The "With That In Mind" Podcast · Red Bird Mental Health Services

Episode 43: With That In Mind | Understanding Cognitive Distortions and How to Work Through Them

·52 min·3 clips

A racing heart can trigger the automatic thought “I’m dying,” intensifying a panic attack.

1. The "With That In Mind" Podcast episode 43 explains cognitive distortions and ways to work through them. 2. Dr. Megan Velozorzi, a psychologist and owner of Redbird Mental Health, leads the discussion with co-host Casey Scafella. 3. The episode asks how people can recognize inaccurate thought patterns while accounting for trauma, motivation, and individual differences in therapy. 4. Dr. Megan defines cognition as thoughts or internal dialogue and says the hosts will use both terms interchangeably. 5. The hosts place CBT after psychoanalysis and behavioral therapy in a brief history involving Freud and B.F. Skinner. 6. They describe mindfulness as a third wave of therapy while retaining CBT’s research-supported usefulness. 7. Dr. Megan says CBT may fit focused concerns such as insomnia, pain management, or panic disorder better than complex trauma. 8. The hosts identify CBT assumptions about motivation, homework, rapid learning, and applying treatment protocols outside sessions. 9. They explain that trauma can make it difficult to access, label, and report thoughts and emotions within the first sessions. 10. Casey and Dr. Megan say trust with a therapist may take weeks, months, or sometimes years rather than forming immediately. 11. A schema is compared with tinted glasses or a phone filter that shapes how someone perceives experience. 12. Core beliefs include statements such as “I am worthy,” “I am worthless,” “I am lovable,” or “I am unlovable.” 13. An intermediate belief is illustrated by the rule “I need to be nice to everybody so that they like me.” 14. The panic example links dizziness, a racing heart, or shakiness to the automatic thought “I’m dying.” 15. The grocery-store example shows how one ignored greeting can produce thoughts such as “They hate me” or “What’s wrong with me?” 16. Rumination is described as a negative loop involving the self, other people, and the future or past. 17. Casey and Dr. Megan use conversational examples, personal disclosures, humor about “Office Space,” and visual metaphors such as a screensaver. 18. The format shifts between clinical definitions, therapist observations, examples involving partners and children, and strategies for challenging thoughts. 19. People seeking practical tools for anxiety, trauma, and recurring negative thoughts. 20. Listeners wanting medication advice or purely diagnostic treatment protocols may skip it.

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