EP18: Mental Game Insights, Part One

This episode kicks off a three-part series focused on mental game insights. As a psychology professor, I’m setting the stage to help normalize your mental health journey through two psychological models of injury: the Three-Phase Model of Injury and the Stress-Injury Model. I’ve adapted these frameworks to relate specifically to our experiences with vascular compression.The Three-Phase Model of Injury breaks down our experiences into the following stages:Phase I: Reaction to InjuryPhase II: Reaction to RehabilitationPhase III: Reaction to Return to LifeThe Stress-Injury Model (discussed at timestamp 31:15) explores the various factors that influence how we cognitively process our diagnoses. These include:PersonalityMedical HistoryCoping ResourcesMy hope is that this episode provides a strong foundation to help you better understand why these diagnoses can feel so overwhelming—and to reassure you that your struggle is valid and shared. In the next episode, I’ll dive deeper into specific interventions and tools you can use during both the pre- and post-operative phases of your journey.Sending you all so much love.