The Hypnotherapy Station

30/10/2025

The Need to Be Seen: Why We Announce Our Absence.. A Performative Presence and the Fear of Invisibility

In a world where silence feels like erasure, even our absence becomes a statement of existence.

In an age where visibility is mistaken for vitality, people have developed a curious compulsion — the need to announce their absence.

A simple coffee invitation illustrates the point. The host asks, “Who’s coming?”and half the replies read, Sorry, can’t make it. These responses add nothing practical, yet they satisfy something deeply psychological: the assurance of continued existence within the social field.

At its core, this is not about politeness; it’s about presence maintenance.
To remain unseen feels perilously close to being forgotten, and the human brain — still wired for tribal survival — interprets invisibility as exclusion.
A quick “sorry, can’t join” becomes a digital echo that says, I’m still part of the circle.

This same reflex manifests everywhere online. People post inspirational quotes, moral declarations, or fragments of borrowed wisdom — not always to inspire others, but to attach themselves to the identity implied by the post. Sharing a quote about resilience becomes a way of saying, I, too, am resilient. A post about kindness implies, I am kind. Through words and imagery, they attempt to own the philosophy rather than pursuing the necessary skill of developing the inner authenticity required to embody it.

What drives this behaviour is the quiet fear of perceptual invisibility—the sense that if one is not continually represented in the public narrative, one ceases to exist within it.

The self becomes a brand whose market value depends on constant exposure… to go unseen is to risk psychological erasure.

From a therapeutic perspective, this is not vanity; it is insecurity masquerading as engagement. The mind—an integral but separate aspect of who we think we are—seeks reassurance that it still matters… that it still registers in the eyes of others. Each declaration, each public gesture, becomes a small dose of existential confirmation.

Perhaps the healthier counter-movement is toward silent authenticity:
allowing our actions, not our announcements, to reveal who we are.
In doing so, presence becomes organic rather than performative and belonging arises not from being seen, but from being real.

At the heart of every performative act lies the quiet hope of being noticed.

© 2025 Thom Bush | Hypno-Psychotherapist, Trans4mational Therapy—All rights reserved.

15/10/2023

As we age, on certain days, thoughts appear, as if out of nowhere, as if without a reason but I believe there is almost always usually a reason. Perhaps the surfacing of a memory formed without an awareness of it even happening, nevertheless the threads or perhaps the fragments of a non conscious memory slowly gets excited into emotional expression.

Recently we watched the Tom Hanks film, A Man Called Otto. A very good film about the difficulty of facing life without someone exceptionally special to him, someone he’d spent the bulk of his life with, shared both the worst and best times with, his wife, and, in the aftermath of such loss and his desire to reunite with his wife, the way life brought to him something, something that could only be best described as an Angel, as if sent by his wife to say, it’s not your time!

You’ll have to watch the film for the rest!

Anyway, I saw this post and it pulled one of those strings, maybe because we just celebrated our 54th anniversary? Who knows.

To all those out there for whom this represents a prospective reality, in the hope it stirs an awareness of how special your nearest and dearest is to you. The best time to make you and them aware of how special they are; is while you still can!

The post:
A man married for 55 years describes true love. I would say he's qualified to explain it to us.

REFLECTION

"My parents were married for 55 years. One morning, my mom was going downstairs to make dad breakfast, she had a heart attack and fell. My father picked her up as best he could and almost dragged her into the truck. At full speed , without respecting traffic lights, he drove her to the hospital.

When he arrived, unfortunately she was no longer with us.

During the funeral, my father did not speak; his gaze was lost. He hardly cried.

That night, his children joined him. In an atmosphere of pain and nostalgia, we remembered beautiful anecdotes and he asked my brother, a theologian, to tell him where Mom would be at that moment. My brother began to talk about life after death, and guesses as to how and where she would be.

My father listened carefully. Suddenly he asked us to take him to the cemetery.

Dad!" we replied, "it's 11 at night, we can't go to the cemetery right now!"

He raised his voice, and with a glazed look he said:

"Don't argue with me, please don't argue with the man who just lost his wife of 55 years."

There was a moment of respectful silence, we didn't argue anymore. We went to the cemetery, we asked the night watchman for permission. With a flashlight we reached the tomb. My father caressed her, prayed and told his children, who watched the scene moved:

"It was 55 years... you know? No one can talk about true love if they have no idea what it's like to share life with a woman."

