The session in this chapter looks at how suppression of thoughts and emotions can be counterproductive. Suppression or attempted avoidance may control things somewhat in the short term but rarely works in the long term, and it increases intensity of emotion when a similar situation is encountered in the future. Subtle behavioral avoidance, cognitive avoidance, and safety signals are introduced, and clients are asked to provide their own examples. Habitual avoidance of emotion creates negative messages about our capabilities and robs us of the chance to learn that the emotion is tolerable and will pass on its own without our efforts to avoid or escape. In this countering avoidant behavior session, clients are taught how to do the opposite of avoidance by developing a willingness to lean into emotions, or approach them, and thereby learn new lessons about emotion, situations, and themselves.
Motivational theory of human robot teamwork