Core Beliefs Psychotherapy ^SM

Do you suffer from negative core beliefs?

* A nagging feeling that there's something wrong with you?
* Feelings of emptiness?
* Exhaustion from trying to keep everyone happy?
* Feelings of worthlessness?
* Anger and frustration over a life that does not feel satisfying?

These are symptoms of "core wounds," or a "core sense of inadequacy." You can recover from this painful condition.

Core Beliefs Psychotherapy heals the root causes of a core sense of inadequacy, and this produces a core sense of confidence, freedom and well-being.

If you are hurting I can help. To make an appointment or for more information call or text: (734) 776-2284 or email me.


Developing a Core Sense of Inadequacy

Children develop the majority of their core identity when they are 0-6 years old. They develop this based on what they experience; a child looks to their environment to show them whether they are lovable, worthwhile, valuable and good. They do this because they are egocentric; they cannot separate who they are from their environment. This is just a part of normal human development; a child’s cognitive abilities do not allow them to separate who they are from what they experience.

No parent is perfect, and every family has problems; this is also just a normal part of being human. The problem is that children cannot understand that family problems and unmet needs are not their fault; they believe that the problems are their fault, and that something must be wrong with them. They develop a core sense of inadequacy.

The development of a core sense of inadequacy is the result of a child’s misinterpretation of childhood events. This misinterpretation leads to Mistaken Core Beliefs (MCBs) about the self. Every negative experience in childhood is interpreted as their fault, and creates negative beliefs about the self. Here are some examples of how children turn negative experiences into mistaken core beliefs:

Dad lost his job. I must have upset him to the point where he couldn’t do his job, and so they fired him. I am bad.

My sister broke her leg. I took her favorite shirt and got it dirty, this upset her so she lost her balance and fell. I am selfish.

Mom is always exhausted, I’m too much trouble. I am bad, lazy, unlovable and worthless.

Children are not this concrete in their thinking. We know this because people do not remember thinking this way in childhood; it seems to be more of an unconscious process, and because of this, people are not aware that this has happened to them.

When children come to believe that something is wrong with them (develop MCBs), another significant process happens; they disconnect from their real self, and develop a coping self. The real self is who you really are: your real thoughts, feelings, style, preferences, desires, and personality. When a child is born, they are their real self. If all of the child’s physical and emotional needs are met, and there are no problems whatsoever in the family, then the child will develop a core sense of confidence in who they are, and live their life authentically from who they really are.

The coping self develops as the child comes to believe that they are inadequate: bad, boring, unlovable, unimportant, worthless, stupid, lazy and selfish (these are the most common mistaken core beliefs). They begin to disconnect from their real (“flawed”) self, and begin to take their cues about what to feel, think, need, want, etc. from their environment. The following examples will demonstrate this. Keep in mind that this is also an unconscious process.

Mom is tired, I shouldn’t want her attention. I won’t want her attention.

Dad is angry, I shouldn’t want to play so loudly. I won’t want to play loudly.

I feel like crying. My sister teases me when I cry; crying must be bad. I’ll stop wanting to cry.

The child stops trusting their real feelings, needs and wants. They disconnect from their real self and begin to try to feel, think and behave the way they believe their family needs them to. They develop a coping self.

Once the real self is disconnected from and replaced with the coping self, this state becomes “permanent.” In other words, when a child develops MCBs and a coping self, they will live out their entire lives with these beliefs and a coping self; they will live out their lives with a core sense of inadequacy.

A Core Sense of Inadequacy is “Permanent”

Mistaken Core Beliefs develop in childhood when a child misinterprets negative events as their fault. Once developed, MCBs do not change throughout life; they are “permanent.” Why is this so?

Two main factors account for the fact that MCBs do not change:

1. The way the human brain works is that it scans the environment looking for evidence to support its core beliefs, and dismisses (ignores or twists) evidence that contradicts its core beliefs. This is true whether the beliefs are true or untrue.