He paused and wiped his face. "She and I, we were together in that crisis. I changed jobs ..." he continued. "We packed up when we sold the house and moved out of town. We shared the joy of seeing our children finish their careers, we mourned the departure of loved ones side by side, we prayed together in the waiting room of some hospitals, we support each other in pain, we hug each Christmas, and we forgive our mistakes... Children, now it's gone, and I'm happy, do you know why?

Because she left before me. She didn't have to go through the agony and pain of burying me, of being left alone after my departure. I will be the one to go through that, and I thank God. I love her so much that I wouldn't have liked her to suffer..."

When my father finished speaking, my brothers and I had tears streaming down our faces. We hugged him, and he comforted us, "It's okay, we can go home, it's been a good day."

That night I understood what true love is; It is far from romanticism, it does not have much to do with eroticism, or with s*x, rather it is linked to work, to complement, to care and, above all, to the true love that two really committed people profess ".

Peace in your hearts.

11/10/2023

I don’t use fb much these days and you’d be amazed at how much time I have gained as a consequence.

While we are all blessed, or cursed, depending on your world view and ideology, we all have a 168 hour week. Comes with that, the realisation that as we age the number of 168 hour time slots diminishes. Nevertheless, I felt the post below was worthy of the time It takes to read it and even more so, the time you may take to reflect on it!

Having been self employed for 51 years and never once unemployed (meaning, always finding ways to earn my own living) and having been on the edge of the capitalist abyss (the abyss being financial ruin) several times over that period, I discovered that it never was the government’s responsibility to feed me, it was mine.

Consequently, I understand the question posed, i.e. how many people who can’t or won’t feed themselves, could Tom have fed If he gave those people the money, instead of buying his car. Instead, Tom focused on the many people he fed . . . Because he bought the car!

The Post!
A man named Tom Nicholson posted on his Facebook account the sports car that he had just bought and how a man approached and told him that the money used to buy this car could've fed thousands of less fortunate people.

His response to this man made him famous on the internet. READ his story as stated on Facebook below:

A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said,

"I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost?

I replied I'm not sure;
it fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it,
it fed the people who make the tires,
it fed the people who made the components that went into it,
it fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires,
it fed people in at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore.
It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer
and fed the people working at the dealership and their families.

BUT,... I have to admit, I guess I really don’t know how many people it fed.
That is the difference between capitalism and the welfare mentality.
When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets and give them dignity for their skills.
When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self-worth.

Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value.
Socialism is having the government take your money against your will and give it to someone else for doing nothing.

I think this is well written and well thought out
If you agree please send it to your friends.
If you don’t agree just delete it and have a nice day.

09/03/2022

Specialist treatment for anxiety disorders, psychological and oxidative stress as well as various types mood and depressive disorders.

Get a Free 1hr Consultation (https://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/book-app-t) or call 9186 3575 for specific enquiries.

28/12/2021

Therapy often appears as a somewhat mysterious process, even more so with hypnotherapy because what you think is the problem, is often merely the observable manifestation of the problem!

Many anxiety issues fall into this category, in that anxiety is not so much the problem but rather it is the consequence of the problem. To confuse matters further, often what we state as being the cause of the problem, is mostly the cognitive/intellectual iteration of successive non-conscious layers of memory consolidation and reconsolidation (this is something I explain in more detail during the consultation).

The aim of therapy, therefore, is to get the client to a position of non-intellectual enlightenment, albeit with some level of conscious awareness. Mostly this occurs after the last session. In the sense, what we call ‘the end of therapy,’ is the beginning of a new experience of life!

For more information go here:

https://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/index.php/article/life-after-therapy

17/12/2021

In the anticipation of things getting better, as we begin to normalise life in the aftermath of Covid, and, despite the growing number of prophets of doom, I foresee people getting on with life. Just as they did in the aftermath of the 1918 - 1921 Spanish flu, which, incidentally, was far worse, infected and killed many more than Covid has.

Part of that, "getting on with life" will involve travelling abroad by aeroplanes once again, which will be a good thing. Obviously, there will be many that disagree with that because of the effect of air travel on the subject of climate change, which amounts to approximately 3% of global emissions. Of course, our planet is important and, as they say, there is No Planet B, but there is such a thing as personal responsibility. And with that, the ability to more than offset one's carbon footprint by other means.

Basically, I believe that if we each do our bit for the health of our planet, we will not need to rely on or blame governments to solve the problem which we, essentially, are creating. Almost everything that is creating excess CO2 in our atmosphere eventually points back to us. From the food we eat and cook, the means of energy we use (gas, electricity, coal, oil), in one way or another satisfies our growing needs.

