One form of cognitive behavioral therapy is exposure therapy, where your brain is supposed to form new connections and rewrite the language of your amygdala (fear center), so that it doesn’t associate every dog with the pit bull who took a bite out of your thigh in the fourth grade. By doing the exact thing that you most fear, you are, essentially, telling the old neurons in your brain to take a hike so that new ones, who don’t know anything about the pit bull, can now live inside your brain and tell you that everything is peachy.
Yeah, well, that’s the theory.
So you jump into a pit bull fight and say, “Here, doggie, doggie, you want a treat?” If he doesn’t take your leg off, you are good to go!
If he does take your leg off, you have much more exposure therapy ahead of you… For which you might want to wear a padded suit.
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Love this idea of exposure therapy in response to an apology compulsion. I can think of a number of other “nice” traits I have that could benefit from this treatment as well. Like “helping” people who neither want it or need it. I always benefit from your mix of wisdom and humor–but don’t take that as a compliment !
I read an article regarding the fact that women apologize x amount of times more than men, and so I try to be conscious of that, and only apologize when necessary!
I have also programmed myself to NEVER say anything negative about myself. It takes time,but I have done it…after a childhood of verbal abuse and 36 year verbally abusive “marriage”—I lectured myself and said…why in the world would you do that to yourself?? The whole world is waiting to say something negative to or about you (well, not the whole world, LOL..
I am sorry for not having any “exposure therapy” but for doing it myself, LOl, LOL
Consider Somatic Experiencing. It goes much further than exposure therapy and definitely rewires the brain.