There’s no such thing as self-sabotage. A psychotherapist debunks the most common concepts that keep us stuck

"Mental" health has very little to do with our minds. A nervous system stuck in a fight, flight, or freeze response will show the exact symptoms as clinical depression or pathological anxiety.

The nervous system is not an illness or disorder. It is doing exactly what it is designed to do. When a brain is stuck in fight, flight, or freeze it is misattuning to safety and danger in the environment.

If we see mental health as an actual physical process, then we have a greater chance of finding our way to tools that can get ourselves unstuck.

The actions that destroy our plans and relationships are a suboptimal effort at self-protection.

What we call “self-sabotage” often happens because if you achieve a goal, things will need to change. All change involves some degree of loss. Any change to our status quo can trigger a threat response as change requires risk.

Not all behaviour is acceptable, but all behaviour is functional. Behaviour modification without understanding behaviour will almost always make us inert.

You don't need to make giant behavioural transformations to get unstuck-getting unstuck requires tiny micro-shifts, and those shifts compound rapidly. Once you're in motion, your cognitive work suddenly becomes powerful.