So what can we do?
1. If you smoke, stop it (hypnotherapy can help you) because the to***co industry has a huge carbon footprint and that doesn't even account for the emissions that leave your mouth when smoking!
2. If you eat meat, cut it down, or better still, cut it out too. Animals produce huge amounts of methane gas when they emit gas. They need feeding too and that kills the ground (a major source of CO2 intake). Meat, beef mostly, is a major source of deforestation too, creating a double whammy.
3. Travel by car, cut it down too, take a bus, walk more or get a bike.
4. Eat fish, again cut it down or out. Overfishing poses a far greater risk than the use of fossil fuels.
5. Drink alcohol or take drugs, again cut it down or out. These use huge resources (manufacturing and distribution) that pollute the atmosphere as well as take up huge amounts of ground that could be better used to create woods or forests or grow food crops
6. Waste less, use more and recycle as much as you can and, as often as you can, take your own bags when you go shopping.

So, when you have done all that you possibly can, you can feel somewhat justified in taking off to some exotic climes or visiting relatives or friends overseas.

Bottom line, if only 6 billion people out of 7.8 billion do all that they can to make our planet healthier, they will achieve a lot more than governments can, simply because most of the stuff that is polluting our planet involves our daily needs or wants!

Getting to the point of this post, air travel. I anticipate an increase in the incidence of aviophobia (fear of flying) as air travel moves towards pre-Covid times and I have developed a rather unique way of helping people with this condition. To discover more about my treatment for Aviophobia, please go here: https://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/pages/mobile-links/treatment-conditions/fear-of-flying

28/10/2021

Going techy 😊

12/10/2021

Life is best lived by setting examples!

The Father and his Son

A son took his elderly father to a restaurant for dinner. His father being very old and weak with arthritic hands, whilst eating his meal he dropped food on the front of his shirt and trousers.

Most of the other guests in the restaurant watched him in some disgust thinking why would you bring an elderly man to the restaurant who made such a mess of himself whilst eating, however, during the meal his son remained very calm.

After they finished eating, his son who was not at all embarrassed, quietly took him to the bathroom where he wiped the food his shirt and trousers, removed the stains with a damp towel, then combed his hair and fitted his spectacles firmly on his nose.

When they came out of the bathroom, the other guests in the restaurant were watching them in deadly silence, not able to grasp how someone could embarrass themselves publicly like that. The son then paid the bill for their meal and started walking out with his father.

At that time, another older man amongst the guests called out to the son and asked him . . . 'Don’t you think you have left something behind?'

The son replied . . . 'No sir, I haven’t.'

The older man replied . . . 'Yes, I really think you have! You have left a wonderful lesson for every son and great hope for every father as they get older.'

Author Unknown

20/06/2021

OUR BRAIN WORKS ON ITS PERCEPTION OF REALITY, NOT REALITY ITSELF!
by Thom Bush on 20 June 2021

We live in a world where it's getting more and more difficult to tell real from fake: nevertheless, the brain acts on what it determines to be its reality. Researchers have discovered the reason that allows us to ignore facts and evidence and hold onto our beliefs . . .

This is an interesting piece of research, although not from the perspective of a Daxxy but rather from one of explaining the progression of abuse. By way of example, I will focus on s*xual abuse. Having worked with many clients who were s*xually abused, it's a seeming fact that almost all, as children, managed life relatively well during and after the abuse. However, as adults, it is often a very different case! It seems that as we grow and the memories of the abuse resurface, maybe because of something we heard, read or saw, these memories come into subconscious consciousness!

What the heck is subconscious consciousness? Every thought, feeling or emotion is a consequence of subconscious processing, i.e., some sensory processing happens, in the brain, moments before we have conscious awareness of it! Rarely do we have the full awareness of the subconscious element, so, consequently and consciously, we have to be able to explain this to ourselves. Relating this to s*xual abuse, as children we know little or nothing about s*x, let alone s*xual abuse, so we makeup or invent ways to deal with it. However, as we grow and gain more knowledge, insight, facts and certain subjective truths about the abuse, we actually change the memories of it.

Relating this to this research, it seems that no matter how many childlike facts we accrue about the abuse, we will believe the most recent (mis)interpretations of the childhood memories. Essentially, if we don't know that something is wrong, how can we react too negatively, relative to the way adults react, to it? Of course, we may know we don't like it or that it's unpleasant, painful or frightening but that's different to the ways in which adults describe s*xual abuse. One person I spoke to said, that is exactly how I feel. "As a child, I dealt with it relatively well. However, as an adult, I cannot understand why, since I'm no longer being exposed to the abuse or the abuser, that my life is falling apart!"

