Dr. David Burns

Why would have the therapy not worked or been less effective if you hadn't allowed yourself to be vulnerable and real?

Okay, nice. That's beautifully stated. I hope some of our listeners picked up on that because things are not as simple as we sometimes want to think they are. And if all I have to do is learn exposure, and then I'll be an ace therapist because I'll push my patients to do exposure. And you're saying that even to do exposure, there's an important part of a warm, trusting therapeutic relationship.

Okay, nice. That's beautifully stated. I hope some of our listeners picked up on that because things are not as simple as we sometimes want to think they are. And if all I have to do is learn exposure, and then I'll be an ace therapist because I'll push my patients to do exposure. And you're saying that even to do exposure, there's an important part of a warm, trusting therapeutic relationship.

And that without that, it can, could even sabotage the attempts to use exposure.

And that without that, it can, could even sabotage the attempts to use exposure.

I also think and would want to ask you, Lee and Werner were in the car with you, I believe. They were. Did that social structure make it easier for you to do the exposure?

I also think and would want to ask you, Lee and Werner were in the car with you, I believe. They were. Did that social structure make it easier for you to do the exposure?

Made it harder to do the exposure due to the embarrassment of showing your fears?

Made it harder to do the exposure due to the embarrassment of showing your fears?

And the thought that they would judge you?

And the thought that they would judge you?

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. You know, I have a theory about that, by the way, and it's that your thoughts create your moods.

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. You know, I have a theory about that, by the way, and it's that your thoughts create your moods.

So kindness and tenderness and gentleness can be powerful tools to overcome violent feelings.

So kindness and tenderness and gentleness can be powerful tools to overcome violent feelings.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. So just to comment for our listeners, uh, you, you, you went through the outcome resistance, uh, and now you're switching to the process resistance, working on those two motivational dimensions. The first was, uh, Would you want to get your emotions down to a lower level given that they show so many beautiful things about you?

Yeah. So just to comment for our listeners, uh, you, you, you went through the outcome resistance, uh, and now you're switching to the process resistance, working on those two motivational dimensions. The first was, uh, Would you want to get your emotions down to a lower level given that they show so many beautiful things about you?

And you mentioned externalization of resistance, which you could have done too, kind of like externalization of voices. Try to goad Rhonda into, well, gosh, maybe it's not such a good idea because then you're going to maybe get on a bridge and it's going to collapse. And as the Buddha so often said, that sucks. Yeah.