Are Your Coping Mechanisms Healthy? | Andrew Miki | TED
Summary
TLDRThe speaker, a psychologist with a background in animal cognition, draws a parallel between teaching pigeons to count through learned behaviors and human mental health. He discusses how we develop coping mechanisms that can backfire, leading to anxiety and depression. Using the analogy of a pigeon's learned counting, he emphasizes the importance of recognizing and unlearning these patterns to improve mental health. The speaker also shares insights on building self-confidence in his daughter and the potential pitfalls of relying on smartphones as a coping mechanism, encouraging open dialogue about mental health to foster awareness and change.
Takeaways
- đ§ The connection between a pigeon's counting ability and human mental health lies in the concept of learned behaviors and how they become habits over time.
- đïž The process of 'shaping' was used to teach pigeons to count, which involves gradually reinforcing behaviors until they become habitual, similar to how humans develop coping mechanisms.
- đ The speaker's career shift from clinical psychology to animal cognition and neuroscience highlights the parallels between animal training and human mental health practices.
- đ The analogy of the pigeon learning to count demonstrates how habits, both in animals and humans, are formed and can be changed through consistent reinforcement and practice.
- đ€ The speaker has observed that many people rely on unhelpful coping mechanisms, such as procrastination or excessive smartphone use, which can lead to increased anxiety and depression.
- đ± The dangers of certain coping mechanisms are that they provide temporary relief but can reinforce negative patterns, leading to long-term mental health issues.
- đ The concept of 'insanity' is introduced as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, which applies to unhelpful coping mechanisms in mental health.
- đšâđ§ The speaker shares personal insights as a father, emphasizing the importance of self-confidence and how it can be affected by the use of technology, such as smartphones.
- đĄ The idea that mental health is a complex and nuanced issue is presented, suggesting that understanding and addressing individual coping mechanisms is crucial for improvement.
- đ The speaker encourages self-awareness and the unlearning of unhelpful habits by trying new strategies and fostering open discussions about mental health.
- đŁïž The importance of talking about mental health and one's own struggles is underscored as a means to uncover and address unhelpful coping mechanisms.
Q & A
What is the connection between a pigeon's ability to count and human mental health?
-The connection lies in the concept of learned behaviors. Just as pigeons can be trained to count through a process called shaping, which involves reinforcing behaviors over time, humans also develop habits or coping mechanisms that are reinforced by their brains to help them feel better in the moment.
What is the process called that is used to teach pigeons to count?
-The process is called 'shaping,' which starts by rewarding the pigeon with food every time it looks at a touchscreen. Over time, as the rules become more complex, the pigeon learns to associate certain behaviors with rewards, such as pecking at a red square for two flashes of light and a green square for three.
How does the speaker relate the process of teaching pigeons to the habits humans develop?
-The speaker relates the process by emphasizing that both pigeons and humans develop behaviors and habits through reinforcement. In humans, these habits can become coping mechanisms that initially provide relief but may lead to negative outcomes like anxiety and depression if overused.
What are some examples of coping mechanisms that can backfire and lead to anxiety or depression?
-Examples include procrastination, overusing smartphones, and working harder through tough times. These mechanisms provide temporary relief but can reinforce negative patterns, leading to increased stress, anxiety, or depression.
Why does the speaker consider smartphones a potential threat to his daughter's self-confidence?
-The speaker views smartphones as a threat because research shows that increased use among children correlates with higher levels of anxiety and depression, which can erode self-confidence.
How does the speaker suggest using smartphones as a coping mechanism affects mental health?
-The speaker suggests that using smartphones to seek reassurance during moments of uncertainty and anxiety can train the brain to rely on this instant relief, thereby weakening resilience to anxiety and potentially increasing overall anxiety levels.
What is the 'perfect storm' mentioned in the script, and how does it relate to mental health?
-The 'perfect storm' refers to a series of negative events or circumstances that occur simultaneously, depleting an individual's internal resources and potentially leading to a mental health crisis, such as increased anxiety or depression.
What does the speaker suggest as a way to break negative patterns and improve self-confidence?
-The speaker suggests talking more about mental health issues to uncover unhelpful coping mechanisms. By becoming aware of these patterns, individuals can start to unlearn them and build new, healthier habits.
Why is it important to talk about mental health according to the speaker?
-Talking about mental health is important because it helps to reduce stigma, uncover unhelpful coping mechanisms, and promote awareness, which are the first steps towards unlearning these patterns and improving mental health.
What two questions does the speaker recommend asking oneself to assess personal coping mechanisms?
-The two questions are: 1) What do you do when you feel stressed, anxious, or sad? 2) Have these feelings gotten better or worse over time? These questions can help individuals evaluate the effectiveness of their coping mechanisms.