2. Humans believe what they experience. This is known as experiential learning. For example:

If every time you stepped into a certain dark room you got bitten by a snake, and then someone assured you that the snake had been killed and that it is now safe to enter the room, how would you FEEL about entering that dark room?

This example demonstrates how we believe what we have learned by experience, and this will always override what we are merely told. If I were to tell you that there is nothing wrong with you, and that you are a valuable, lovable and worthwhile person, this would do nothing to change your mistaken core beliefs.

Does this mean that if someone experiences love, success and respect their MCBs will change? Unfortunately, because our brains dismiss evidence that contradicts its core beliefs, these “experiences” that convey our worth, value, goodness and lovability will be dismissed by our brain before we can “actually” experience them (they won’t get into our core), so the MCBs will not change.

All of these factors account for why MCBs do not change throughout life. We live in a world of people who are living their lives with a core sense of inadequacy, disconnected from who they really are. Living this way is very painful and unsatisfying.

The pain of living this way causes many painful “symptoms.” These symptoms include:

depression, anxiety, anger, addictions and relationship problems.

People do their best to cope with the pain of living with a core sense of inadequacy (and the emotional and relational problems that it creates), but the core problem does not change and they continue to suffer.

A Core Sense of Inadequacy Can be “Reversed”

A therapeutic process has been developed that can reverse a core sense of inadequacy. This process is called Core Beliefs Psychotherapy (CBP). CBP reverses a core sense of inadequacy by using an innovative set of techniques to bypass the MCBs (the part of us that dismisses affirming experiences), access the real self, and correct the mistaken core beliefs.

The CBP process allows therapists to do therapy at the core level (with the real self), and provide therapeutic experiences that convey worth and value while helping the real self to reinterpret negative childhood experiences. These therapeutic experiences correct MCBs, and bring the real self “back to life.” This process leads to a profound sense of confidence, freedom, and personal power.

A core sense of inadequacy cannot change without a therapeutic intervention. Most interventions do not bypass the twisting effect of the mistaken core beliefs. Many people have gone through years of therapy, and still have not experienced freedom from the pain and powerlessness of a core sense of inadequacy.

There are a few types of therapy that can help to heal a core sense of inadequacy, but they often take years and many people do not have the time and/or money to pursue such a lengthy process.

CBP quickly and effectively corrects mistaken core beliefs and revives the real self. This leads to a core sense of confidence, freedom, and the power and motivation to live the life you truly want to live.

Core Beliefs Psychotherapy

CBP is “talk therapy.” It uses a highly specialized set of dialogue techniques and role-plays to correct Mistaken Core Beliefs. It does not involve hypnosis, digging for repressed memories, or anything that many people see as “weird.”

You may be thinking that CBP sounds too good to be true. That’s understandable. The results achieved with CBP are truly remarkable, even astonishing. You may be hesitant to invest in something that sounds too good to be true. The good news is that CBP gets results so quickly, you will be able to tell right away (in your first or second session) if CBP will really work for you.

To make an appointment, or for more information call: (734) 776-2284 or email Violet.

You do not have to continue to suffer. Call, text or email today.

Take a look at the research, CBP Works!


“I was skeptical about therapy when I started working with Violet. I had felt lousy for so long and thought I had tried everything. Core Beliefs Psychotherapy finally helped me to overcome the fear and low self-esteem that I had been struggling with."



Core Beliefs: More about The Core Healing Center






The Core Healing Center serves communities in southeastern Michigan, including: Birmingham Southfield Bloomfield Hills Huntington Woods Farmington Novi Northville Ann Arbor Oakland Wayne Berkeley Ferndale Pleasant Ridge Plymouth Lathrup Village Livonia Beverly Hills West Bloomfield. We provide counseling services for adult individuals and couples. We specialize in the treatment of anxiety, depression, self-esteem, emotional eating, weight loss, and marriage counseling.