LEVI e a NEUROCIÊNCIA da TOMADA DE DECISÕES | Psicologia Shingeki no Kyojin

I'm Rafael, psychologist. And when LEVI changed his way of THINKING, his BEHAVIOR, his ENVIRONMENT and his LIFE were IMPACTED — and so was ZEKE. Today we are going to reflect, again, on LEVI ACKERMAN.

It has spoilers for the entire SHINGEKI anime. Come on! And once again, THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT, I am being SPONSORED.

Watch QUALITY, OFFICIAL ANIME, whenever and wherever you want, for FREE on CRUNCHYROLL—the WORLD'S LARGEST ANIME PLATFORM. I started seeing OUSAMA RANKING over there. CRUNCHYROLL has a HUGE CATALOG, there you can WATCH THE ANIMES wherever you want, available practically everywhere: PC, SMARTPHONE, TABLET, CONSOLE.

And you can watch up to 4 SCREENS and even OFFLINE. The CRUNCHYROLL catalog is full and every NEW SEASON OF ANIMES they take practically ALL TITLES and being PREMIUM you eliminate the ads, you are entitled to the SIMULCAST, to watch 1 HOUR AFTER THE RELEASES of the episodes in JAPAN, DUBBED animes, in PORTUGUESE, everything in FULLHD quality. And yes, you can also watch BIG PART of this CATALOG completely for FREE, with ads, but by subscribing to PREMIUM in addition to all these BENEFITS you help the industry of our passion - ANIMES.

Click here on the DESCRIPTION LINK, for you to try 14 DAYS OF THE PREMIUM SERVICE FOR FREE. I, as a psychologist, never imagined being sponsored by CRUNCHYROLL, an ANIMES platform, my PASSION. Who knew, I'm happy and of course I only got it THANKS TO YOU.

RADICAL ACCEPTANCE. RADICAL ACCEPTANCE is based on the notion that SUFFERING doesn't come directly from PAIN, but from ATTACHMENT to it and this is something that ties a lot to the ACKERMAN of today. In fact, I could use both him as an example and my favorite from the series —ERWIN—, but in the case of LEVI, we notice the CHANGE, you'll understand.

LEVI there is almost the PORTRAIT OF SUFFERING in the series. The portrait of someone who tried NOT TO WANT TO SUFFER MORE, or NOT TO SUFFER AS MUCH AS BEFORE. He lived in SUBTERR NEO, was raised by KENNY ACKERMAN — who was anything but someone able to take good care of a CHILD there and who soon after DROPPED LEVI.

He goes there, finds FARLAN and ISABEL, his new FAMILY, the only people that, that boy with the SHUTDOWN EYES, who TRUST NO ONE, those were the ONLY PEOPLE he had any APPRECIATION for. They enter there in the EXPLORATION TROOP and when they leave for the FIRST MISSION LEVI doesn't want them to participate in that, he doesn't want them to FIGHT because there was the HUGE POSSIBILITY of them DIE, they weren't like LEVI. And then, after a lot of INSISTING, LEVI ends up wanting to TRUST THEM and obviously what LEVI FEARED so much happens, the two end up DYING.

We CLEARLY see in SHINGEKI'S CHARACTERS the expression of “GET USED TO DEATH”. The characters there end up GETTING USED to the LOSSES and it was like that with LEVI too, but the LOSS of these two people makes him kind of GIVE AWAY AND he meets ERWIN. And ERWIN conveyed this DIFFERENT image of someone who DIDN'T WORRY.

ERWIN says that if he starts to REPENT, his FUTURE DECISIONS will be AFFECTED and more, they will let OTHERS choose for him. LEVI, at that moment says that ERWIN was seeing something that he still CANNOT SEE. When LEVI looks at him, he says “Damn, I want this for myself”, so much so that when he starts FOLLOWING ERWIN on the FIRST MISSION they leave Levi says: “I WILL NO LONGER REGRET THIS DECISION”.

