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Emerging from the fog

It's a time for healing.

When I was in my second-year graduate internship, a staff psychologist—an avowed behaviorist—broke it down for us during one of our weekly seminars. She explained, "one can conceptualize the root of all psychopathology as being some form of experiential avoidance." The basic idea there is that when people go out of their way to avoid thoughts, feelings, and experiences that they deem horrible, unacceptable, etc., they may experience undue suffering. It's sadly ironic: Avoiding pain is a healthy, adaptive response to dangerous stimuli, but if the threat is actually negligible or no longer exists and it still disrupts a person's life, then there's probably something to talk about.