Why can't I do what I want to do?

There are a lot of really strict rules in place about confidentiality. If they were to not respect your privacy, they'd basically be screwed anyway. I worked as a therapist during my doctoral training and some of my regular clients were able to make serious changes in their life. It feels pretty damn great. Often times at these training clinics you don't have to be a student to get services, but you would just end up paying for sessions at a much lower rate than you are likely to find out in the community. If you don't have insurance, start there. Do you have mental health coverage? If so, groovy. People who have a high need for cognition like to think deeply and are more persuadable through the central route. In this study, students high in need for cognition were more positive toward a proposed comprehensive exam if the arguments for it were strong than if the arguments were weak. Those low in need for cognition were less sensitive to argument strength. A double bar graph represents results of need for cognition, with vertical axis labeled as Attitude toward comprehensive exams ranging from 1 to 7 in increment of 1, with values below 4 marked as unfavorable and above 4 is marked as favorable. The horizontal axis shows two responses- Students with low need for cognition (left) and Students with high need for cognition (right); The results are as follows: For Students with low need for cognition, magnitude of blue bar is slightly above 5 while for green bar, it is slightly above 3; Just as some people are motivated to think in greater depth, other people are motivated to make a good impression and present a desired social image. Recall our discussion of self-monitoring from article 6. Those high in the trait of self-monitoring are social chameleons of sorts, motivated and adept at presenting themselves as the right person at the right time. If the situation calls for an outgoing individual, they can put on a gregarious face, but likewise they can portray themselves as thoughtful and quiet if the situation demands. It's not surprising they feel this way. They are growing up in a media storm of end-of-the-world threats and getting graded on homework assignments that hammer home the magnitude of environmental problems.

This pervasive and skewed orientation toward analyzing what's broken follows them throughout their school careers. Though it's natural and responsible to try to protect the people we love by focusing on the dangers they may face, lots of studies now show what parents and teachers already know. The best way to equip kids to handle challenges in their lives is to help them learn how to develop and maintain strong social networks within supportive communities. They also need to learn how to develop effective, creative problem-solving abilities to overcome adversity. These same strategies are true for the challenges they may face from climate change. The Australian Psychological Society provides more details on how to do this in a helpful online guide called Raising Children to Thrive in a Climate Changed World. In it, they remind parents: to talk about but not catastrophize the problem of climate change; The more we worry, the more we . These days, you can often go to the insurance provider's website and use their own search engine to find covered providers near you. If they don't have one, you can just use something like Psychology Today's Find a Therapist tool and look for therapists that accept your insurance. The neat thing about searching for a therapist online is that you can filter by specialty or type of therapy. You can also check to see if they have their own website, which for someone like me speaks to the character of the therapist. Don't have insurance? It sucks, I know. There are still options. Look up therapists that have what's called a sliding scale. This means that the therapist will charge a rate consistent with the client's income. If have no income, you could be looking at mega cheap, or in some cases, free sessions. Snyder and DeBono (1985) reasoned that because high self-monitors are concerned with projecting the right image, they should be especially influenced by ads that convey the potential for creating or enhancing a particularly desirable image. In other words, they should be more susceptible to peripheral-route cues.

In one study, not only were high self-monitors more persuaded by image-oriented ads, they also were willing to put their money where their mouths were. For example, whereas high self-monitors were willing to pay $8. Low self-monitors, in contrast, displayed the reverse pattern. So just as certain people can be differentially motivated to think carefully about a message, others may be motivated more by the power of the images--and the peripheral cues--that a message presents. Regulatory Focus Earlier we noted that in certain situations, people are influenced by thinking about what they might gain, whereas in other situations they are influenced by thinking about what they could lose (Rothman, 2000). It turns out there is an additional piece to this puzzle that can further enhance our understanding of which people will be most persuaded by which type of message. Some people generally are oriented more toward the promotion of positive outcomes. A fatalistic focus on climate doom triggers a host of what psychologists describe as conscious and unconscious concerns about our own deaths. The result is an emotional state of existential anxiety. Psychologists use the term terror management theory to describe the constant tension each of us experiences in our day-to-day lives between our desire to live and the fact that we know that one day we will die. Without realizing it, we develop defense mechanisms to manage this psychological tension. Fears about the death of the planet are even more visceral because we know how completely dependent our own lives are on the health of living ecosystems. Climate change is a primary driver of biodiversity loss, just as the loss of biodiversity contributes to climate change. Both of those fates--and our own--are inextricably linked. The trouble is, depictions of climate change as an inevitable, sweaty death sentence trigger these defense mechanisms. We protect our sense of security by subconsciously denying the problem or minimizing the credibility of the threats. So even though you might assume that people who fear death by climate change would be motivated to change their behavior, it doesn't work that way. You typically have to provide some sort of proof of income (or lack thereof) so that they know you aren't just trying to work the system. Don't let the discounted price scare you.

It doesn't mean that you are going to get budget quality therapy. Finally, if you are strapped for cash and without insurance you could also look into community resources. Many counties have non-profit organizations that offer free services to those who are really in need. I should reiterate that my experience is in the United States. I'm not entirely sure how similar therapy and mental health services are in other countries. I'm going to cut the funny shit for a second here. If you are in need of help that is probably above and beyond what you can do on your own right now, please seek professional help. Family and friends are great, but there will always be a limit to what they can help you out with. Their actions are strongly driven by the growth motivation that we discussed in article 2. Consider Frank, who works out and watches what he eats so that he can look more like Ryan Reynolds. Other people are oriented more toward the prevention of negative outcomes. They are motivated to maintain security (see article 2). Consider Stephen, who works out and watches what he eats so he can avoid looking like Jabba the Hutt. Note that Frank and Stephen engage in the same types of behavior, but they regulate their behavior according to two very different endpoints. We would say that Frank is high in promotion focus, whereas Stephen is high in prevention focus. Promotion focus A general tendency to think and act in ways oriented toward the approach of positive outcomes. Prevention focus When we already know there is a massive problem, and people just keep telling us how bad it is, we suffer real fears about our survival. In fact, fearmongering amplifies our existential anxiety, which sets off a chain of protective reactions that can cause us to downplay the issue and reduce our likelihood to take action.

Surprisingly, these fears can actually lead us to shop more. Researchers have found links between existential anxiety and hyperconsumerism. Shopping (for people who derive personal validation or identity from their stuff) decreases our sense of vulnerability. This could help to explain why Black Friday 2019 hit a record $7. Mass consumerism is bad for the environment in a myriad of ways. Millions of shoppers buying and then discarding smartphones and TVs, for instance, contribute to the fifty million tons of e-waste the world generates each year. If you were to add up all the stuff people around the world consume, everything from food to birthday presents to toilet-bowl cleaner, it would total a whopping 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and between 50 and 80 percent of total water, land, and material use, according to a 2015 study in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. The finite pool of worry triggers emotional numbness From me to you, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. We all fall down sometimes and we are all allowed to have periods of recovery. The help is out there and if you aren't able to find the strength to do this for yourself, that's okay too. Let someone who loves you know and they will be able to help you out. It's not worth it to keep suffering, friend. Let's get you better. The last thing that I want to mention in this article is medication. Now this is something that I initially left out of the first edition of this article. I did that because I wanted to cover my own ass. My role is as a therapist, and while I have a doctorate in psychology, I am not a medical doctor and it is beyond my scope to advise you on which medications to take. A general tendency to think and act in ways oriented toward the avoidance of negative outcomes. APPLICATION Using Regulatory Focus to Get the Most out of a Message