In this brief segment, Shari B. Kaplan, LCSW explains that individuals develop positive or negative self‑beliefs based on their early environment, even tracing back to the prenatal period. Throughout life, different situations trigger these entrenched beliefs, influencing behavior and emotional responses. Kaplan emphasizes that without understanding the root causes, people cannot effectively change these patterns. She advocates for a thorough biopsychosocial assessment that spans from the time a person was in their mother’s womb up to the present, enabling clinicians to pinpoint the origins of maladaptive beliefs and then conduct targeted therapeutic “repair work.” The core message is that therapy excels at identifying and reshaping these deep‑seated beliefs once their origins are uncovered.