The concept of RADICAL ACCEPTANCE has its origins in DIALETIC BEHAVIORAL THERAPY, created by the psychologist MARSHA LINEHAN, in the year 1993. This type of THERAPY was designed to HELP people with BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDERS who end up experiencing VERY INTENSE EMOTIONS. It is also useful for other issues like DEPRESSION and EATING DISORDERS.

RADICAL ACCEPTANCE can be defined as the ABILITY TO ACCEPT SITUATIONS THAT ARE OUTSIDE YOUR CONTROL, without JUDGING them. Which, in turn, can REDUCE THE SUFFERING caused by them. No one wants to feel DISAPPOINTMENT OR SADNESS but these experiences are a PART OF LIFE, they are INEVITABLE whether you ACCEPT IT OR NOT and when you try to AVOID OR RESIST these emotions you can add MORE SUFFERING TO THAT PAIN and that is what LEVI tries to do after SUFFERING a lot.

So he OBSERVES ERWIN'S BEHAVIOR, in the face of this, and takes the situation as if it were a MOTTO for his life. Rather than holding on to a PAINFUL PAST, RADICAL ACCEPTANCE suggests that DETACHMENT is the key to OVERCOMING SUFFERING. DETACHMENT, of course, does not mean NOT FEELING EMOTIONS, this is impossible, on the contrary, it refers to an INTENT TO NOT ALLOW PAIN to turn into SUFFERING.

NON-JUDGMENT, which is an important part of RADICAL ACCEPTANCE, does not basically involve APPROVAL OF THE SITUATION, rather it involves ACCEPTING REALITY as it is and not getting carried away by an EMOTIONAL REACTION to that reality. We see this in ERWIN at different times in the series: when he LOSES HIS ARM, when he sees his plan against ANNIE almost COMPLETELY FAIL and even at the moment close to his DEATH, that is, this ACCEPTANCE can HELP us a lot. Not in EVERY CASE, of course.

Don't confuse RADICALLY ACCEPTING something with CONFORMING. There are situations where you MUST NOT ACCEPT: abusive relationships, toxic relationships at work. If you DON'T LIKE something, the first thing you should do is ACCEPT that it's HAPPENING.

Because if you're too busy FIGHTING REALITY, you won't have ENOUGH ENERGY to IMPROVE IT, to CHANGE IT. We must always take the CONTEXT into account, but it is important, especially when we are REVIEWING something that happened A LONG time ago that there is no way to go back. Psychologist STEVEN HAYES says that it is possible that COGNITION PROTECTS us from something that has already happened, or that has NEVER happened, that is not happening now or is not even known if it WILL happen.

HAYES will say that when we take thought literally, we are at the mercy of the entire EXPERIENCE OF LIFE. LEVI tries to avoid REMOVING THE PAST, WHICH is even what he passes on to EREN. It’s a way of not having so-called COUNTERFACTUAL THINKING — thinking “WHAT IF” or “WHAT IF I’D ONLY HAVE DONE THIS, OR DONE THAT” or “WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?

” — is something we do FREQUENTLY, it’s part of of HUMAN EXPERIENCE, that is, this COUNTERFACTUAL THOUGHT is literally AGAINST THE FACTS, that is, ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS OF THE PAST. I had a lot of it, I still have it today. I like to wonder “WHAT IF THAT HAPPENED?

WHAT IF THAT? ”. My team when it LOSES, for example, “So, if that BALL that hit the POST had gone in, if that PENALTY had been TAKEN” —who never, right?

— or “IF ERWIN HAD NOT DIED, WHAT WOULD HE BE LIKE NOW? ” We will never know, unfortunately. Things that are totally OUTSIDE OUR CONTROL.

MR. NOBODY is one of my favorite FILMS and is exactly that. I recommend watching, you will like it.