Outlines
đïž Learning from Pigeons: Shaping Behavior and Mental Health
The speaker, a clinical psychologist with a background in animal cognition and neuroscience, discusses the parallels between teaching pigeons to count through the process of 'shaping' and human mental health. They explain how learned behaviors, such as coping mechanisms, can become habitual and potentially harmful over time. The speaker uses the example of pigeons being trained to associate colors with numbers to illustrate how our brains reinforce certain habits. They also draw attention to common unhelpful coping mechanisms like procrastination and overusing smartphones, which can lead to anxiety and depression. The importance of recognizing and unlearning these patterns to improve mental health is emphasized, along with the idea that mental health, like physical fitness, requires consistent effort and awareness.
đ” The Smartphone Coping Mechanism: Anxiety and Resilience
This paragraph delves into the impact of using smartphones as a coping mechanism for anxiety, drawing a comparison to the pigeon's learned counting behavior. The speaker describes how seeking reassurance through texting can reinforce anxiety, rather than building resilience. They use the example of a teenager, Natalia, to illustrate how smartphones can be a double-edged sword, affecting self-confidence and mental health. The speaker highlights the 'perfect storm' scenario where multiple life challenges can deplete one's mental energy, leading to a reliance on unhelpful coping mechanisms. They advocate for mental fitness through increased communication about mental health issues to uncover and unlearn these mechanisms. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for self-reflection and the importance of talking about personal struggles to improve mental well-being.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄCoping Mechanisms
đĄShaping
đĄInsanity
đĄMental Health
đĄSelf-Confidence
đĄSmartphone Use
đĄResilience
đĄStigma
đĄMental Fitness
đĄAwareness
đĄGrunge Music
Highlights
The connection between a pigeon's counting ability and human mental health is rooted in learned behaviors.
Shaping is a process used to teach pigeons to count by reinforcing behaviors with food rewards.
Learned behaviors in humans, similar to pigeons, can become habitual and influence mental health.
Coping mechanisms like procrastination and smartphone overuse can backfire, leading to anxiety and depression.
Insanity is defined as repeating the same actions and expecting different outcomes.
Unhelpful coping mechanisms can be unlearned to improve mental health.
The importance of self-confidence in overcoming anxiety and depression.
Anxiety erodes confidence by overestimating danger and underestimating coping abilities.
Depression can lead to self-criticism, reducing self-worth and hope.
The analogy of smartphones as a coping mechanism that can reinforce anxiety.
The danger of relying on instant relief from coping mechanisms instead of building resilience.
The concept of a 'perfect storm' in life events that can deplete mental energy and exacerbate issues.
The impact of negative self-talk on reinforcing depression and reducing self-confidence.
The need to break patterns of unhelpful coping mechanisms to improve self-confidence.
Talking about mental health issues can help uncover and unlearn unhelpful coping mechanisms.
The complexity and individuality of mental health, suggesting the need for self-exploration.
The importance of asking oneself about reactions to stress and the effectiveness of coping strategies over time.
The potential of new strategies like sitting with anxiety and breathing to build mental resilience.
The call to action for individuals to discuss their patterns and admit to having 'insane' patterns.
Transcripts
what do you think is a connection
between a pigeon's ability to count and
human mental
health the answer has to do with learned
behaviors when I was on the path to
becoming a clinical psychologist my
career veered in the direction of animal
cognition and
Neuroscience I found myself teaching
pigeons to count using a process called
shaping you start by giving it some food
every time it looks at a touchscreen
this creates Connections in its brain
that become stronger over time even as
the rules become more complex so just
like teaching a dog to stay I eventually
trained the pigeon to Peck at a red
square when it saw two flashes of light
and a green square when it saw three I
now had a pigeon that could
count this process happens gradually day
after day until that learned behavior
becomes comes a
habit I've worked in mental health over
25 years and I've learned that just like
the pigeon our brains reinforce certain
habits or coping mechanisms that help us
feel better in the
moment I've seen thousands of Educators
healthcare workers and First Responders
rely on coping mechanisms like
procrastination overusing their
smartphones or working harder through a
tough time this can backfire and train
them to become anxious and
depressed for example do you scroll
endlessly on social media instead of
getting to that task that fills you with
anxiety or dread or late at night you
get a dopamine hit when you click on the
next episode button procrastination can
feel good at the time but oh the next
day is going to be a real
grind these coping mechanisms help us
feel feel better in the moment so it is
not crazy that we do them but if we kept
repeating them and wonder why we're
still stressed or anxious or burnt out
then what we're doing might be
insane insanity is doing the same thing
over and over again and expecting a
different
response now we might not be aware of
our own insane patterns but chances are
we all have them myself included
