Deciding who to trust in today’s world is especially hard – fake news, political polarization and societal strife amplifies our already on guard nervous system. When our trust has been broken, whether early in childhood or in our adult relationships, learning who to trust can prove even more challenging. In today’s episode, Dr. Steve Finn and Dr. Ann Kelley discuss the science behind epistemic trust and why many of us may have broken trust meters. They discuss how trust issues can create a mess in our relationship, whether we are the constant skeptic who resists taking in new information or we tend to trust blindly, without testing or holding healthy doubts. Together they provide deep and compassionate insights into these struggles and how they relate to internal working models. A fan favorite, Dr. Finn returns to bring his years of expertise to our listeners about ways to use science to build trust using curiosity and tools of mentalization, including our ability to handle healthy skepticism.

Dr. Steve Finn is a founder of the Center for Therapeutic Assessment, a licensed clinical psychologist in practice in Austin, Senior Researcher and Director of Training at the European Center for Therapeutic Assessment at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, and Director of Training at the Asian-Pacific Center in Tokyo, Japan. He has published 90+ articles and chapters on psychological assessment, psychotherapy, and other topics in clinical psychology. In 2011 Dr. Finn was awarded the Bruno Klopfer Award from the Society of Personality Assessment for distinguished lifetime contributions to the field of personality assessment. In August 2017 he received the award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Assessment Psychology from Section IX (Assessment) of the Society for Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of the American Psychological Association). In 2018 he was honored with the 2018 Carl Rogers Award for outstanding contributions to the theory and practice of humanistic psychology from the Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32 of the American Psychological Association).

00:58 – Introduction to “Therapeutic Assessment”

07:25 – Importance of epistemic trust

08:45 – Two types of difficulties in epistemic trust

12:43 – How clients utilize control mastery theory

19:09 – One of the core values of TA – “curiosity”

25:14 – Spotting the difference between hypervigilant trust and hypovigilant trust

27:57 – Explanation of Fonagy’s three virtuous cycles

46:40 – Analyzing epistemic trust in our society

Therapeutic Assessment – Website

The Role of Mentalizing and Epistemic Trust in Psychotherapeutic Relationships – Fonagy, P. Allison, E. (2014)

Fonagy, P., Luyten, P., Allison, E. (2015). Epistemic petrification and the restoration of epistemic

Gergely, G., Egyed, K., & Király, I. (2007). On natural pedagogy. In G. Csibra & G. Gergely (Eds.),

Sperber, D., Clement, F., Heintz, C., Mascaro, O., Mercier, H., Origgi, G., & Wilson, D. (2010).

Fantini, F., Aschieri, F., David, R. M., Martin, H., & Finn, S. E. (2022). Therapeutic Assessment

Finn, S. E. (in press). From unresolved to earned secure attachment: The AAP as a powerful

Kamphuis, J. H, & Finn, S. E. (2019). Therapeutic Assessment in personality disorders: Toward

Tharinger, D. J. Rudin, D. I., Frackowiak, M., & Finn, S. E. (2022). Therapeutic Assessment with

Dr. Steve Finn’s Book – 2007

Click here to view Steve Finn’s Episode Transcripts  – Lightly edited for readability

https://therapistuncensored.com/episodes/tu51-conquer-shame-by-understanding-the-science-behind-the-feeling-with-guest-expert-dr-steve-finn/