Cognitive Bypassing in Therapy. Understanding what it is, and how to move beyond it.

Therapy can be a powerful tool for self-discovery and personal growth. Yet, even in this supportive environment, it’s possible for people to inadvertently sidestep the very issues they seek to resolve or reach blocks in the level of resolution they experience. A common reason for this is cognitive bypassing. 

The Role of Cognition

Cognitive Bypassing is the practice of avoiding feelings by focusing solely on cognitive reasoning. Cognitive reasoning refers to the thinking processes, using reason and logic and higher order brain structures/capacities to approach a situation. Cognitive reasoning has an important role in life and therapy. Cognitive reasoning can also be described as “intellectualization.” Cognition can help us better understand the predicaments we are in, find solutions, make informed decisions, and formulate goals and strategies. One of the most popular and well known therapeutic modalities is based on cognitive reasoning-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, individuals identify and challenge negative, distorted or unhelpful thoughts and work to reframe them so they can go on to impact their behavior in ways that may better support them and their goals. 

Cognitive reasoning can be useful, but cognitive bypassing is not. Cognitive bypassing is hyper focused on cognitive reasoning, and comes at the expense of exploring other aspects of one’s experience. By hyper-fixating  on the cognitive experience, we stay out of our body and in our minds. We often do this, unconsciously, as a way to protect ourselves from having to directly experience difficult emotions or physical somatic sensations. For example, we may spend an hour in therapy discussing the details of our recent breakup (detailing events or conversations), and describe how we feel or think but we don’t actually connect with the feelings or thoughts as we recount. We create distance between what we say we are feeling/thinking and what we are actually feeling or thinking. Essentially, it's a way of thinking about feelings and situations in a detached, analytical manner to avoid confronting the emotional aspects instead of somatically experiencing the emotion (feeling our breath get shallow, feel tears well up, connect with the pit in our stomach or the pain we feel from their rejection). It can feel much safer to be with the mental experience than the emotional or somatic sensations. 

Where Cognition Fails Us

Although Cognitive reasoning can be supportive, it often does not result in complete emotional or somatic resolution. This is because at our core, we are not only thinking creatures. Our cognitive minds are the most developed and sophisticated parts of our brain (neo-cortex), but they build off of older and more primal structures such as the brainstem and limbic system. These structures control our most basic bodily processes like heart rate, breathing, blood flow and hormone secretions. These are our autopilot systems that enable our life-sustaining functions to work without our conscious thought. It is also the core structure that makes up our nervous system which is responsible for our “fight-flight-freeze,” or “fawn” responses. When we experience intense emotions or automatic reactions, we are tapping into those ancient, primal brain structures. When we rely too much on cognition in therapy, we may satisfy the needs of our higher brain structures but we do not satisfy the deeper needs of our body and mind.

While cognitive bypassing might offer temporary relief or some measure of progress, it can hinder long-term growth and healing. By cognitively bypassing individuals may find themselves stuck in a cycle of avoidance. This can prevent meaningful change and personal development, leading to persistent issues that resurface over time. When we experience deep emotions, or physical sensations associated with our emotional pain these experiences are sensed by the brainstem/limbic/and nervous system. With these feelings, comes a physiological response. For example, when we feel anxiety the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol are released into the body to mobilize us to a “fight, flight, freeze or fawn.” If we merely think through the situation, our bodies do not experience the release of energy required to discharge this physical energy and we may continue to experience the distress long after we have cognitively understood the situation to be over. Not only do these sensations continue, but they most often intensify over time (like a pressure cooker!). Often only when our body is able to discharge these chemical, somatic and emotional charges can we experience a deep sense of relief and resolution. Longstanding trapped survival hormones often results in mental and physical health conditions as well. The body is not meant to be on arousal alert all the time or for sustained periods. It is meant to also experience rest that comes from discharge and finding resolution.

This is where Somatic Therapy comes in. Somatic therapy helps us to explore, experience and ultimately discharge the somatic and emotional experiences we face. We often find the most healing when we are able to safely feel through an experience. 

Therapists Role

As mentioned, intellectualization can be both a tool and a challenge in therapy. It can help clients gain insight and provide a starting point for deeper emotional work, but it can also be a barrier to fully experiencing and processing emotions. A somatic therapist's role is to work with clients to recognize when they are moving from healthy cognitive reasoning into bypassing and to help them connect more directly with their emotional experiences.

How Therapists Address Cognitive Bypassing in Therapy

Here are some strategies that can be used to help clients move past cognitive bypassing:

1. Create a Safe Space: Providing a safe and supportive environment that helps clients to experience and express difficult emotions or physical sensations. This involves building a strong therapeutic rapport and validating clients’ experiences.

   
   

2. Foster Self-Awareness: Helping clients become more aware of their own patterns of avoidance can be an important step. This might involve reflecting on moments when they might have engaged in cognitive bypassing and discussing the impact it had on their progress.

   
   

3. Encourage Deeper Exploration and Expression: Therapists can gently guide clients to explore their emotions and sensations in a more embodied sense, rather than just discussing concepts or about a topic. This might involve asking open-ended questions or using somatic techniques that promote emotional/somatic awareness and expression.

   
   

4. Supporting Titration and Resourcing: Feel it to heal it is only true in certain conditions. One of the reasons we cognitively bypass is to protect us from pain. If we feel too much or too fast, we can further traumatize ourselves. Much of the expertise of the therapist comes from their ability to follow a client’s system and track how much is too much, and help the client remain regulated so they can appropriately facilitate discharge. 

Looking for support moving through challenging situations or emotions? Contact me for a free consultation and see if I might be the right fit in working with you! Together, we can seek the freedom that is found in both cognitive and somatic exploration!