social anxiety is like describing an alien disease – a solitary and fruitless endeavor, as others struggle to comprehend what is only understandable to the person afflicted. The comprehensible lack of empathy further isolates us as we face the challenges of our condition alone, highlighting the struggle and need for understanding our complex relationship with our condition.
The journey to self-discovery and overcoming anxiety is a gradual process that requires patience, introspection, and persistence. What makes us tick? What triggers our fears and apprehensions? Where do we feel anxious or fearful? What activities are we engaged in, and what thoughts arise? How do we feel (physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually)? What specific concerns or worries do we have? What is the worst thing that could happen? And what do we imagine might occur? Who, where, or what do we avoid due to these feelings?
Once we have a healthy understanding of SAD and how it personally affects us, we will have met Sun Tzu’s criteria for fearlessness in facing the many battles that lie ahead.
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. No matter the size, every contribution supports someone striving to make a difference in their lives and those of others. All donations support scholarships for groups and workshops.
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.
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Enlisting Positive Psychologies to Challenge Love Within SAD’s Culture of Maladaptive Self-Beliefs
in C.-E. Mayer and E. Vanderheiden (eds.) International Handbook of Love.Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Springer Publications, 2021.
Revised April 2024.
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most common disorders, affecting the emotional and mental well-being of over 15 million U.S. adults who find themselves caught up in a densely interconnected network of fear and avoidance of social situations.
These observations provide insight into the relationship deficits experienced by people with SAD. Their innate need for intimacy is no less dynamic than any individuals, but their impairment disrupts the ability (means of acquisition) to establish affectional bonds in almost any capacity. The spirit is willing, but competence is insubstantial. The means of acquisition and how SAD symptomatically challenges them is the context of this research.
Notwithstanding overwhelming evidence of social incompatibility, there is hope for the startlingly few SAD persons who commit to recovery. A psychobiographical approach integrating positive psychology’s optimum human functioning with CBT’s behavior modification, neuroscience’s network restructuring, and other supported and non-traditional approaches can establish a working platform for discovery, opening the bridge to procuring forms of intimacy previously inaccessible.
Keywords: Love. Social anxiety disorder. Intimacy. Philautia. Means-of-acquisition.
59.0 Social Anxiety Disorder
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the second most commonly diagnosed form of anxiety in the United States (MHA, 2019). The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA, 2019a) estimates that nearly 15 million (7%) American adults experience its symptoms, and Ritchie and Roser (2018) report 284 million SAD persons worldwide. Global statistics are subject to “differences in the classification criteria, culture, and gender” (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014) and “in the instruments used to ascertain diagnosis” (NCCMH, 2013).
Studies in other Western nations (e.g., Australia, Canada, Sweden) note similar prevalence rates as in the USA, as do those in culturally Westernized nations such as Israel. Even countries with strikingly different cultures (e.g., Iran) note evidence of social anxiety disorder (albeit at lower rates) among their populace (Stein & Stein, 2008).
SAD is the most common psychiatric disorder in the U.S. after major depression and alcohol abuse (Heshmat, 2014). It is also arguably the most underrated and misunderstood. A “debilitating and chronic” affliction (Castella et al., 2014), SAD “wreaks havoc on the lives of those who suffer from it” (ADAA, 2019a).
The disorder attacks all fronts, negatively impacting the entire body complex, delivering mental confusion (Mayoclinic, 2017b), emotional instability (Castella et al., 2014; Yeilding, 2017), physical dysfunction (NIMH, 2017; Richards, 2019), and spiritual malaise (Mullen, 2018).
Emotionally, persons experiencing SAD feel depressed and lonely (Jazaieri et al., 2015). Physically, they are subject to unwarranted sweating and trembling, hyperventilation, nausea, cramps, dizziness, and muscle spasms (ADAA, 2019a; NIMH, 2017). Mentally, thoughts are discordant and irrational (Felman, 2018; Richards, 2014). Spiritually, they define themselves as inadequate and insignificant (Mullen, 2018).
SAD is randomly misdiagnosed (Richards, 2019), and the low commitment to recovery (Shelton, 2018) suggests a reticence by those infected to recognize and or challenge their malfunction. Roughly 5% of SAD persons commit to early recovery, reflective of symptoms that manifest maladaptive self-beliefs of insignificance and futility.
Grant et al. (2005) state, “about half of adults with the disorder seek treatment,” but that is after 15–20 years of suffering from the malfunction (Ades & Dias, 2013). Resistance to new ideas and concepts transcends those of other mental complications and is justified by, among other attributions:
General public cynicism
Self-contempt of the afflicted, generated by maladaptive self-beliefs.
Ignorance or ineptitude of mental health professionals.
Real or perceived social and mental health stigma.
The natural physiological aversion to change.
Many motivated towards recovery are unable to afford treatment due to SAD-induced “impairments in financial and employment stability” (Gregory et al., 2018). The high percentage of jobless people experiencing social anxiety disorder in the U.S. is related to “job inefficiency and instability” (Felman, 2018), greater absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, and frequent job changes. “More than 70% of social anxiety disorder patients are in the lowest economic group” (Nardi, 2003).
According to leading experts, the high percentage of SAD misdiagnoses is due to “substantial discrepancies and variation in definition, epidemiology, assessment, and treatment” (Nagata et al., 2015). The Social Anxiety Institute (Richards, 2019) reports that, among patients with generalized anxiety, an estimated 8.2% had the condition, but just 0.5% received a correct diagnosis. A recent Canadian study by Chapdelaine et al., 2018 reported that out of 289 individuals meeting the criteria for social anxiety disorder, 76.4% were improperly diagnosed.
Social anxiety disorder is a pathological form of everyday anxiety. The clinical term “disorder” identifies extreme or excessive impairment negatively affecting functionality. Feeling anxious or apprehensive in certain situations is normal; most individuals are nervous speaking in front of a group and anxious when pulled over on the freeway. The typical individual recognizes the ordinariness of a situation and accords it appropriate attention. The SAD person anticipates it, takes it personally, dramatizes it, and obsesses over its negative implications (Richards, 2014).
SAD’s culture of maladaptive self-beliefs (Ritter et al., 2013) and negative self-evaluations (Castella et al., 2014) aggravate anxiety and impede social performance (Hulme et al., 2012). “Patients with SAD often believe they lack the necessary social skills to interact normally with others” (Gaudiano & Herbert, 2003). Maladaptive self-beliefs are distorted reflections of a situation, often accepted as accurate.
Core beliefs are enduring fundamental understandings, often formed in childhood and solidified over time. Because SAD persons “tend to store information consistent with negative beliefs but ignore evidence that contradicts them, [their] core beliefs tend to be rigid and pervasive” (Beck, 2011). These rudimentary beliefs influence the development of intermediate beliefs―attitudes, rules, and assumptions that influence one’s overall perspective, which, in turn, generates our thoughts and behavior.
As the third-largest mental health care problem in the world (Richards, 2019), social anxiety disorder is culturally identifiable by the victims’ “marked and persistent fear of social and performance situations in which embarrassment may occur” and the anticipation that “others will judge [them] to be anxious, weak, crazy, or stupid” (APA, 2017). SAD “is a pervasive disorder that causes anxiety and fear in almost all areas of a person’s life” (Richards, 2019). SAD affects the “perceptual, cognitive, personality, and social processes” of the afflicted, who find themselves caught up in “a densely interconnected network of fear and avoidance of social situations” (Heeren & McNally, 2018).
The superficial overview of SAD is intense apprehension—the fear of being judged, negatively evaluated, and ridiculed (Bosche, 2019). There is persistent anxiety or fear of social situations such as dating, interviewing for a position, answering a question in class, or dealing with authority (ADAA, 2019a; Castella et al., 2014). Often, mere functionality in perfunctory situations―eating in front of others, riding a bus, using a public restroom—can be unduly stressful (ADAA, 2019a; Mayoclinic, 2017b).