the good news is that if we understand
our unhelpful coping mechanisms we can
all unlearn them to improve our mental
health now I'd like to share with you
what I've learned from being a
father my awesome daughter in Italia is
now a teenager but luckily for her
having a psychologist as a father means
that I've worked hard to shape the
connections in her
brain so she understands that the '90s
Grunge music is the absolute peak of all
music
ever my goal is for Natalia to be
self-confident because I've never had a
patient with clinical anxiety or
depression also have high
self-confidence at the same
time anxiety erodes confidence we tend
to overestimate the amount of danger
that we're in and underestimate our
ability to
cope with depression we end up beating
ourselves up to the point that we feel
worthless and
hopeless but as people overcome
depression and anxiety their
self-confidence grows they begin to talk
to themselves like a coach instead of a
Critic to see how threats can become
opportunities about 5 years ago Natalia
desperately wanted a smartphone but I
saw this as a threat to her
self-confidence
while she would plead her case over
dinner I'd lean over to her and say hey
do you generally feel pretty good about
yourself and she'd say yeah are you
anxious no not compared to some of the
people I
know well all of the research shows that
the more kids are on a smartphone the
more anxious and depressed they become
so do you want to be less confident and
more
anxious then i' watch her face change
from that youthful optimism to the cold
reality that it just wasn't going to
happen once Natalia finally got her
smartphone I could see how she was
becoming like many of us who use it as a
coping mechanism to seek
reassurance for example imagine you're
meeting a friend for dinner at 700 p.m.
and they haven't arrived you start to
worry am I in the right place did they
forget are they
okay as the uncertainty increases you
start to feel anxious you fidget you
feel butterflies maybe a little
uncomfortable eventually you pull out
your phone to get reassurance by texting
your friend where are you when they
respond just
pared your worry and anxiety is washed
away and you feel
better now if you set that with that
discomfort and uncertainty you'd
strengthen your resilience to
anxiety there's a network in our brains
that's like a muscle it gets a workout
every time we sit with anxious
Sensations and worrisome thoughts but
most of us don't sit with it instead we
look for reassurance and instant relief
by
texting so just like the pigeon that
learned account our smartphones can
train us to become more anxious every
time we use them to seek
reassurance the danger of our coping
mechanisms is that they make sense at
the time but they go undetected until we
hit a perfect storm a time in our lives
when it seems like everything is going
wrong and the energy in our internal
batteries becomes
depleted for
example let's say over the past 6 months
Natalia's friends have treated her
horribly she got cut from her soccer
team and our family dog
died this perfect storm depletes her
internal battery to 40% and she no
longer feels like
herself when she gets a bad report card
Natalia will revert to another coping
mechanism to work harder through a tough
time this has helped her succeed in the
past but with a depleted battery she
just can't get things back on
track this reinforces negative thoughts
what's wrong with me oh nothing is
working I'm such a
[Music]
loser every time Natalia has these
thoughts the self-critical muscles in
her brain become stronger her
self-confidence crashes and her
depression
grows if Natalia is like most of us what
can we do to break these patterns and
improve our self-confidence
well if it was physical fitness we'd all
have to start moving
more the mental Fitness equivalent is to
talk more the issue is that there's
still a lot of stigma attached to mental
health we tend to keep our struggles to
ourselves because we're afraid that
we'll be seen as weak or
incapable we need to change this
narrative by talking more about the
issues in our lives by talking we UNC
cover are in helpful coping mechanisms
and that awareness is the first step to
unlearning
them now here's the sobering truth
mental health is complicated and
nuanced you are all unique and your
behaviors have been shaped over a long
time so I can't tell you what's best for
you in your situation without knowing
more about you instead I hope to inspire
you to take the time right now to learn
more about
yourself and you can start by asking
yourself these two
questions first what do you do when you
feel stressed anxious or
sad and second have these feelings
gotten better or worse over
time if the answer is worse then you're
relying on an unhelpful coping mechanism
just like the pigeon that learned to
count our brains have an amazing
capacity to build new connections and
unlearn unhelpful Habits by trying
something new it could be learning new
strategies like sitting with your
anxiety breathe to take the edge off or
my favorite balance your thoughts to
become more
self-confident it all starts with us
talking more about our own patterns of
insanity
and admitting that we all have them even
us '90s grunge
psychologists thank you
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
Are your coping mechanisms healthy? | Dr. Andrew Miki | TEDxSurrey
DeMar DeRozan opens up about mental health: 'It's all about helping others' | ESPN
Anthony Grupido
Social Anxiety: The Silent Pandemic That Needs A Louder Voice | Kyle Mitchell | TEDxTullahoma
Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health | UPMC HealthBeat Podcast
We All Have Mental Health
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)