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T-Ride Exercise # 1!

Making contact with our affect regulation systems

&Learning how we transition from Threat/Dr ive onto Soothing!

Dr. Yotam Heineberg Psy.D.

Clinical supervisor and lecturer

Palo Alto University

Applied Psychological Interventions

CCARE, Center for Compassion & Altruism Research & EducationStanford University Medical School

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The three circles of affect regulation

Incentive/resource-

focused

Wanting, pursuing,

achieving, consuming

Dopamine?

Non-wanting/

Affiliative focused

Safeness-kindness

Opiates/Oxytocin?

Threat-focused

Protection and Safety-seeking

(Behaviours, Emotions, Thoughts)

HPA/Serotonin?

Anger, Anxiety, Disgust

Drive, Excite, Vitality Content, Safe, Soothed

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Experiential awareness to the

process of our three affect

regulation systems

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Dyadic exercise - Success Story!

How did you transition from drive/threat onto Soothing?

Phase I: Describe a past experience (you feel comfortable sharing) where you felt stuck

either in your threat or drive system (or both).

- What has been the impact of this experience, what has it made you feel, think and do?

- What ideas/messages/habits/ feelings/people have been supporting your being stuck in that place?

Phase II: Describe a time when you were able to resist the pressures of threat and drive, and

successfully transition into your safeness and soothing system (this entails experiencing feelings of

safeness and contentment, as well as becoming connected with kindness towards others, receiving it

from others, giving it to yourself, or any combination of those).

- How were you able to make this transition work? Where did you get the strength to do this?

- What coping resources did you draw upon in order to arrive at your safeness/soothing space?

Share on the ways in which you coped, and write them down, receive feedback and suggestions for

additional coping methods from your listener, and write them down as well, to create a personally

useful resource list that you will take away with you, and could potentially draw upon in the future.

You could connect with your coping resources in words, somatically, emotionally, visually,

interpersonally, artistically or any other form of expression that best fits your particular style.

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RESOURCING - THE MULTI-MODAL MODEL FOR COPING & RESILIENCEY(Rony Berger, 2002, based on the work of Arnold Lazarus, 1981 )

MOST - BASIC

I: Imagination C: CognitionCreativity Knowledge

3 way compassion Positive thinking

Futuristic outlook Rationalism

Symbols & metaphors Problem-solving

B: Belief A: Affect S: SocialAttitudes Emotions SupportBeliefs Expression HelpingValues Empathy Social skillsMeaning Ventilation Groups

MO: Motor ST: Sensation

Doing (activities) MindfulnessExercises Breathing

Playing RelaxationWork Focusing on compassion

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Processing what was it like for you?

Tellerwhat was it like to share?

Listenerwhat was it like to listen? & what

was it like to offer additional coping resources?

What would it feel like if all the walls of this entire

space were covered with artwork, with each artistic

piece repressing a visual of a different coping skill?

Our goal is awareness via Collective/supportive

good vibe & a spirit of having each others backs!

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ReferencesWhat did we do here? MeditationAffective, Somatic and Cognitive awareness to CFTs three affect

regulation systems, via Paul Gilberts 3 circles model (Compassionate Mind, 2010)

We used dyadic processing (interpersonal sharing, empathic listening, support and

problem solving) in order to facilitate the application of the following interventions:

Externalizing The Problem building awareness to the oppressive impact

drive/threat may had on you, and building capacity to emancipate yourself from

oppression, and safely arrive at your soothing space! (Michael White, based on

Michel Foucaults work, see Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, 1990).

Coping skillsThis strategy has been globally implemented by Rony Berger: Over

60,000 at risk children worldwide have benefitted from it and have sat in classroomssurrounded by visually stimulating illustrations of various coping resources, in order

to generate supportive/collective good vibe, and a spirit of having each others backs!

(Lazarus, A. (1981). The practice of multimodal therapy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

ERASE-Stress; Berger, Gelkopf & Heineberg, 2012; Berger et al., 2003; Berger et al., 2005; Gelkopf,

Cotton & Berger, 2008; Berger et al., 2007; Gelkepf & Berger, 2009)