Dr. Aziz explains why doubt feels absolutely certain even though it causes anxiety. When he asks clients to rate how sure they are about their doubts on a scale of 1-10, they consistently answer 10 or higher, revealing how the doubt narrative masquerades as absolute truth. Exposing this inflated certainty helps reframe the story and weaken its grip.
We humans love certainty and comfort. It's like deep in our survival evolutionary animal brain body. We like that stuff. And so doubt actually gives you certainty and comfort in a weird sort of way. Let's say, wait a minute, Aziz, how can telling myself it's not going to go well and I messed up and I suck, how is that giving me certainty and comfort? Let me explain. You're about to go into a situation and that voice of doubt pops in your head and says, you're gonna mess this up. This is not gonna go well. And if you listen to that voice though, it's asking questions, but it's really implanting an idea, which is it's not gonna go well. If you ask that voice of doubt, and I have done this with clients thousands of times, and I said that story in your head is not gonna go well, that part of you that's saying that, how certain is that part of you that it's not gonna go well from 1 to 10? And you know what answer I always get? 10. 10. Oh, they're like, oh my God. Or 100. They're like, 100 outta 10. It's for sure.