SAD persons are unduly concerned that they will say something that will reveal their ignorance (Ades & Dias, 2013). They walk on eggshells, supremely conscious of their awkwardness, surrendering to the GAZE―the anxious state of mind that comes with the maladaptive self-belief that they are the center of attention (Felman, 2018; Lacan, 1978). Their movements can appear hesitant and awkward, small talk clumsy, attempts at humor embarrassing, and every situation reactive to negative self-evaluation (ADAA, 2019a; Bosche, 2019). They are apprehensive of potential “negative evaluation by others” (Hulme et al., 2012) and concerned about “the visibility of anxiety and preoccupation with performance or arousal” (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014).
SAD persons frequently generate images of themselves performing poorly in feared social situations (Hirsch & Clark, 2004; Hulme et al., 2012), and their anticipation of repudiation motivates them to dismiss overtures to offset any possibility of rejection (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014). SAD is repressive and intractable, imposing irrational thought and behavior (Richards, 2014; Zimmerman et al., 2010). It establishes its authority through its subjects’ defeatist measures produced by distorted and unsound interpretations of actuality that govern perspectives of personal attractiveness, intelligence, competence, and other errant beliefs (Ades & Dias, 2013).
We are all familiar with the free association test. The person in the white coat tosses out seemingly random words, and the recipient responds with the first word that comes to mind. Consider the following reactions: boring, stupid, worthless, incompetent, disliked, ridiculous, inferior (Hulme et al., 2012). Most people use personal pejoratives daily, but few personalize and take them to heart like a SAD person.
Maladaptive self-appraisals, over time, become automatic negative thoughts called ANTs (Amen, 1998) implanted in the neural network (Richards, 2014). They determine initial reactions to situations or circumstances. They inform how to think, feel, and act. The ANT voice exaggerates, catastrophizes, and distorts. SAD persons crave the company of others but shun social situations for fear of being found out as unlikeable, stupid, or annoying. Accordingly, they avoid speaking publicly, expressing opinions, or fraternizing with peers. People with social anxiety disorder generally possess low self-esteem and high self-criticism. (Stein & Stein, 2008)
The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA, 2019a) includes many emotional and mental disorders related to, components of, or a consequence of social anxiety disorder, including avoidant personality disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, OCD, and personality disorders including avoidant and dependent.
Personality disorders involve long-term patterns of thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and inflexible. The behaviors cause serious problems with relationships and work. People with personality disorders have trouble dealing with everyday stresses and problems. (UNLM, 2018)
Personality reflects deep-seated patterns of behavior affecting how individuals “perceive, relate to, and think about themselves and their world” (HPD, 2019). A personality disorder denotes a “rigid and unhealthy pattern[s] of thinking, functioning and behaving,” which potentially leads to “significant problems and limitations in relationships, social activities, work, and school” (Castella et al., 2014).
A recent article in Scientific American speculates that “mental illnesses are so common that almost everyone will develop at least one diagnosable mental disorder at some point in their life” (Reuben & Schaefer, 2017).
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59.1.1. SAD and Interpersonal Love
In unambiguous terms, the desire for love is at the heart of social anxiety disorder (Alden et al., 2018). SAD persons struggle to establish close, productive relationships (Castella et al., 2014; Fatima et al., 2018). The diagnostic criteria for SAD, outlined in the DSM-V (APA, 2017), include: “Marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations in which the individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others.”
SAD persons frequently demonstrate significant impairments in friendships and intimate relationships (Castella et al., 2014). Their avoidance of social activities severely limits the potential for comradeship (Desnoyers et al., 2017; Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014). Their inability to interact rationally and productively (Richards, 2014; Zimmerman et al., 2010) limits the potential for long-term, healthy relationships. According to Whitbourne (2018), the SAD person’s avoidance of others puts them at risk of feeling lonely, having fewer friendships, and being unable to take advantage of the enjoyment of being with people who share their hobbies and interests.
There is a pressing need for more comprehensive research to delve into the relationship between SAD and interpersonal love (Montesi et al., 2013; Read et al., 2018). A study by Rodebaugh et al. (2015) highlights the need for more high-quality studies; Alden et al. (2018) underscore the lack of attention given to the SAD individual’s inability or refusal to function in close relationships. The limited existing studies indicate that SAD individuals exhibit inhibited social behavior, shyness, lack of assertion in group conversations, and feelings of inadequacy in social situations (Darcy et al., 2005). The prevailing culture of maladaptive self-appraisal hampers the development of trusting and supportive interpersonal relationships (Topaz, 2018).
Although closely intertwined, the desire for love and the process of ‘acquisition’ are distinct. Most forms of interpersonal love necessitate the successful interplay of desire and acquisition. The desire for love represents the non-consummatory aspect of Freud’s eros life instinct (Abel-Hirsch, 2010). ‘Acquisition’ refers to the methods and skills required to complete the transaction―techniques that vary depending on the specific parameters of love.
Let us visualize love as a bridge, with desire (thought) at one end and acquisition at the other; the span is the means of acquisition (behavior). The SAD person cannot get from one side to the other because the means of acquisition are structurally deficient (Desnoyers et al., 2017; Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014). They grasp the fundamental concepts of interpersonal love and are presented with opportunities but lack the skills to close the deal. Painfully aware of the tools of acquisition, they cannot seem to operate them.
59.2. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
CBT, a short-term, skills-oriented approach, aims to explore relationships among a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors while changing the culture of maladaptive self-beliefs into productive, rational thought and behavior (Richards, 2019). It focuses on “developing more helpful and balanced perspectives of oneself and social interactions while learning and practicing approaching one’s feared and avoided social situations over time” (Yeilding, 2017). Roughly 90% of approaches endorsed by the “American Psychological Association’s Division 12 Task Force on Psychological Interventions” are cognitive-behavioral treatments (Lyford, 2017).
Recent meta-analytic evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy as an effective treatment for SAD compares favorably with other psychological and pharmacological treatment programs (Cuijpers et al., 2016). Individuals who undergo CBT show changes in brain activity, suggesting that this therapy also improves brain functioning (NAMI, 2019).
However, there is no guarantee of success, and stand-alone CBT is imperfect (David et al., 2018; Mullen, 2018). The best outcome one can hope for is the mitigation of SAD symptoms through thought and behavior modification and the simultaneous restructuring of the neural network, along with other supported and non-traditional treatments.
Behavioral and cognitive treatments are globally accepted methodologies. Multiple associations worldwide are “devoted to research, education, and training in cognitive and behavioral therapies” (McGinn, 2019). Conferences “where knowledge transfer takes place through debates, round table discussions, poster presentations, workshops, symposia, and exhibitions” are offered globally. David et al. (2018) credit CBT as the best behavioral modification standard currently available in the field for the following reasons:
CBT is the most researched form of psychotherapy.
No other form of psychotherapy is systematically superior to CBT in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and other disorders; if there are systematic differences between psychotherapies, they typically favor CBT.
CBT theoretical models/mechanisms of change have been the most researched and are in line with the current mainstream paradigms of the human mind and behavior (e.g., information processing).
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is arguably the gold standard of the psychotherapy field. David et al. (2018) maintain that “there are no other psychological treatments with more research support to validate.” Studies of CBT have shown it to be an effective treatment for a wide variety of mental illnesses, including depression, SAD, generalized anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, PTSD, OCD, panic disorder, and schizophrenia (Kaczkurkin & Foa, 2015; NAMI, 2019). However, David et al. (2018) suggest that if the gold standard of psychotherapy defines itself as the best in the field, then CBT is not the gold standard. There is room for further improvement, “both in terms of CBT’s efficacy/effectiveness and its underlying theories/mechanisms of change.”
Lyford (2017) provides two examples of criticism. A 2013 meta-analysis published in Clinical Psychology Review comparing CBT to other therapies failed to “provide corroborative evidence for the conjecture that CBT is superior to bona fide non-CBT treatments.” An 8-week clinical study by Sweden’s Lund University in 2013 concluded that “CBT was no more effective than mindfulness-based therapy for those suffering from depression and anxiety.”
Another meta-analysis conducted by psychologists Johnsen and Friborg (2015) tracked 70 CBT outcome studies conducted between 1977 and 2014. It concluded that “the effects of CBT have declined linearly and steadily since its introduction, as measured by patient self-reports, clinician ratings, and rates of remission.” According to the authors, “Just seeing a decrease in symptoms,” he says, “doesn’t translate into greater well-being.”