COMPARING REALITY as an IMAGINED ALTERNATIVE can lead to NEGATIVE EMOTIONS such as REPENTANCE, SHAME, BLAME or even MORAL JUDGMENT OF GUILT and this is what LEVI tries to avoid. He tries NOT TO BLAME HIMSELF and he tries to get the people AROUND HIM who made decisions NOT to BLAME THEM either. The scene where JEAN asks LEVI if he took THE RIGHT WAY is sensational and reflects that well.

ARMIN thinks about the fact that the person he KILLED could be someone KIND with the same GOALS as them. LEVI COMFORTS ARMIN, he says that the fact that ARMIN gets his hands dirty, ended up causing JEAN'S SURVIVAL and he thanks ARMIN for that. And JEAN goes there and tells LEVI that he was acting WRONG before, he says that before he would HESITATE to shoot, or something, to SAVE A FRIEND and LEVI goes there and says: “I DIDN'T SAY IT'S WRONG.

NOT EVEN I KNOW. ARE YOU SURE WHAT YOU DID WAS WRONG? ” and JEAN is amazed, he doesn't know how to REACT to it.

LEVI was once again trying to show JEAN that RUMINING what had HAPPENED would not HELP in any way, that is, for every CHOICE we make, we use the EXPERIENCE, INFORMATION and INTENTIONS AVAILABLE to us AT THAT MOMENT , in particular, with the RESOURCES we have AT THAT MOMENT, that's why he tries to pass it on to JEAN that IT'S NO USE to think about it. No one has ever been cured of a HEADACHE by hitting the wall. Deep down, LEVI wants JEAN NOT to think about it.

OUR REGRETS are caused by ASCENDING COUNTERFACTUALS, what would that be? IMAGINE how things could have been BETTER if we had made DIFFERENT CHOICES. Therefore, the IMPORTANCE of creating the OPPOSITE of this, which would be the DESCENDANT COUNTERFACTUAL, would be to remember how things could be WORSE.

This can HELP, but always remember , the IMAGINATIVE VERSION you want to CREATE is exactly and only that—IMAGINATIVE. Since, as the same LEVI says, you will NEVER find out WHICH WAS THE RIGHT PATH. EREN regrets NOT HELPING his friends, at that moment when he could, thinking about what he COULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY.

LEVI knows that thought CORROWS him, just as it has CORROWED HIM FOR SO LONG —Yeah…even the word REPENT no longer exists in EREN's VOCABULARY. After LEVI deals with the things of LIFE, in this way, he doesn't seem to despair as much as before, he simply CONTINUES THE MISSION he is doing, regardless of what he ended up LOSING there, not in the COLD and INSENSIBLE sense, but in a MORE OBJECTIVE. We know from the FIRST EPISODE that he appears, that he is not someone WITHOUT FEELINGS or INSENSIBLE, in fact it is the opposite, he MUST say words of COMFORT to his COMPANION who is ON THE EDGE OF DEATH.

LEVI tries, theoretically, to turn OFF THAT SENSE that makes people more SENSITIVE to what is GOING ON AROUND US, so that he can FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS. In his head, it's like this could AFFECT things even MORE, things in the FUTURE, things that are more in his CONTROL and I think that 's the BIG REASON for him not considering himself a LEADER because I think he would be a LEADER that would let everyone MAKE THE DECISIONS ON THEIR OWN. NOT THAT THIS IS BAD, but a LEADER kind of has to have that BALANCE.

WE WASTE A LOT OF TIME with things that WE HAVE NO CONTROL, with things that we can't DO ANYTHING and you can be sure, when you realize this you see that this is one of the causes of greater PSYCHIC SUFFERING in us. It is extremely exhausting FIGHTING REALITY, most of the time IT WILL NOT WORK. If you lose your JOB or whatever the RELATIONSHIP ENDED UP, thinking about it INCESSIVELY isn't necessarily going to bring those things BACK and the worst WE KNOW IT.

ROBERT SAPOLSKY, one of my FAVORITE authors, brought in his book "WHY ZEBRAS DON'T HAVE ULCER" the different way a ZEBRA STRESS for us, for US HUMANS. He says the reason this happens is because they only FEAR THINGS that could KILL them. His FEARS would be SHORT-TERM.

