Couch 153: Couch slouch

Eggs.



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I could live without either chocolate or cheese but would go without chocolate first. I like pizza and lasagna - and I like them with real cheese - not brewer's yeast.

Hugs to you...

I love, "Would you Rather!" I never ever thought that I could give up chocolate as I was eating Hershey's kisses, Reese's Cups and cotton candy every night and absolutely loved anything sugary but decided to give up all desserts, breakfast pastries, ice cream and candy cold turkey Jan 2nd 2016. It was hard at first, but I don't miss it at all anymore. These days, I satisfy my sugar cravings with fruit. I have dropped 18 lbs just by giving up those things and eating whatever else I want and feel great!

I love, love, love cheese too, especially on pizza and do not see myself ever giving that up! I love hard cheeses, not soft or moldy cheeses and you could NOT pay me enough to eat cottage cheese! I would rather starve than eat cottage cheese! Ricotta is high up on my inedible list as well. blech!

Hmmm, my textbook says it was one marshmallow now or two later. Clearly the therapeutic conspiracy to confuse clients extends even to their textbooks.

Fortunately I do not like marshmallows.

Looks like the dog we gave back has already been adopted back out. So that makes me feel good--hopefully this is a better match for her!

Clearly!!!

I do, and fortunately for me, I am not 4 anymore so I can just go out and buy my own damn marshmallows....

"I don't need your stinking marshmallows, Mister Experimenter!"

And I must say that I am entirely and completely confused in trying to identify something as either positive or negative reinforcement. My whole life I thought negative reinforcement = punishment but that is not the case apparently.

It is in my experience!

In my efforts to be non avoidant I raised an issue with my T he said the words things went wonky from then on. I am not sure this is progress, he seems to think it is.

yes. wonky is a good word. when my t said those words in relation to an issue (I had never connected one with the other in my own mind before) it totally knocked the pins out from under me for awhile. we worked through it but there for a bit my world tilted and wobbled.

mine too, JoBo.

I went to game nite. T couldn't stay and play . He said his wife is having false contractions and he has to go make her dinner. That was the first mention of his baby by him to.me.

I asked him for a hug. He hugged me and said it's good to see you. He rubbed my arm and said I'm glad you're feeling better. I knew you could do it

He asked if I'm still working at my job and asked about my test coming up. He looked me up and down and said I like your necklace . Its a cherry. I was wearing a black velvet hat . He said is that a velvet hat? I said yes. He said he has to tell his wife abt that..cherry necklace and velvet hat

I felt awkward and nervous . I think T felt nervous too. I said bye and went back to the game room and played. T left

I was kinda sad T didn't stay. But I am glad I went . I had fun playing with the girls.

One of them has a service dog. The owner said the dog wants to sit with me because it can tell I'm stressed .

It was nice to get out and be social

I emailed T and asked for an appointment but I'm worried he will say no again. I would be very sad if he did

Hugs NP, and captgut

I know it's something I have alluded to, but to hear those words was a huge smack in the head, it absolutely made things real.

I am glad you got out and sorry your t is pulling boundaries. When do you see the addictions people. Forgive me if you answered this before.

Hugs, hugs. One can be grateful for good things and still be sad.

I don't have anything lined up

I wince everytime T says "physical abuse". Normally we use words like "hurt you", "let you down". In the beginning when she first said abuse, it felt like everything became weird and I spent many many hours over many months wondering if it was really abuse in my journal.

Going wonky sounds like the avoidance is there for a reason... I hope T said it in the spirit of wanting you to realize you've been violated and what happened and was done to you is wrong.

Think of it as addition and subtraction, not positive and negative. Positive means you get something (gold star), negative means something (a privilege) is taken away. Punishment is broader than that.

Yeah, bring in intermittent(sp) reinforcement, pos and neg, like gambling? The casino machine doesnt give you a shock (unfortunately), it hooks you by paying off SOMETIMES.

Wait wait wait - I thought I was starting to get it - isn't negative reinforcement when an undesired stimulus is removed. An example my book used was scratching a mosquito bite to remove the itch. And that taking away a privilege was negative punishment. I am so confused!

I think I'm going to go over this section again!

Yes! I understand the intermittent reinforcement schedules a little better. In fact when I first started reading about variable-ratio schedules, a light bulb went off and I said out loud "Like slot machines!!" before I even read that as an example in the book lol Those wily casinos using psychology against their hapless patrons! It makes so much sense too. That variable-ratio reinforcements are so hard to extinguish. Those casinos count on that, don't they?

I LOVE THIS STUFF!

Yikes. Dont go by what i say!

Im still wondering about the validity of the experiment using a little marshmallow!

Re intermittent reinf: you didnt hear this from me, but i betcha wily ts use it too!