While this study is mindful of the common belief that CBT is the best approach to alleviate SAD’s pattern of irrational thoughts and behaviors, stand-alone CBT is not the most productive course of treatment. New and innovative methodologies supported by a collaboration of theoretical construct and integrated scientific psychotherapy are needed to address mental illness as represented in this era of advanced complexity.
Multiple nontraditional and supported approaches, including those defined as new (third) wave (generation) therapies, better serve the dual complexity of social anxiety and personality. These therapies are developed through client trust, cultural assimilation, and therapeutic innovation, with CBT, positive psychology, and neuroscience serving as the foundational platform for integration.
59.3. Categories of Interpersonal Love
In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (1999) encapsulates love as “a sort of excess of feeling.” Utilizing the classic Greek categories of interpersonal love is vital to this study; each classification illustrates how SAD symptoms thwart the means of acquisition.
1. Philia. Aristotle called philia “one of the most indispensable requirements of life” (Grewal, 2016). Philia is a bonding of individuals with mutual experiences―a “warm affection in intimate friendship” (Helm, 2017). This platonic love subsists on shared experience and personal disclosure. A core symptom of a SAD person is the fear of revealing something that will make them appear “boring, stupid or incompetent” (Ades & Dias, 2013). Even the anticipation of interaction causes “significant anxiety, fear, self-consciousness, and embarrassment” (Richards, 2014) because of the fear of being scrutinized and judged (Mayoclinic, 2017b).
2. Eros translates to reciprocal feelings of shared arousal between people physically attracted to each other, the fulfillment determined by the sexual act. The SAD person’s self-image of unlikability (Stein & Stein, 2008), coupled with the fear of intimacy (Montesi et al., 2013) and rejection (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014) challenges the successful acquisition of a sexual partner and satisfaction with the sexual act (Montesi et al., 2013). SAD’s culture of maladaptive self-appraisal severely challenges their ability to establish, develop, and maintain intimate relationships (Cuncic, 2018; Topaz, 2018). A study by Montesi et al. (2013) examining the SAD person’s symptomatic fear of intimacy and sexual communication concludes, “socially anxious individuals experience less sexual satisfaction in their intimate partnerships than nonanxious individuals, a relationship that well documented in previous research.”
3. Agape. Through the universal mandate to love thy neighbor, the concept of agape embraces unconditional love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance (Helm, 2017). SAD generally onsets adolescents who have experienced detachment, exploitation, and or neglect (Steele, 1995). Agape is characterized by unselfish giving. The SAD person’s conviction that they are the constant focus of attention is a form of self-centeredness bordering on narcissism (Mayoclinic, 2017a).
4. Storge. Social anxiety disorder stems from childhood hereditary, environmental (Felman, 2018; NAMI, 2019), or traumatic events (Mayoclinic, 2017b). The afflicted are exploited (unconsciously or otherwise) in the formative stages of human motivational development, which include physiological safety, belongingness, and love (Maslow, 1943). As a result, storge or familial love and protection, vital to the healthy development of the family unit, is impacted. The exploited adolescent (Steele, 1995) faces serious challenges recognizing or embracing familial love as an adolescent or adult.
5. Ludus. A SAD person’s conflict with the provocative playfulness of ludus is evident by their fear of being judged and negatively evaluated (Mayoclinic, 2017b).SAD persons do not find social interaction pleasurable (Richards, 2019) and have limited expectations that things will work out advantageously (Mayoclinic, 2017b). Finally, the SAD person’s maladaptive self-appraisal generally results in inappropriate behavior in social situations (Kampmann et al., 2019).
6. Pragma. The obvious synonym for pragma is practicality―a balanced and constructive quality counterintuitive to someone whose modus operandi is irrational thought and behavior (Richards, 2014; Zimmerman et al., 2010). Pragma is mutual interests and goals securing a working and endurable partnership facilitated by rational behavior and expectation—the pragmatic individual deals with relationships sensibly and realistically, conforming to standards considered typical. The overriding objective of a SAD person is to “avoid situations that most people consider “‘normal'” (WebMD, 2019).
Social anxiety disorder is a consequence of early psychophysiological disturbance (Felman, 2018; Mayoclinic, 2019a). The receptive juvenile might be the product of bullying (Felman, 2018), sibling abuse (NAMI, 2019), or a broken home. Perhaps parental behaviors are overprotective, controlling, or lack emotional validation (Cuncic, 2018). Subsequently, the SAD person finds it difficult to express vulnerability, even with someone they love and trust. Alden et al. (2018) note that SAD persons “find it difficult, in their intimate relationships, to be able to self-disclose, to reciprocate the affection others show toward them.”
Research links love with positive mental and physical health outcomes (Rodebaugh et al., 2015). Healthy relationships make one recognize their value to society “and motivate them towards building communities, culture and work for the welfare of others” (Capon & Blakely, 2007). Love develops through social connectedness. Social connectedness, essential to personal development, is one of the central psychological needs “required for better psychological development and well-being” (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Social connectedness plays a significant role as a mediator in the relationship between SAD and interpersonal love (Lee et al., 2008) and is strongly associated with one’s level of self-esteem (Fatima et al., 2018).
59.4. Philautia
The seventh and eighth categories of interpersonal love are the two extremes of philautia: narcissism and positive self-qualities. To Aristotle, healthy philautia is vigorous “in both its orientation to self and to others” due to its inherent virtue (Grewal, 2016). “By contrast, its darker variant encompasses notions such as narcissism, arrogance, and egotism” (Lomas, 2017). In its positive aspect, any interactivity “has beneficial consequences, whereas in the latter case, philautia will have disastrous consequences” (Fialho, 2007).
59.4.1. Unhealthy Philautia
Unhealthy philautia is akin to clinical narcissism―a mental condition, as stated earlier, in which people possess an inflated sense of their importance and an appetite for excessive attention and admiration. Behind this mask of extreme confidence, the Mayoclinic (2017a) states, “lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.” SAD persons live on the periphery of morbid self-absorption. Their obsession with attention (ADAA, 2019b) mirrors that of unhealthy philautia. In Classical Greece, persons could be accused of unhealthy philautia if they placed themselves above the greater good. Today, hubris means “an inflated sense of one’s status, abilities, or accomplishments, especially when accompanied by haughtiness or arrogance” (Burton, 2016). The self-centeredness of a SAD person often presents itself as arrogance; in fact, the words are synonymous. The critical difference is that SAD persons do not possess an inflated sense of their importance but one of insignificance.
59.4.2. Healthy Philautia
Aquinas’ (1981) response to demons and disorder states, “Evil cannot exist without good.” The Greeks believed that the narcissism of unhealthy philautia would not exist without its complementary opposition, commonly interpreted as self-esteeming virtue―an unfortunate and incomplete definition. Rather than only focusing on self-esteem, philautia incorporates the broader spectrum of all positive self-qualities.
Instead, we are concerned with various positive qualities prefixed by the term self, including -esteem, -efficacy, -reliance, -compassion, and -resilience. Aristotle argued in Nicomachean Ethics that self-love is a precondition for all other forms of love. (Lomas, 2017)
Positive self-qualities determine one’s relation to self, others, and the world. They recognize that one is valuable, consequential, and worthy of love. “Philautia is important in every sphere of life and can be considered a basic human need” (Sharma, 2014). To the Greeks, philautia “is the root of the heart of all the other loves” (Jericho, 2015). Gadamer (2009) writes of philautia: “Thus it is; in self-love one becomes aware of the true ground and the condition for all possible bonds with others and commitment to oneself.” Healthy philautia is the love that is within oneself. It is not, explains Jericho (2015), “the desire for self and the root of selfishness.” Ethicist John Deigh (2001) writes:
Accordingly, when Aristotle remarks that a man’s friendly relations with others come from his relations with himself … he is making the point that self-virtuous love (philautia), as the best exemplar of love … is the standard by which to judge the friendliness of the man’s relations with others.