In that context, therapeutically, we should be focusing more on the reconsolidation of the adult memories of the childhood abuse. This is because it is the corruption and/or distortion of childhood memories that are a major part of the adult experience. However, the major problem with this aspect of the treatment, is that we have to navigate adult logic, cognition and our ability to illogically navigate logical processes!

This is where hypnotherapy can be very useful, because of its ability to communicate at the level of the subconscious brain, therefore, bypassing the cognitive elements of consciousness. If you would like to discover more about how our adult brain corrupts our child's brain, maybe you can consider booking an appointment for a free consultation? This can be done via a face to face meeting or Skype, Zoom or Teams, all can be equally efficacious!

The objective here is to help people understand how and why we become illogically trapped into irrational emotional experiences that may actually be happening for reasons different to that which we would imagine! If you want to know more about how Hypnotherapy can help you; why not make an appointment for a Free Consultation?

For more information on the Free Consultation - Go Here: http://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/hypnotherapy-services/free-consultation

Or, to book your Free Consultation today, you can do so here: http://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/book-app-t

The Research:
Ever wonder why flat-earthers, birthers, climate change and Holocaust deniers stick to their beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

New findings from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, suggest that feedback, rather than hard evidence, boosts people's sense of certainty when learning new things or trying to tell right from wrong. Developmental psychologists have found that people's beliefs are more likely to be reinforced by the positive or negative reactions they receive in response to an opinion, task or interaction than by logic, reasoning, and scientific data. Their findings, published today in the online issue of the journal Open Mind, shed new light on how people handle information that challenges their worldview, and how certain learning habits can limit one's intellectual horizons.

"If you think you know a lot about something, even though you don't, you're less likely to be curious enough to explore the topic further, and will fail to learn how little you know," said study lead author Louis Marti, a PhD student in psychology at UC Berkeley. This cognitive dynamic can play out in all walks of actual and virtual life, including social media and cable-news echo chambers, and may explain why some people are easily duped by charlatans. "If you use a crazy theory to make a correct prediction a couple of times, you can get stuck in that belief and may not be as interested in gathering more information," said study senior author Celeste Kidd, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.

Specifically, the study examined what influences people's certainty while learning. It found that study participants' confidence was based on their most recent performance rather than long-term cumulative results. The experiments were conducted at the University of Rochester. For the study, more than 500 adults, recruited online through Amazon's Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform, looked at different combinations of coloured shapes on their computer screens. They were asked to identify which coloured shapes qualified as a "Daxxy," a make-believe object invented by the researchers for the purpose of the experiment.

With no clues about the defining characteristics of a Daxxy, study participants had to guess blindly which items constituted a Daxxy as they viewed 24 different coloured shapes and received feedback on whether they had guessed right or wrong. After each guess, they reported on whether or not they were certain of their answer. The final results showed that participants consistently based their certainty on whether they had correctly identified a Daxxy during the last four or five guesses instead of all the information they had gathered throughout.

"What we found interesting is that they could get the first 19 guesses in a row wrong, but if they got the last five right, they felt very confident," Marti said. "It's not that they weren't paying attention, they were learning what a Daxxy was, but they weren't using most of what they learned to inform their certainty." An ideal learner's certainty would be based on the observations amassed over time as well as the feedback, Marti said.

"If your goal is to arrive at the truth, the strategy of using your most recent feedback, rather than all of the data you've accumulated, is not a great tactic," he said.

http://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/blog/532-our-brain-works-on-its-perception-of-reality-not-reality-itself

Story Source:
Materials provided by University of California - Berkeley. Originally written by Yasmin Anwar. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:
Louis Martí, Francis Mollica, Steven Piantadosi, Celeste Kidd. Certainty Is Primarily Determined by Past Performance During Concept Learning. Open Mind, 2018; 1 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00017

As far as our brain is concerned, when it comes to making emotional choices, it's more to do with our brain's sensory interpretation of reality than reality itself!

25/04/2021

THINKING BEYOND YOURSELF MAKES YOU OPEN TO HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHOICES
by Thom Bush on 24 April 2021

Many people smoke, drink alcohol and/ or eat unhealthily, despite that, they appear to want to live a long and happy life! After all, they love their favourite death stick, couldn't live without that daily shot of h***h and that burger, yummy . . .