If they see a LION they will RUN, THEY WILL RUN or they will be EATEN. In people it works differently, our FEARS ARE CHRONIC, our FEARS seem, sometimes, that they will never GO AWAY and if they disappear we quickly find SOMETHING ELSE. And this is one of the reasons why people have CHRONIC STRESS that leads to CHRONIC DISEASES.

The response to STRESS—ie, increased HEART RATE, HIGH BLUES, etc—ARE HELPFUL. It is actually an ADAPTATION that helps SURVIVAL. It's one of the things that make LEVI move to WIN ZEKE countless times, that is, the response to STRESS is good but only in the SHORT TERM, the LONG TERM cause SEVERAL PROBLEMS.

COGNITIVE DEFUSION is a technique that comes from COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY, its objective is to REDUCE those UNDESIRABLE THOUGHTS that appear in our mind and that we feel that DRIVE OUR LIFE and these THOUGHTS are precisely those OBSESSIVE AND RUMINANTS. LEVI avoids these RUMINANT THOUGHTS at all times. HOW DOES IT DO IT?

Always telling himself that what he did is what he BELIEVED THAT AT THAT MOMENT WAS THE BEST OPTION, precisely to not have to REMOVE it, because brooding about it would HARM him in the FUTURE, it would HARM him in the next DECISIONS, in the next ACTIONS. It's actually a VERY USEFUL technique . When you notice that you are BREATHING about a THOUGHT, trying to jump to another one right away is a very used TECHNIQUE to BREAK THIS TREND TO RUMINATE.

Almost everyone experiences TEMPORARY RUMINATION when experiencing SITUATIONAL STRESSORS and this is normal. A quick way to ASSESS whether RUMINATION is ADAPTIVE OR HARMFUL is to ask yourself if RUMINATION is HELPING you SOLVE A PROBLEM, i. e.

, PREPARING you for a SOLVABLE PROBLEM—which is when, for example, LEVI GETS PREPARED to go on a MISSION, or GET READY to OVERCOME A TITAN, as in the case as he did with the BESTIAL—and AVOID RUMINATION on an UNSOLVable PROBLEM, or a CHALLENGE that does not require IMMEDIATE ATTENTION, in which case RUMINATION would be HELPFUL AND UNHEALTHY, HARMFUL. RESEARCH suggests that the STANDARD MODE NETWORK, the so- called RMP, is implicated in the RUMINATION PROCESS. The PMR is an INTERCONNECTED series of BRAIN REGIONS that are ACTIVE when we are LOST IN THOUGHTS, daydreaming, or remembering something, that is, the PMR is activated when we are on AUTOPILOT and it is precisely at this time that we tend to RUMINATE.

So when we're PAYING ATTENTION to what we're doing the RMP IS LESS ACTIVATED, so the importance of always PAYING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF, literally, always stopping and thinking "Hold on, what am I DOING, what's HAPPENING to me right now? ” We tend to LIVE a lot in AUTOMATIC without being PAYING ATTENTION to what is happening WITH US. Every MOVE he makes, he tries to do it IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE and if it goes wrong is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY for him NOT TO MAKE THESE SAME MISTAKES again, instead of staying REMEMBERING WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN.

LEVI knows that no matter how STRONG AND POWERFUL he is, there are circumstances that are OUTSIDE his CONTROL. He ended up suffering SERIOUS PHYSICAL INJURY, but he managed to accept THAT SITUATION in a way even QUIET and that's the BIG one REFLECTION that this character brought to me and that shows us that although you may NOT BE ABLE TO CHANGE THE FACTS of a situation, you can CHOOSE HOW TO SEE IT and remember, that other IMAGINED HAPPY LIFE is and has always been just one THOUGHT, the PRIVATE REALITY that would have come if we made ANOTHER CHOICE has never been and never will be OUR REALITY. Like, subscribe, share.

It's just the beginning.