SAD’s culture of maladaptive self-appraisal and the interruption of natural motivational development obscure our positive self-qualities. Positive psychology embraces “a variety of beliefs about yourself, such as the appraisal of your own appearance, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors” (Cherry, 2019). It measures “how much a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself” (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1991). Ritter et al. (2013) studied the relationship between SAD and self-esteem. The research concluded that SAD persons have significantly lower implicit and explicit self-esteem relative to healthy controls, which manifest in maladaptive self-beliefs of incompetence, unattractiveness, unworthiness, and other irrational self-evaluations.
Healthy philautia is essential for any relationship; it is easy to recognize how it supports self-positivity and interconnectedness. “One sees in self-love the defining marks of friendship, which one then extends to a man’s friendships with others” (Deigh, 2001). Self-worth improves self-confidence, which allows the individual to overcome fears of criticism and rejection. Risk becomes less consequential, and the playful aspects of ludus are less threatening.
Self-assuredness opens the door to traits commonly associated with successful interpersonal connectivity―persistence and persuasiveness, optimism of engagement, and a willingness to vulnerability. A SAD person’s recognition of her or his inherent value generates the realization that they “are a good person who deserves to be treated with respect” (Ackerman, 2019). “To feel joy and fulfillment at being you is the experience of philautia” (Jericho, 2015). The philautia described by Aristotle “is a necessary condition to achieve happiness” (Arreguín, 2009), which, as we continue down the classical Greek path, is eudemonic. In the words of positive psychologist Stephen (2019), eudaimonia describes the notion that living by one’s daimon, which we take to mean ‘character and virtue,’ leads to the renewed awareness of one’s ‘meaning and purpose in life.’
Aristotle touted the striving for excellence as humanity’s inherent aspiration (Kraut, 2018). He described eudaimonia as “activity in accordance with virtue” (Shields, 2015). Eudaimonia reflects the best activities of which man is capable. The word eudaimonia reflects personal and societal well-being as the chief good for man. “The eudaimonic approach … focuses on meaning and self-realization and defines well-being in terms of the degree to which a person is fully functioning” (Ryan & Deci, 2001).
It is through recognition of one’s positive self-qualities and potential productive contribution to the general welfare that one rediscovers the intrinsic capacity for love. Let us view this through the symbolism of Socrates’ tale of the Cave (Plato, 1992). In it, we discover SAD persons chained to the wall. The shadows projected by the unapproachable light outside the cave generate their perspectives. They name these maladaptive self-beliefs: useless, incompetent, timid, ineffectual, ugly, insignificant, and foolish. The prisoners form a subordinate dependency on their surroundings and resist any other reality until they are loosed from their bondage and emerge into the light.
Like cave dwellers, the SAD person breaks away from maladaptive self-beliefs into healthy philautia’s positive self-qualities, which encourage and support connectivity to all forms of interpersonal love.
A study published in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Hulme et al., 2012) looked at the effect of positive self-images on self-esteem in the SAD person. Eighty-eight students were screened with the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and divided between the low self-esteem group and the high self-esteem group. The study had two visions. The first was to study the effect of positive and negative self-beliefs on implicit and explicit self-esteem. The second was to investigate how positive self-beliefs would affect the negative impact of social exclusion on explicit self-esteem and whether high socially anxious participants would benefit as much as low socially anxious participants.
The researchers used a variety of measures and instruments. The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale is standard in SAD therapy and CBT workshops; the Implicit Association Test (IAT) reveals the strength of the association between two different concepts. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) is a 10-item self-report measure of explicit self-esteem; the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait (STAI-T) is a 20-item scale that measures trait anxiety; and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) is a self-report scale measuring depression, anxiety, and general distress.
The study found that negative self-imagery reduces positive implicit self-esteem in both high and low socially anxious participants. It provided evidence of the effectiveness of promoting positive self-beliefs over negative ones “because these techniques help patients access a more positive working self” (Hulme et al., 2012). It also demonstrated that positive self-imagery maintained explicit self-esteem even in the face of social exclusion.
59.5. Conclusion
For 25 years, since the appearance of SAD in DSM-IV, the cognitive-behavioral approach has reportedly been effective in addressing social anxiety disorder. It is structurally sound and conceivably remains the foundation for future programs. However, it is not the therapeutic gestalt it claims to be. Productive cognitive-behavioral approaches emphasize replacing SAD’s automatic negative thoughts and behaviors (ANTs) with automatic rational ones (ARTs).
As defined by UCLA psychologists Hazlett-Stevens and Craske (2002), CBT approaches treatment with the assumption that a specific central or core feature is responsible for the observed symptoms and behavior patterns experienced (i.e., lawful relationships exist between this core feature and the maladaptive symptoms that result). Therefore, once the central feature is identified and targeted, maladaptive thoughts and behaviors will be mitigated.
Clinicians and researchers have reported the lack of a precise diagnostic definition for social anxiety disorder; features overlap and are comorbid with other mental health problems (ADAA, 2019a; Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014). Experts cite substantial discrepancies and disparities in the definition, epidemiology, assessment, and treatment of SAD (Nagata et al., 2015). More specifically, according to a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Alden et al., 2018), “there is not enough attention paid in the literature to the ability to function in the close relationships” required for interpersonal love.
Standard CBT also needs more methodological clarity. Johnsen and Friborg (2018) cite the various forms of CBT used in studies and therapy over the years. Experts point to two predominant types of CBT: “the unadulterated CBT created by Beck and Ellis, which reflects the protocol-driven, highly goal-oriented, more standardized approach they first popularized,” and the more integrative and collaborative approaches of “modern” CBT (Wong et al., 2013).
The deficit of positive self-qualities in individuals impaired by SAD’s symptomatic culture of maladaptive self-beliefs and the interruption of the natural course of human motivational development is a new psychological concept in our evolving conscious complexity. Cognitive-behavioral therapies focus on resolving negative self-imaging and irrationality through programs of thought and behavioral modification. Positive self-qualities in healthy philautia is not new; it was discussed in symposia almost two-and-a-half centuries ago. However, the psychological ramifications and methods to address it are in their formative stages. There is a need for innovative psychological and philosophical research to address the broader implications of healthy philautia’s positive self-qualities, which could deliver the potential for self-love and societal concern to the SAD person, opening the bridge to procuring all forms of interpersonal love.
Kashdan, Weeks, and Savostyanova (2011) cite the “evidence that social anxiety is associated with diminished positive experiences, infrequent positive events, an absence of positive inferential biases in social situations, fear responses to overtly positive events, and poor quality of life.” Models of CBT that attempt only to reduce the individual’s avoidance behaviors would benefit from addressing, more specifically, the relational deficits that such people experience, as well as positive psychological measures to counter SAD’s culture of maladaptive self-beliefs. Non-traditional and supported approaches, including those defined as new (third) wave (generation) therapies, with CBT serving as the foundational platform for integration, would widen the scope and perspective in comprehending SAD’s evolving intricacies.
One such step is integrating positive psychology within the cognitive behavioral therapy model, which, “despite recent scientific attention to the positive spectrum of psychological functioning and social anxiety/SAD … has yet to be integrated into mainstream accounts of assessment, theory, phenomenology, course, and treatment” (Kashdan et al., 2011). CBT would continue to modify automatic maladaptive self-beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors, and positive psychology would replace them with positive self-qualities.
Training in prosocial behavior and emotional literacy can supplement typical interventions. Behavioral exercises practice the execution of considerate and generous social skills. Positive affirmations have enormous subjective value as well. Data provide evidence for mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions, where the goal is not only to respond to the negativity of maladaptive self-beliefs but to pursue positive self-qualities despite unwanted negative thoughts, feelings, images, or memories.
Castella et al. (2014) suggest motivational enhancement strategies to help clients overcome their resistance to new ideas and concepts. Ritter et al. (2013) tout the benefits of positive autobiography to counter SAD’s association with negative experiences, and self-monitoring helps SAD persons to recognize and anticipate their maladaptive self-beliefs (Tsitsas & Paschali, 2014).
Finally, the importance of considering the “nuanced and unique dynamics inherent in the relationships among emotional expression, intimacy, and overall relationship satisfaction for socially anxious individuals” should be thoroughly considered (Montesi et al., 2013). As positive psychology turns its attention to the broader spectrum of philautia’s positive self-qualities, integration with CBT’s behavior modification, neuroscience’s brain restructuring, and other non-traditional and supported approaches would establish a working platform for discovery.
