6.10 Self Repression in Psychology! Why Free Will was Stripped from Psych6.10 Self Repression in Psychology! Why Free Will was Stripped from Psych
CPTSD Recovery: We Are Traumatized Motherfuckers
Jess breaks down how behaviourism and big social systems have encouraged people to ignore their feelings, especially in the context of trauma and CPTSD. The conversation links self-repression, free will and the "big-ass Self" to the patterns that keep people stuck in automatic, unfulfilling behaviours.
29:41•29 Oct 2026
Self Repression, Behaviourism and the Fight for Your Big-Ass Self
Episode Overview
- Behaviourism reduced humans to external stimulus–response patterns, largely ignoring emotions and inner experience.
- The "small-s self" is described as self-hate, looping thoughts and mental prison, while the "big-ass Self" is a repressed inner guide present in many psych models.
- Motivating operations show internal states influence behaviour, yet emotions are still dismissed as unimportant in traditional behavioural science.
- Societal systems like capitalism, patriarchy and religious oppression reinforce self-repression by rewarding automatic, compliant behaviours.
- Connecting with emotional motivating operations is presented as a way to reclaim choice, break harmful patterns and live more authentically after trauma.
“Turns out, spiritual just means having emotions and responding to them, and the societal refusal to allow us to have feelings to make our own real decisions is the problem all along.”
What drives someone to seek a life that isn’t controlled by automatic behaviours and old conditioning? This episode zooms in on how modern psychology has often stripped people of the language and tools to understand their own inner world, especially if they’re living with trauma or CPTSD.
Jess, a cellular biologist and cognitive behavioural psychologist, breaks down the difference between the "small-s self"—the looping thoughts, self-hate and mental prison of post-traumatic life—and the "big-ass Self", the inner compass that’s been quietly written off as woo or "spiritual" nonsense. As Jess puts it, "Turns out, spiritual just means having emotions and responding to them," and that simple idea pushes hard against the behaviourist roots of psychology. You’ll hear a clear, sweary, and surprisingly funny takedown of B.F.
Skinner’s influence and the classic formula of antecedent + behaviour = consequence. Jess introduces "motivating operations"—those internal states like hunger, thirst, stress or emotional memories—and shows how they’re treated as mere conditions instead of real feelings that matter. For anyone who’s ever asked, "Why do I keep doing the same thing and ending up in the same place?", this framing hits close to home.
The episode also ties this emotional shut-down to bigger systems: capitalism, patriarchy, religious oppression, and what Jess calls the "bullshit crust" of human reality. Trauma, in this view, isn’t just individual; it’s reinforced by a world that tells you to ignore your inner experience and just "behave like you’ve been fucking told". This one’s geared towards traumatised folk, self-help sceptics, and anyone trying to reclaim genuine choice in their recovery.
It’s brainy, darkly funny, and bluntly honest about how self-repression keeps people stuck. Ready to ask whether your feelings have been quietly written out of your own story?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.