Ever heard of Occam’s razor? Essentially, Occam’s razor states that the simplest explanation is preferable to one that is more complex. In my early years practicing psychology, I decided to challenge the complexities of traditional analysis. As I began to formulate my Self-Coaching approach to emotional struggles, I came to a ‘chicken-egg’ issue: Does anxiety produce anxious thoughts, or do our anxious thoughts produce anxiety? The same goes for depression and emotional struggle in general. My contention is that anxious people have anxious thoughts and, it’s the anxious thinking that promotes what we refer to as anxiety. You may be a bit underwhelmed by this, but consider the fact that traditionally, we refer to anxiety, depression, and emotional struggle as forms of mental illness. You know about illnesses; you catch a cold or flu. Do you “catch” anxiety or depression? I think not. Listen to this week’s Self-Coaching podcast to start making psychology much simpler than you heretofore may have thought.