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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 absent 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.
Self-esteem is mindfulness of our assets as well as our defects. We are dichotomous beings of goodness and frailty — evidence of our humanness. Social anxiety sustains itself by undervaluing the positive components of our humanness — our character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements. These are the qualities that constitute our self-esteem.
Self-esteem defines how we think about ourselves, how we think others perceive us, and how we process and present that information. Healthy self-esteem confirms that we are of value, consequential, and desirable. It is the realization of our responsible commitment to others, society, and the world.
Goal and Objectives
The primary goal of recovery from low self-esteem and related emotional malfunctions is the mitigation of our irrational fears and anxieties. We execute these goals through a three-pronged 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.
Reclaim and rebuild our self-esteem and reintegrate into society through recognition and reinforcement of our character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements.
“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.
Regeneration
To regenerate means to renew or restore something damaged or underproduced. Because of the disruption in ouroptimal development due to factors that developed our social anxiety, many positive self-qualities that construct our self-esteem are latent or dormant – underdeveloped or suspended.
These self-qualities (e.g., confidence, reliance, compassion, and other self-hyphenates) are not lost.Disruption interrupts productivity. It does not destroy it.Like stimulating the unexercised muscle in our arm or leg, we can regenerate our self-esteem.
The outcome of regenerating our self-esteem is the renewed mindfulness of our character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements.
The inherent byproduct of healthy self-esteem is self-appreciation. It is self-esteem paid forward. Consolidating our self-regard and realizing what we have to offer drives us to share our assets with others.
Proactive Neuroplasticity
Proactive neuroplasticity is the most effective method of positive neural restructuring. We compel our brains to change their negative polarity to positive through the deliberate, repetitive neural input of information (DRNI). Our brain’s left hemisphere supports this activity – the analytical part responsible for rational thinking.
While proactive neuroplasticity attends to the analytical, active neuroplasticity addresses the emotional, social, and spiritual. Proactive and active neuroplasticity complement each other.
“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)
Active Neuroplasticity
Active neuroplasticity replaces our self-destructive thoughts and behaviors while regenerating our self-esteem. Creating healthy new mindsets, skills, and abilities also requires positive and repetitive neural input. Active neuroplasticity happens through intentional pursuits geared towards counteracting the years of adverse neural input.
Beyond the synthetic and creative products of active neuroplasticity is our ethical and compassionate social behavior.
Contributions to others and society are extraordinary assets to our recovery. The value of volunteering – providing support, empathy, and concern for those in need – is exceptional, not only in promoting positive behavioral change but also in our neural restructuring. The social interconnectedness established by caring augments the regeneration of our self-esteem and self-appreciation.
We are Hopeful, Powerful, Desirable, and Worthwhile
In his extensive examination of anxiety and depression, Aaron Beck, the pioneer of cognitive-behavioral therapy, asserted that social anxiety generates feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and unworthiness. The concept of undesirability revealed itself in our SAD recovery workshops. Until we commit to recovery, we continue to be guided by these destructive self-beliefs.
Notwithstanding, in recovery, we realize helplessness as a perspective. We are not helpless unless we choose to be. Multiple resources are available to anyone with the motivation and commitment to recover.
We are not hopeless. Once we recognize the irrationality of our fears, we see them for what they are: powerless abstractions.
We are not undesirable. SAD compels us to view ourselves inaccurately. It reinforces or justifies our negative self-appraisal. Any assumption of undesirability is self-centered and irrational.
We are not worthless but integral and consequential to all things. We are unique in every aspect. There is no one like us. We are the totality of our experiences, beliefs, perceptions, demands, and desires with unique DNA, fingerprints, and outer ears. There has never been a human being with our sensibilities, memories, motivations, and dreams.
Self-Appreciation
Self-appreciation is recognizing and enjoying what makes you feel good about yourself. It is mindfulness of the qualities of your regenerated self-esteem.
You have been beating yourself for no apparent reason. You are not responsible for the onset of your social anxiety. And you did not make it happen. It happened to you. Notwithstanding, while not accountable for the hand you have been dealt, you are responsible for how you play the cards you’re holding.
Give yourself credit for making life-affirming changes. Recognize and appreciate all the positive things you accomplish daily. You are in charge of your emotional well-being and quality of life. You are responsible for the regeneration of your self-esteem.
The rediscovery of your value and significance drives you to pay it forward. Self-esteem is the catalyst for self-appreciation. In reciprocation, self-appreciation consolidates self-esteem. You take care of yourself to take care of others. You embrace your worth and potential to champion them in others.
Healthy self-esteem realizes your value and potential and recognizes that you are necessary and of incomprehensible worth. By accepting yourself, warts and all, you open yourself to sharing your authenticity.
To feel joy and fulfillment in self-being is the experience of self-esteem. Self-esteem is a prerequisite to appreciating others. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot love another. It is impossible to give away something unpossessed.
Value Yourself
For every positive attempt or interaction, congratulate yourself. You are in recovery, which demands courage, commitment, and hard work. You deserve to experience the pride and satisfaction that complements such efforts fully. Reward yourself.
Take Care of Yourself
Finally, one of the most efficient and underrated ways to cultivate self-esteem and self-appreciation is through self-care.
Make Healthy Choices. Follow good health guidelines. Try to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. Eat healthily and moderately. Sleep distraction-less.
Do things you enjoy. Start by making a list of things you like to do. Try to do something from that list every day. Be mindful that you are valuable, consequential, and unique.
Spend time with people who make you happy. Don’t waste time on people who don’t treat you well. Set reasonable boundaries.
Use hopeful statements. Social anxiety compels us to project unsatisfactory outcomes. Challenge that thinking by focusing on the positive. Remember, it is unhealthy and irrational to choose adverse outcomes. Filter out negative projections.
Forgive yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. But mistakes aren’t permanent reflections on you as a person. They’re moments in time. Mistakes are evidence of our humanness.
Avoid negative words and statements. If your thoughts are full of these words, you put too many demands on yourself. Become mindful of and limit negative words from your vocabulary and perspectives.
Focus on the positive. Think about the parts of your life that work well. Remember the skills you’ve used to cope with challenges. Be mindful of your character strengths, virtues, and achievements.
Consider what you’ve learned. What changes can you make to a negative experience to create a more positive outcome?
Evaluate upsetting thoughts. Think of negative thoughts as signals to try new, healthy patterns. Ask yourself, “What can I think and do to make this less stressful?”
Encourage yourself. Give yourself credit for recovery — for making positive changes. Pat yourself on the back. Treat yourself. You are as deserving as anyone.
Remember, your social anxiety does not define you. You are defined by your character strengths, virtues, attributes, and achievements.
Be good to yourself. You deserve it.
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 absent 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.
This reposts an article recently published on Where the Light Gets In. The conventional pathographic model of mental health focuses on the diagnosis rather than the individual. Which reduces us to a label. It is crucial to impress upon the client that they are not defined by their diagnoses. But by their character strengths, virtues, and attributes. The Wellness Model of Mental Health recognizes that we do not recover from distress by focusing on our defects and deficiencies. But on our strengths and assets.
When we label individuals or groups, we reduce them to a single, usually negative, characteristic or descriptor based on an event or behavior. As a result, we view them (or ourselves) through the label and filter out evidence that contradicts that stereotype. Labeling by diagnoses has a similar outcome.
Arbitrarily evaluating someone based on an isolated incidents or behavior is likely an inaccurate representation of that individual. One negative behavior or incident does not define someone’s character. Rather than focus on a label, it is more authentic to value the positive contributions of the person or group. We can then relate with compassionate insight, recognizing the diversity of human thought and experience.
Additionally, attempting to distinguish symptoms and identifying specific etiological and risk factors in emotional malfunction leads to speculation, errors, and misdiagnosis. This likely results in faulty treatment programs and adverse medications.
It is important to recognize that the person experiencing an emotional malfunction knows more about its personal impact than their diagnostician or therapist. This does not imply that error is inevitable, although it happens often with social anxiety disorder. It just posits the possibility.A healthy collaboration of client awareness and a doctor patient mutual dynamic is crucial to proper evaluation. In the wise words of Hippocrates, the pioneer of modern medicine. “If you are not your own doctor, you are a fool.”