That people know that something is bad for them, yet do it anyway, is nothing new, But what is new, is that there is now the evidence to prove certain behaviours are bad for one's health! When I was a young man, many years ago, smoking was widely advertised and somehow glorified as to how it could enhance your appeal or manliness. Alcohol, well for sure that was a problem for some but for most, it was a natural part of one's social life. In the 1960s in the UK, everyone thought McDonald was a farmer and to large extent, there just wasn't any interest in turning food into junk! Of course, that's not to say that unhealthy food didn't exist, merely that it hadn't been raised to the level it has today.

Maybe it was the gradual and provable realisation that there was a causative link between our lifestyle habits and early death rates that made us generally more aware? This is a double whammy in some sense because while we have generally got better at lengthening life expectancy, some of us are still hell-bent on shortening it! For sure people are generally more health-conscious these days but the hectic pace of modern living makes choosing healthy food rather challenging. The Covid pandemic has exacerbated the problem, with so many people working from home and many others being retrenched. This has effectively reorganised the world we live in and created a paradigm shift in thinking and behaviour. Not least of which, is the effect it has had on mental health. All the more we need to make wise choices about the way we will live life in the future!

Every smoker I have ever worked with knew it would shorten their life expectancy. They are also aware that they should exercise but don't and they definitely know that the fast, in fast food, alludes to the speed at which they will reach their grave! So, this research is encouraging in that, if you change your perspective, see the bigger picture, look beyond the self; many of these poor lifestyle choices can be changed. No more is the illusory relaxation, that you think you get from alcohol or smoking. You will feel healthier and fitter as a result of hypnotic relaxation. Through hypnotherapy, you will be motivated towards better living and have more energy because you are putting good and healthy fuel into your body and mind!

Sounds great, doesn't it, so, what's stopping you? Actually, it is most likely your brain or at least the way it has been wired. From the day we are born our brain is creating circuits, mostly in the form of memories, and it is the way these circuits wire and fire, that determines your behaviour. From there, your brain's behavioural circuits lead you to smoke and drink while laying on the couch, nibbling away at your favourite burger or pizza. . . . So, what can you do? Through hypnotherapy, all the steps outlined in the research below can be fed into your subconscious brain and its related memory circuits. This neural training will lead you towards a healthier, more productive and, definitely (all things being equal) longer and happier life.
So, to get your life on track, to be smoke-free, drink only in a healthy way (albeit that zero alcohol is your best choice) and to eat well, why not book your appointment for a "Free, no strings attached, Hypnotherapy Consultation (book from the link below)!

Hypnotherapy stands out as one of the most effective strategic life management methods there is, especially in its ability to promote clear thinking and good states of mental wellness. The behaviours that make life challenging are often a result of too much stress, too little sleep and too little by way of clarity! So, to take back control of your mind and your life, it makes perfect sense to use a methodology that addresses the subconscious mind's role in perpetuating negative, vague and ambiguous states of mind. Hypnosis helps us to create calm relaxing states of mind that make life work better! If you would like to address any concerns you have in this direction, or, if you just want to make your life feel better, then why not make an appointment for a Free Consultation? Hypnosis gives you the ability to have a good life!

The objective here is to help people understand how and why we become illogically trapped into irrational emotional experiences that may actually be happening for reasons different to those which we would imagine! If you want to know more about how Hypnotherapy can help you; why not make an appointment for a Free Consultation?

For more information on the Free Consultation - Go Here: http://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/hypnotherapy-services/free-consultation

Or, to book your Free Consultation today, you can do so here: http://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/book-app-t

The Research:
Public health messages often tell people things they don't want to hear: Smokers should stop smoking. Sedentary people need to get moving. Trade your pizza and hot dogs for a salad with lean protein. For many people, these messages trigger our natural defences. They make us feel bad about ourselves and our choices, leading our subconscious to reject the healthy encouragement. However, a new study published in PNAS found that a simple priming exercise in which sedentary people think beyond themselves before viewing health messages can make those messages more effective. Not only did participants' brain activity show that they were more receptive to the messages, but they actually became more physically active in the weeks that followed.

The study involved 220 sedentary adults who were either overweight or obese -- people whose lack of physical activity puts them at increased risk for a variety of negative health outcomes.

"One of the things that get in the way of people changing their behaviour is defensiveness," explains senior author Emily Falk, Associate Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. "When people are reminded that it's better to park the car further away and get in a few more steps, or to get up and move around at work to lower their risk for heart disease, they often come up with reasons why these suggestions might be relevant for somebody else, but not for them."

