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Being Well · June 29, 2026 · 1h 7m

Breaking the Avoidance Loop: Why You Keep Repeating the Same Patterns

Forrest Hanson, Forrest Hanson & Rick Hanson

Rick and Forrest explore how avoidance coping creates and sustains repetitive patterns. They discuss the brain's role as a prediction machine, outline five types of avoidance behaviors, and explain why insight alone isn't enough to break loops. The episode then details the inhibitory learning model of exposure therapy — how violating feared expectations can finally update our mental models and free us from the invisible cage of avoidance.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Canon

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The Brain as a Prediction Machine Underlies Avoidance Loops23:50
The brain constantly generates predictions about what will happen next, and these predictions drive automatic avoidance when past experiences have been painful.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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Inhibitory Learning Model: How Exposure Really Works40:01
Exposure therapy doesn’t erase fear — it builds new safety memories that inhibit old fear associations, through experiences that violate expectations.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Highlights

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The Invisible Cage of Avoidance17:35
Forrest and Rick describe avoidance as an invisible cage — the more we avoid, the more we confirm our fears, trapping ourselves in a loop we often can’t see.
ClaudeChatGPTGemini

Misc

✧Rick and Forrest outline five types of avoidance behaviors.
✧This is the first of two episodes on this topic; the second will focus on practical steps for braving feared experiences.
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