“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.
Five to one, one in five. No one gets out alive…
Margaret November 3, 2023 Where the Light Gets In
The good days are finally outweighing the bad. And it’s been a long time coming.
I don’t doubt the role medication plays in this… in fact, I’d go as far as to say they’re probably the only reason my mood remains relatively stable. In a pre-emptive strike, my medication was increased recently.
I say “pre-emptive,” but in truth, I’d noticed the beginnings of a wobble. I’ve essentially re-entered the world as an actual adulting adult again. That’s not without its pressures. I didn’t really want to hang around and find out if weebles wobble enough that they eventually do fall down, so I did the only sensible thing and went back to my psych team to tell them that I was under a bit more stress than I’d previously been and I’d like to protect myself against the impact of that and the upcoming winter months. I had enough niggly signs that they agreed it was best to up the dose and add in some extra support.
To some, that might seem cowardly or lazy. Why should I think that just because I’m dealing with normal life stressors, that warrants upping my medication? Well, because I know my own limits. I know that whilst my mood wasn’t deteriorating, there is absolutely the potential for it to do so as I emerge into the world again.
Am I under any more pressure than anyone else? No. Am I, for whatever reason, less able to cope with those pressures than most people… yes. I recognize that. I accept it. And for the sake of my family, I have to be accountable for my own emotional and mental wellbeing.
I have deliberately shied away from talking about labels and diagnoses. This is the one area I really struggle with because it feels like I have more letters after my name than I can even count.
The one I struggle most with is “bipolar.” That’s a hefty label to carry around.
When you’re given a diagnosis, most psychiatrists are so risk-averse that nobody ever actually removes a previous diagnosis from your notes, even if there are questions over it.
When you’re given a diagnosis, most psychiatrists are so risk-averse that nobody ever actually removes a previous diagnosis from your notes, even if there are questions over it. Even if they don’t believe it fits. Even if there isn’t enough evidence for it to stand anymore.
Bipolar is the one I hate with a fervour matched only by my hatred of Nigel Farage. In the same breath that I was given the diagnosis, I was told that the condition has a one in five mortality rate, and that’s why I was being kept such a close eye on.
That’s a terrifying statistic to live with. I have a higher chance of dying from the illness I have than if I’d been diagnosed with some cancers.
True to form, this diagnosis simply fuelled my fear and anxiety. And when I’m anxious, I obsess. The intrusive thoughts ramp up and become harder to manage.
In the wake of being told those figures, I became sure that The Doors song “Five to One” was prophetic. That the lyrics (I refer you to this cleverly titled blog…) were a precursor to a fate that I was powerless to avoid. Despite the fact that being one of the four in five is statistically more likely, I convinced myself I’d been given a death sentence. And so, that one line in the song played on a loop in my head. It went round and round so often in my head that there was barely any room for anything else.
I cursed the doctor for their thoughtless delivery. I cursed a God I didn’t even believe in for his cruelty. And I grieved for a life I was now sure would be cut short. I was waiting for the death knell to sound, and yet, somehow, it felt as though it was ringing in my ears every single day. Except that the death knell was clearly Jim Morrison in this case.
Why do I hate the label of “bipolar” so much? Well, because I feel like it doesn’t fit. It feels like a lazy way of neatly packaging up a whole truckload of trauma into one nice, neat little word, It feels like a medical cop-out.
The same doctor who delivered the death knell also told me that “bipolar disorder is the closest thing the psychiatric world has to high blood pressure. They know what medications work, the know how to control it and what works without exception” – except that’s pure bollocks.
I say it’s bollocks because there is no clinical test for the disorder… nothing in your blood that can be measured, nothing in a brain scan that will be evident. There is not a single medical marker other than your psychiatric evaluation – which isn’t so much an evaluation as a run through your life history.
I’ve never met a male with the diagnosis, although I’m aware they do exist. What I have seen, however, are scores of women with histories of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse with the diagnosis. I’ve seen dozens of women who are untreated peri or full-blown menopausal with the diagnosis.
And it leaves me wondering if the label is a cop-out for writing a woman off without actually hearing her.
I’ve variously been told in my life that I suffer from psychotic depression, that I have Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (having someone tell you that your personality is a disorder is pretty shit too by the way…), that I have OCD traits, anxiety (okay, this one I agree with). I don’t know that any of these labels are helpful for anything other than permitting me to access mental health support.
The thing is, those labels are all over my medical notes. So now I have to practically be dying before I’ll se a GP for a physical ailment, lest they put it down to my mental health…
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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 absent 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.
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Broadening the Parameters of the Psychobiography
“Broadening the Parameters of the Psychobiography. The Character Motivations of the ‘Ordinary’ Extraordinary” in C.-E. Mayer, P. Fouche, R. van Niekerk, Psychobiographical Illustrations on Meaning and Identity in Sociocultural Contexts, Palgrave-MacMillan, 2022.
Abstract
For over a century, psychobiography has focused on the eminent individual who has achieved historical or social recognition. Ignoring the character strengths of the ‘ordinary’ individual who has reached a significant and noteworthy personal milestone is a disservice to psychology and those who might benefit from this research.
Some experts claim that embracing a psychobiographic focus on the ordinary individual would pervert the process, some open the door to innovation, and others have, unwittingly, provided templates. The psychological benefits seem apparent if consideration of the character strengths and virtues of the ordinary extraordinary supplement psychobiographic research. Their motivations are no less extraordinary or worthy of consideration than those of the accomplished individual who has achieved historical or social recognition; each complements psychological research both generally and topically.
The purpose of this paper is fourfold. It suggests that psychobiography limits its potential to study the character strengths underlying motivation, persistence, and perseverance by restricting its concentration to the significant individual who has achieved historical or social recognition (the ’eminent extraordinary’). The paper recommends expanding that concentration by adopting a partnering focus on the ‘ordinary extraordinary’ who has achieved a significant and noteworthy personal milestone.
It supports the implicit theory of positive psychology, humanism, and mentor Abraham Maslow (1943) that all individuals are extraordinary by their humanness. Each possessing the potential for significant personal achievement. It disputes the notion put forward by Alexander (1988), Knight (2019), McAdams (1988), Schultz (2005), and Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) that the examined life-narrative [of a psychobiography] should be on a ‘finished’ life, arguing the character strengths of the evolving ‘ordinary extraordinary’ could greatly assist in the psychological study of human motivation and development. It is a fundamental principle that actions are motivated to achieve individual needs; it is the role of psychology and psychobiography to research what character strengths generate that motivation, whatever their source.
The psychobiography is “usually” (du Plessis 2017: 218; McAdams 1988: 2) concerned with the extraordinariness (Cilliars and Mayer 2019; Mayer and May 2019) of accomplished individuals who have achieved historical or social recognition (Alexander 1988; Burnell et al. 2019; Carlson 1988; du Plessis 2017; Kőváry 2019; McAdams 2001; Ponterotto 2014; Runyan 1984). This can be interpreted as contradicting Schultz’s (2005: 3) description of the goal of psychobiography “as simply as ‘the understanding of persons” (du Plessis 2017: 217).
Filling the eminent extraordinary ranks is the accomplished artist, scientist, philosopher, activist, and politician (Burnell et al. 2019; Carlson 1988; du Plessis 2017; Runyon 1988). Emerging with Freud’s (1910) pathographic study of Leonardo DaVinci’s childhood, subjects include Hitler (Murray 1943), Robespierre (Gallo 1971), Stalin (Tucker 1973), Turkey President, Ataturk (Volkan and Itzkowitz 1986), Bertrand Russell (Brink 1989), Margaret Thatcher (Abse 1989), Gandhi (Erikson 1993), Virginia Woolf (Bond 2000), King Herod (Kasher 2007), Napoleon (Falk 2007) and, more recently, Paulo Coehlo (Mayer 2017), Goethe (Holm-Hadulla 2018), Frederick Douglas (Gibson 2018), Charlize Theron (Prenter et al. 2019), cult leader, Jim Jones (Kelley 2019), and Thomas Jefferson (Holowchak 2020).
