Letting Go and Moving Forward: Utilizing CBT's FACE PALM Technique to Challenge Unhelpful Beliefs

This podcast episode, hosted by DocSnipes, introduces the "FACE PALM" technique, a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) tool designed to help individuals challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs that contribute to distress. The core premise is that many deeply held beliefs are based on outdated, inaccurate, or inadequate information, often formed during childhood. The FACE PALM method systematically guides individuals through examining the facts for and against a belief, considering additional contributing factors, evaluating the context (past vs. present), checking for extreme language, assessing probability, and exploring alternate explanations. This structured approach aims to move beyond initial perceptions to a more nuanced understanding.

The episode emphasizes that processing beliefs is not a simple, one-time event. It delves into the neurological underpinnings of resistance to change, explaining how the HPA axis and the brain's "mode network" or "autopilot" create schemas and well-worn neural pathways (like clear paths in a forest) that reinforce old, protective but ultimately unhelpful beliefs. Letting go of these beliefs can be scary because they have historically served a protective function, even if they now cause distress. The process of paving new neural pathways requires time, conscious effort, and consistent practice, as the brain needs to be reconditioned to adopt new, more adaptive thoughts.

DocSnipes highlights the complexity of emotional processing, likening it to peeling an onion or exploring an iceberg, where one core belief often has numerous associated and underlying beliefs and feelings that also need to be addressed. These include feelings about letting go (e.g., guilt about forgiving, fear of vulnerability), the "yes, but" statements that indicate resistance, and the need to grieve the loss of an old identity or way of being. The episode stresses the importance of identifying motivations for change—physical, emotional, logical, and relational—to sustain the effort required for transformation.

Ultimately, the goal is to harness one's energy to move forward towards a rich and meaningful life, rather than remaining stuck in past hurts or unhelpful thought patterns. This involves not only changing thoughts but also potentially changing behaviors and learning new skills, such as trusting or being vulnerable. The episode concludes by acknowledging that sometimes beliefs were accurate in the past but are no longer relevant, or even if they remain accurate (e.g., betrayal), the individual still needs to choose to move on and decide how to use their energy constructively.

what a five-year-old perceives as being true and accurate may actually not be

your beliefs were formed on a kernel of truth somewhere we just want to look at whether your perceptions were accurate or not

when we feel distressed our hpa axis our threat response system kicks off when that kicks off we start to get tunnel vision

does holding on to this belief in this form serve me well?

we want to just chop out those extreme words and use more moderate words

your brain is not all of a sudden going to say okay not going to use that path anymore it's going to take time to condition yourself to take the new path

resistance or difficulty moving forward is often the result of that fear being ingrained in our autopilot

moving forward means choosing to use your energy for those things that are important in your rich and meaningful life

we are not that simple where we have one pure emotion or one pure thought and nothing else connected to or related to it

just because something scary doesn't mean you don't do it