That’s a really interesting article. As a cognitive engineer, do you know of any caveats before assuming a trance and trying to offer helpful suggestions when someone’s in confusion and stress for psychological, rather than physical, reasons (social anxiety, triggered PTSD, etc.)?
ChristianKI mentioned the two big classes of caveats I’d worry about. The first being “be very mindful of what message you’re conveying”. If you view it as a big bad scary problem, they’ll probably pick up on that. It’s a good thing to be in a “calm” and attentive state yourself. But this principle applies more generally—its better to be mindful of what presuppositions you might have so that you don’t accidentally communicate them when they’re not helpful
The second is that the first thoughts on what suggestions would be helpful might not be right. Simple suggestions to “feel better” can be problematic for a few reasons (they don’t take it and you lose trust if you’re missing the big reason why they have the symptom, they try to take it but that underlying reason still nags at them, or they really do take it and whatever information was in there is lost). Coherence Therapy is the nice clean solution there. I recommend looking through some of their case examples and generally not pushing too hard on any suggestion unless you really get whats going on.
ChristianKI mentioned that sometimes the best thing can be to spend some time in the unpleasant state (and I agree). The caveat that comes to mind there is to make sure they don’t feel pushed into that state (either from you or from themselves). If you’re sitting there feeling bad and on top of that hating the fact that you feel bad (but doing it because you think you have to), then it’s not gonna go so well.
I guess the “offer, don’t push” one is one of the important heuristics to start out with if you want to make sure you do no harm.
If some external factor triggered the emotion, remove the stressor. Provide a safe environment for the person you are trying to help.
If someone is really confused the most helpful thing is often simply to be in a stable state yourself.
If you are “trying to offer helpful suggestions” the word trying suggest that you yourself go into a state of exerting effort. If the person you are “trying” to help picks up the fact that you aren’t sure what you are doing that isn’t helpful.
A hypnotherapist once told me that an emotion usually lasts 90 seconds if it’s not renewed by the person. For myself process through the emotion of a lost family member took longer than 90 seconds less than 10 minutes of being present with the emotion and allowing it to express themselves in a environment with capable individuals that gave the necessary stability.
Depending on your relationship to the person and their present state, a hug or other physical contact can be helpful.
If someone has a triggered PTSD it’s not like a wound where you have to stop the bleeding. It might very well be the best thing for the person to process the emotion that comes up in that moment. Being 10 minutes in a very uncomfortable state isn’t enjoyable but might be the best option for the person. You don’t want to give suggestions that push the person out of the state if there’s no danger.
That’s a really interesting article. As a cognitive engineer, do you know of any caveats before assuming a trance and trying to offer helpful suggestions when someone’s in confusion and stress for psychological, rather than physical, reasons (social anxiety, triggered PTSD, etc.)?
ChristianKI mentioned the two big classes of caveats I’d worry about. The first being “be very mindful of what message you’re conveying”. If you view it as a big bad scary problem, they’ll probably pick up on that. It’s a good thing to be in a “calm” and attentive state yourself. But this principle applies more generally—its better to be mindful of what presuppositions you might have so that you don’t accidentally communicate them when they’re not helpful
The second is that the first thoughts on what suggestions would be helpful might not be right. Simple suggestions to “feel better” can be problematic for a few reasons (they don’t take it and you lose trust if you’re missing the big reason why they have the symptom, they try to take it but that underlying reason still nags at them, or they really do take it and whatever information was in there is lost). Coherence Therapy is the nice clean solution there. I recommend looking through some of their case examples and generally not pushing too hard on any suggestion unless you really get whats going on.
ChristianKI mentioned that sometimes the best thing can be to spend some time in the unpleasant state (and I agree). The caveat that comes to mind there is to make sure they don’t feel pushed into that state (either from you or from themselves). If you’re sitting there feeling bad and on top of that hating the fact that you feel bad (but doing it because you think you have to), then it’s not gonna go so well.
I guess the “offer, don’t push” one is one of the important heuristics to start out with if you want to make sure you do no harm.
If some external factor triggered the emotion, remove the stressor. Provide a safe environment for the person you are trying to help.
If someone is really confused the most helpful thing is often simply to be in a stable state yourself.
If you are “trying to offer helpful suggestions” the word trying suggest that you yourself go into a state of exerting effort. If the person you are “trying” to help picks up the fact that you aren’t sure what you are doing that isn’t helpful.
A hypnotherapist once told me that an emotion usually lasts 90 seconds if it’s not renewed by the person. For myself process through the emotion of a lost family member took longer than 90 seconds less than 10 minutes of being present with the emotion and allowing it to express themselves in a environment with capable individuals that gave the necessary stability.
Depending on your relationship to the person and their present state, a hug or other physical contact can be helpful.
If someone has a triggered PTSD it’s not like a wound where you have to stop the bleeding. It might very well be the best thing for the person to process the emotion that comes up in that moment. Being 10 minutes in a very uncomfortable state isn’t enjoyable but might be the best option for the person. You don’t want to give suggestions that push the person out of the state if there’s no danger.