Howe (1997: 236) believes the purpose of a psychobiography is to generate “ideas about possible motives and conflicts that may drive a person towards undertaking various activities.” Analyzing the character strengths of the ordinary extraordinary who has achieved a noteworthy personal milestone would significantly enhance psychological understanding of motivational character development.
Broadening the psychobiographic perspective would open new avenues of study that would benefit research into the character strengths, virtues, and attributes that facilitate motivation, persistence, and perseverance.
Examples of the ordinary extraordinary who has reached a significant and noteworthy personal milestone might include the nurse who has committed his life to children with cancer, the high school teacher who has ‘reached’ her students, the writer who has finally published. Have they not, through trial and error, attained a recognizable personal plateau of achievement? Are their character strengths, objectives, and motivations any less significant than those of the acclaimed actor or heart transplant surgeon?
“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.
‘Rudy’ Ruettiger’s goal was to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. Undersized and undervalued, he was relegated to the scout squad. On November 8, 1975, Rudy was put into a game against Georgia Tech and, memorably, sacked their quarterback on the game’s last play. He was the first man in Notre Dame history to be carried off the field by his teammates.
Not only would a psychobiography of Rudy’s days at Notre Dame be a respectable character study of motivation, but psychology could benefit from the determination of many unheralded persons who have achieved significant and noteworthy personal milestones. Expanding current study could generate a more in-depth understanding of the qualities and characteristics that motivate any individual to achieve, or overcome adversity of any nature.
Embracing the ordinary extraordinary does not impinge on the psychobiography that has been the mainstay for over a century. It merely adds a species to the psychobiographic genus within the psychological family. A bus and a bicycle may be distinct modes of transportation, but they can both transport to a conclusion.
13.2 Supporting Arguments
The psychological knowledge gathered by psychobiography provides general and specific applications. Universal themes of the character strengths that generate motivation, persistence, and perseverance are particularized by topical relevance. The psychobiographies of Coleridge (Weissman 1990), Poe (Krutch 1926), and Emily Dickinson (Cody 1971) have their inter-relevance; those of Lincoln (Clark 1933), Nixon (Volkan et al. 1999), and Obama (Falk 2010) have theirs; as have those of Jesus (Caldwell 1976), Joseph Smith (Anderson 1999), and Muhammed (Sina 2008) theirs. Kelley’s (2019: 363) interest in the “motivational dynamics that undergird religious leaders’ often Januslike relations to their followers,” for example, supplements the latter group.
13.2.1 Implicit Superiority
The assumption that the motivational character strengths of the eminent extraordinary are more desirable to psychological study suggests an implicit arrogance towards those of the ordinary extraordinary. Society often justifies arrogance in academics, politics, the arts, and other ventures when it leads to and supports achievements (Whitbourne 2017). The academic swayed by the intimate relationship of knowledge and power is not an oddity.
So, a relevant question might be: does the eminent extraordinary provide a better source of psychological motivations than the ordinary extraordinary, or are the historically accomplished more biographically interesting? Analyzing the motivational characteristics of the eminent extraordinary is valuable to psychological research and study, but academic idolization warrants consideration.
13.2.2 Eminent as Exemplary?
It is safe to claim that not every eminent extraordinary who meets psychobiographic criteria is an exemplary role model. Many are psychologically dysfunctional, prone to clinical narcissism, megalomania, perfectionism, suicidal ideation, disconnectedness, substance abuse, hostility, and aggression. Artists Van Gogh and Pollack, philosophers Nietzsche and Rosseau, politicians Trump and Napoleon, and writers Plathe, Hemingway, and Poe are sustained by moral and physiological dysfunctions that do not comfortably fall within Seligman’s classification of character strengths and virtues (al Taher 2020; Peterson and Seligman 2004).
Successful persons are generally perceived to be passionate, continually trying to improve themselves, perpetually striving to be better. As Koulopoulos (2020: 2) noted “being successful is fundamentally about needing to win; the reasons vary, but the determination doesn’t. [Successful people] hate losing with an abiding passion.” The obsessive attention to detail and control of many successful persons are characteristics of perfectionism, and the unbridled compulsion to succeed is often diagnosable. Psychologists (Benson 2003; Flett and Hewitt 2002) have discovered that perfectionism and compulsion correlate with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, anorexia, suicide, and other mental health dysfunctions. Hallmarks of obsessive-compulsive disorders are perfectionism, the need for mental and interpersonal control, addiction to work and productivity, and a preoccupation with details (APA 2013).
Peterson and Seligman (2004) define character strengths as the good qualities that people possess rather than a compilation of their faults and issues, while Ponterotto (2014: 379) affirms that a psychobiography “may represent the worst of human nature.”
This paper recognizes that knowledge is acquired as much from the failure of a system or subject as from success and disputes the authenticity of generalizing the psychobiographic focus on the exemplary. The same argument could be made for ‘eminent,’ which is usually accepted as an adjective used to emphasize the presence of a positive quality. This argument does warrant precluding psychological research of the eminent extraordinary, but the acceptance of such interpretational awareness should bolster the argument for additional inclusiveness.
13.2.3 Expanding Diversity
Fordham psychologist, Ponterotto’s (2014: 379) definition of psychobiography leaves little room for variation: “Psychobiography represents a specialty area that applies psychological theories and research tools to the intensive study of an individual of historic significance.” Cilliers and Mayer (2019 115) maintain that psychobiography is “based on the analysis of extraordinary individuals by using psychological theories . . . to gain a holistic view of the individual’s life.” Burnell et al. (2019: 180) look for “the characteristics and traits that indicate generative and exemplary lives.”
To limit psychobiographic diversification by its solitary emphasis on a certain segment of society is counterproductive and discriminating, as is the assumption that motivational character strengths and attributes of the eminent extraordinary are any more formidable or psychologically relevant than those of the ordinary extraordinary. This recognition does not warrant precluding psychological research of the eminent extraordinary, but the awareness of counterproductivity and discrimination should bolster the argument for additional inclusiveness.
13.2.4 Peer Relationships.
Finally, evidence supports that the primary facilitator to character development is the peer relationships of the child/adolescent (Bandura 1985). “Peers are defined as belonging to the same societal group especially based on age, grade, or status” (Reitz et al. 2014: 6). Psychobiographical studies of the motivational character strengths and virtues of the eminent of a different stratosphere cannot hold the same comparative validity or relevance to those of the ordinary extraordinary.
13.3 Psychobiography
In recent years, researchers have recognized the importance of a more unified and cross-disciplinary approach to study character motivation (Braver et al. 2014). There is broad support for expanding the psychobiographic focus. Atwood and Stolorow (1993: 9) campaigned for the use of multiple perspectives, promoting “a psychobiographic method capable of flexibly drawing upon the knowledge of all the different schools of thought, and also of devising new concepts as it goes along.”
Runyan (1988: 320) concedes, “in further research, a number of other aspects of progress in psychobiography might be examined, such as progress in the range of persons studied.” Anderson and Dunlop (2019: 11) argue “Theory should open up, not close down; provide new questions, not easy answers; complicate, not simplify; produce possibilities, not reductions,” while the author (Mullen 2019: 4) adds “The [psychobiography] maintains its flexibility by drawing upon the knowledge of many schools of thought while devising new concepts as they become necessary for evaluation.”
Kőváry (2019: 739) acknowledges that “contemporary psychobiography is constantly widening its focus.” Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000: 8) call for “massive research on strengths and virtues.” British psychologist Howe’s (1997: 241) article on the synthesis of psychology and biography in psychobiography entertains the following:
The benefits recede and the limitations become pressing when the aim is to understand individuals, especially if they are at all extraordinary, and even more so when their very uniqueness is a primary reason for taking an interest in them.
Descriptors of personality studied in the normative sense, such as “traits, styles, types, motives, ideologies, attitudes, affective dispositions, and psychopathological categories” (Alexander 1988: 266), are relevant to the ordinary extraordinary as well as the eminent extraordinary. There are “a multitude of ways of measuring traits and attributes, and techniques for recording individual’s experiences, as well as various methods for analyzing qualitative data objectively” (Howe 1997: 240).