To combat those defensive feelings, researchers engaged the participants in one of two self-transcendence tasks and compared their responses to those in a non-transcendent control group. Self-transcendence tasks required participants to think about values bigger than themselves -- such as people they loved and cared about -- and did so while the subjects were in an fMRI machine, allowing researchers to see their brain activity in real-time.

The first self-transcendence group reflected on things that mattered most to them. If they chose "friends and family," they might be asked to think about times in the future when they might feel close to their friends and family. If they chose "spirituality," they might be asked to think about times when they might connect with God or other sources of a higher power.

A second self-transcendence group was asked to make repeated positive wishes for both people they knew and for strangers. These included hopes that your friends would be joyful or that others would be well.

Meanwhile, a control group reflected on their least important values. Then all the participants viewed blunt health messages that encouraged them to be more active or explained why their current behaviours put them at risk. For example:

Getting more active will strengthen your muscles. Stronger muscles will make it easier for you to get around and do the things you enjoy for longer.

Make a habit of walking up and down the stairs whenever you can. Avoid taking the elevator as often as possible.
The American Heart Association says sedentary people like you are at serious risk for heart disease. This means more pills and a higher risk of sickness and death. In the month that followed, participants received daily text messages that repeated the experiment in miniature, priming them to think self-transcendent thoughts (or neutral control thoughts) before they received health messages. They also wore fitness trackers to monitor their activity.

Those who had completed either of the self-transcendence tasks were significantly more active in the month that followed, with less time spent being sedentary.

In addition, the researchers found that during the self-transcendence tasks, people showed greater activity in brain regions involved in reward and positive valuation, when compared to the control group.

"People often report that self-transcendence is an intrinsically rewarding experience," says lead author Yoona Kang, a postdoctoral fellow with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. "When you are having concerns for others, these can be rewarding moments." These rewarding feelings, the researchers believe, can lead people to be more open to hearing otherwise unwelcome health advice. "If you let people first 'zoom out' and think about the things and people that matter most to them," says Falk, "when they see that their self-concept and self-worth aren't tied to this particular behaviour -- in this case, their lack of physical activity."

Kang also points out that allowing people to feel part of something larger than themselves can have positive health effects. "People are capable of doing things for their loved ones that they'd probably never do for themselves," she says. "The idea of self-transcendence -- caring for others beyond one's own self-interest -- is a potentially powerful source of change."

The researchers are currently testing a phone app for the general public which delivers daily pairs of self-affirming and health messages, like those used in the study. Click here to download the app from the iTunes store.

"Effects of Self-Transcendence on Neural Responses to Persuasive Messages and Health Behavior Change" was published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Authors on the paper include Yoona Kang, Nicole Cooper (University of Pennsylvania), Prateeksh*t Pandey (University of Pennsylvania), Christin Scholz (University of Amsterdam), Matthew Brook O'Donnell (University of Pennsylvania), Matthew Liberman (University of California, Los Angeles), Shelley Taylor (University of California, Los Angeles), Victor Strecher (University of Michigan), Sonya Dal Cin (University of Michigan), Sara Konrath (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis), Thad Polk (University of Michigan), Kenneth Resnicow (University of Michigan), Lawrence An (University of Michigan), and Emily Falk.

This research was supported by NIH/National Cancer Institute Grant 1R01CA180015-01 (P.I. Emily Falk) and NIH New Innovator Award 1DP2DA03515601 (P.I. Emily Falk), as well as funding from the John Templeton Foundation, U.S. Army Research Laboratory under cooperative agreement W911NF-10-2-0022, and HopeLab.

http://www.trans4mationaltherapy.com/blog/422-thinking-beyond-yourself-makes-you-open-to-healthy-lifestyle-choices

Story Source:
Materials provided by the University of Pennsylvania. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:
Yoona Kang, Nicole Cooper, Prateeksh*t Pandey, Christin Scholz, Matthew Brook O’Donnell, Matthew D. Lieberman, Shelley E. Taylor, Victor J. Strecher, Sonya Dal Cin, Sara Konrath, Thad A. Polk, Kenneth Resnicow, Lawrence An, Emily B. Falk. Effects of self-transcendence on neural responses to persuasive messages and health behaviour change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018; 201805573 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1805573115

Cite This Page:
The University of Pennsylvania. "Thinking beyond yourself can make you more open to healthy lifestyle choices." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 17 September 2018. .