Helping our patients change the “spam box” settings in their minds

Have you noticed that the “spam box” of some of our patient’s minds is not working properly, or the setting is not set correctly for their particular context.

They may have a tendency to notice or super-focus on the things that are unhelpful or factually incorrect, that don’t quite matter, or things that they can’t change. This can lead to a lot of anxiety and frustration for all parties.

So how can we “change the setting”?

Our “beliefs” are often what dictate what goes into the spam box and what goes into the inbox.

So explore that. Once aware, we can acknowledge that, and help our patients defuse from that or change that.

A significant one I see is the belief around “I don’t trust Doctors or the Medical System”. If that is not acknowledged or resolved, then most of what we say will probably go into the spam box, and not much in the inbox.

Some of the other troubling “settings” or beliefs are, “I am going to get cancer”, “I am not going to get better”, or “Something bad is going to happen to me”.