Perkins and Repper (2003) point to Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) six core virtues of character strengths to which every individual, ordinary or historically eminent, has access: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
13.3.1 Purposes of the Psychobiography.
For psychologist McCarron (2017), psychobiography pursues “the salient themes of a life and the psycho-dynamics behind them in hopes of capturing the psychological ‘fingerprint’ of a person” (p. 1). Du Plessis and Stones (2019: 210) offer the rote psychobiographic motivation, “to understand the lives and personalities of exemplary individuals.” Howe (1997) sources eighteen distinguished psychobiographers who state psychobiography’s general purpose is to examine the growth of original thinking and creativity in individuals.
Many psychobiographers define its purpose as learning why a person thinks and behaves as she or he does (Anderson and Dunlop 2019; Howe 1997), or “to generate theoretical insight into, and understanding of, the individual” (Knight 2019: 134).
A coalescent vision might define the purpose of the psychobiography as (1) the study of the character strengths, virtues, and attributes that generate motivation, persistence, and perseverance towards achievement; and (2) to apply these understandings toward optimal functioning, and improving life satisfaction and the wellbeing of individuals, communities, and society as a whole.
13.4 Psychobiography, Positive Psychology, and Maslow
Mayer and May (2019: 165) inform “Over the past decade, the importance of positive psychology concepts has been emphasized in psychological research in general . . . but also recently in psychobiographical research.” The psychobiographic affiliation with positive psychology reinforces the justification to broaden the parameters of psychobiography to embrace the ordinary extraordinary. Positive psychology, according to Gable and Haidt (2005: 103), is the “study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions.” Mayer and May (2019) cite Schultz (2005: 165) in calling for more “positive aspects in the psychobiographical perspectives on the life of individuals.” Sheldon and King (2001: 216) define positive psychology as “nothing more than the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues,” one that “revisits the average person.”
13.4.1 Positive Psychology
In their study of positive psychology, Mukund and Singh (2015: 201) write, “Positive psychology theory and research has been applied across many domains, from education to health to neuroscience.” Positive psychology is a relatively new field (since 1998) that ostensibly complements rather than replaces traditional psychology. Common elements of positive psychology include savoring, mindfulness, “gratitude, kindness, and pursuing hope and meaning” (Chakhssi et al. 2018: 2). Schrank et al. (2014: 103) write: “positive psychology serves as an umbrella term to accommodate research investigating positive emotions and other positive aspects such as creativity, optimism, resilience, empathy, compassion, humour, and life satisfaction.”
Positive psychology’s ambition “to study, identify and amplify the strengths and capacities that individuals, families, and society need to thrive” (Carruthers and Hood 2004: 30) indeed welcomes any individual who has achieved. Psychology would benefit by including the “positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects” (Mukund and Singh 2015: 197) of the ordinary extraordinary.
Positive psychology is the science of optimal functioning. Cultural psychologist Levesque (2011) describes optimal functioning as the study of how ordinary individuals attempt to achieve their potentials and become the best that they can be. Like psychobiography, positive psychology researches the “experiences and positive character or virtues” (Mayer and May 2019: 160) that generate the motivation, persistence, and perseverance needed to cultivate the “potential for psychological well-being that lends itself to optimal functioning” (Carruthers and Hood 2004: 31). Optimal functioning is vital to sports, work, education, wellness, and everyday living. Like positive psychology’s attempts to understand human potential and Maslow’s hierarchy of natural human development, optimal functioning is a universal application.
13.4.2 Maslow
Extending the genealogy of positive psychology reaches the character developmental philosophy of Abraham Maslow. According to psychologist Nelson Goud (2008: 449), “the recent Positive Psychology movement focuses on themes addressed by Maslow over 50 years ago.” Cited as the tenth most influential psychologist of the 20th century (Haggbloom et al. 2002),
Maslow introduced positive psychology in Motivations and Personality (1954). Described as the ‘third force’ in psychology after behaviorism and psychoanalysis, his humanistic approach stressed the importance of focusing on ordinary individuals’ positive qualities (Mukund and Singh 2015; Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000).
Fig. 1.1 Genesis of the psychobiography.
Maslow used the term metamotivation to describe self-actualized people who explore the parameters of their human potential. Self-actualization, “the full realization of one’s creative, intellectual, and social potential” (Selva, 2020b: 1), is the foundation of advanced human potential and a principal tenet of positive psychology (Mayer and May 2019). Self-actualization is achievable pending satisfaction of a hierarchy of physiological, cognitive, and other requisites of natural human development.
Maslow (1943: 92) describes this penultimate level as “the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be,” the satisfaction of the need to know our role in the meaning of life. Selva, 2020a: 3) adds “Themes addressed by Maslow over 50 years ago . . . such as happiness, flow, courage, hope and optimism, responsibility, and civility” became central to the positive psychology movement.
The implicit foundation of humanism and positive psychology is balance, inclusion, and human ability, development, and potential. Any aspect of discrimination, prejudice, exclusionism, or preferential treatment assaults their integrity.
13.5 Adapting the Psychobiography to the ‘Ordinary’ Extraordinary
Adopting psychobiography’s multiple strategy approaches could provide better access to the complexities of the individual personality. These strategies have been developed for the eminent extraordinary; it is, therefore, important to evaluate how they can be utilized in the study of the ordinary extraordinary. We are concerned, here, with the case study, history, hermeneutics, data collection, and narrative of the subject.
Hermeneutic evidence of the ordinary extraordinary would, ostensibly, be easier to interpret from interviews than unavailable historical records as it requires”a degree of inter-subjective agreement and certainty that one has understood an expression accurately” (Polkinghorne 1983: 221). The narrative aspect of the psychobiography favors the ordinary extraordinary. According to Alexander (1988: 265), “the richest sources of data are those which deal with the spontaneous recollection from memory of various aspects of life already lived,” and no one is closer to a life already lived than the person living that life.
The narrative of an ordinary extraordinary might lack in spectacularism but not creativity. Every individual’s life is distinctive, consisting of unique experiences, beliefs, and sensibilities that help convey “the coherence and the meaning of lives” (McAdams 2001: 102).
Finally, a case-study is created through an in-depth psychological investigation to generate a reconstructive, clinical, and interpretive analysis of the subject “based upon the synthesis of all available evidence culled from all available sciences providing systematic analyses of information” (Erickson 2003: 40). The key is availability, be it historical, anecdotal, or in the next room.
The investigation methods utilized in psychobiography require modest adaptation to the ordinary extraordinary. More in-depth interpretation, inference, and speculation would compensate for any lacuna of known history and philosophical, ethical, and religious evolution found in studies of the full life of the eminent extraordinary.
Evaluation of the character strengths and virtues of the ordinary extraordinary would come from autobiography, academic and clinical records, and the subject’s personal associations. None of these falls outside the purview of the psychobiographic process. Data and evidence of ordinary individuals are already available in analysis and research. Statistical research is abundant; comparative or correlational evidence supports conclusions.
13.6 Conclusions
This paper addresses four issues with the psychobiographic approach which, for over a century, has focused on the character motivations of the extraordinary eminent who has achieved historical or social recognition. It argues that psychobiography limits its potential to study the character strengths that generate the character strengths, virtues, and attributes that generate motivation, persistence, and perseverance to achieve by restricting its concentration.
It contends that consideration of the character motivations of the ordinary extraordinary would significantly enhance psychological study. And it affiliates positive psychology and Maslowian humanism with contemporary psychobiography. And it provides evidence that researchers have an interest in broadening psychobiography’s vision.
Finally, this paper demonstrates that the psychobiographic approach is as relevant to the ordinary extraordinary as the eminent extraordinary. It is a fundamental principle that actions are motivated to achieve individual needs; it is psychology’s obligation to understand better the character strengths that generate and support that motivation by broadening the psychobiographic perspective.
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Upcoming: Social Anxiety Disorder: A Life Trajectory of Fear in Clio’s Psyche, Summer 2023
WHY IS YOUR SUPPORT SO IMPORTANT? ReChanneling develops and implements programs to (1) moderate symptoms of emotional malfunction 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, workshops, and practicums.
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 absent 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’.
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