How to handle high-stress situations

Disengaging and using safety crutches

To be human is to experience worry, fear, anxiety, and stress. To be human is to play-it-safe.

What if being exposed to those unusual situations are part of your day-to-day life? How do you handle those internal reactions when encountering life-threatening situations?

Today, I share a special interview with Lance Morrison, former Captain Police Officer.

Key Takeaways

You will hear different micro-skills Lance uses to handle life-threatening situations such as:

  • Focusing on one thing at a time.
  • Compassion-based responses
  • Focusing on what matters

About Lance Morrison

Lance is a California native. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and he is a life-long vegetarian. He grew up playing the horns in a variety of NorCal bands, and he had to learn guitars, keyboards and the bass just to eat.

His work is a collection of tunes he wrote that focus on a cruelty-free lifestyle. Lance plays all of the instruments you hear on his album (no computers–just a nice multi-track recorder).

Lance also wound up in law enforcement and retired as a Captain from a municipal police department. Additionally, he taught college courses for twenty years. He has always used his humor and his music to balance against the stressful and challenging aspects of law enforcement. That career spanned 42 years!

high-stress situations

Resources

Resources from Dr. Z’s desk

Show notes with time-stamps

01:00 Special Episode: Behind the Scenes with Extreme Circumstances
03:11 Interview with Lance Morrison: A Police Captain’s Journey
06:25 Handling Fear and Finding Humanity in Policing
10:51 The Impact of Trauma and the Power of Humanity
18:08 Life Lessons and Moving Forward
34:21 Teaching the Next Generation: A Legacy of Compassion
 

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About Dr. Z.

I’m originally from Bolivia, South America, and am a psychologist by training. I’m formally trained in empirically supported treatments, and when I say “formally,” I mean that since 2004 I have received intensive training in them, particularly in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). 

Over the past 18 years, I have created resources for and worked with overthinkers and overachievers dealing with all types of anxiety-related struggles: perfectionism, procrastination, productivity anxiety, uncertainty intolerance, indecision, impostor phenomenon, overthinking, phobias, rumination, panic, worry and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I absolutely love my job!

In 2019, I was nominated as a fellow by the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science because of my contributions related to the applications of ACT for anxiety-based struggles. I’m the author of seven books and the co-author of three (see the section on previously written books).

I’m the founder and director of the East Bay Behavior Therapy Center, a boutique private center in the San Francisco Bay Area that offers therapy and coaching for anyone experiencing anxiety-based struggles.

In 2023, I gave a TEDx talk, “Stop playing-it-safe and start living” that has more than 264K downloads.

While I’m a psychologist by training and science-based by passion, my style is jargon-free, accessible, caring, and lighthearted; teaching ACT skills doesn’t have to be boring or inaccessible, so I do my best to make every skill I teach—in any format—as engaging as possible. 

I believe that learning to navigate anxiety-based reactions is one of the key skills of the 21st century, and I’m passionate about it.

I'm passionate about disseminating ACT skills for anxiety-based struggles.

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