iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Culmination of many years of work and thought in my little sub area of psych and neuro. Big thanks to @gushennings.bsky.social and @plaing94.bsky.social for helping bring this one home. We hope it provokes thought and improvement in the realm of fear generalization research.

screenshot of title of trends in cognitive sciences review titled "trends in cognitive neuroscience"

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

but c) you now can impress them with your raw strength

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

I experimented with something like this for a paper reporting on multiple OCI subscales, and 1 version also included a side column w stats, but ultimately didn't make it in. I will say, as someone in cog neuro world where everything is plotted, using the same y axis/scaling is v helpful for these

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Exposure involves confronting uncomfortable trauma memories + new feared (but safe!) situations. These “mini experiments” help reduce fear/anx via habituation, build up safe memories, reduce avoidance, and increase insight and coping skills. This works for many with PTSD and other conditions 12/n

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

So, how common are anxiety-related disorders? Anx disorders are the most common MH disorder worldwide, w/ ~4% diagnosed at a given time (WHO estimate). Anxiety is also a top 25 cause of disability across all ages, and 6th for those 10 – 24 (the ages when anx disorders most likely emerge) 10/n

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

CBT conceptualizations are great for understanding how anx/fear systems aren’t always accurate. For example, here is my dog Frank: he might cause anx/fear with his teeth out, and you might think “danger”, I need to avoid him next time! But, Frank was just licking his chops and wants a treat! 9/n

frank the dog looking mean with teeth out

frank the dog looking nice and there are treats next to him

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Finally, the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) model is not formal classification, but conceptualizes fear/anx for treatment. The CBT “triangle” applied to pathological anx can look like: I feel anxious (emotion) when I worry about judgement (thought), so I avoid social situations (behavior). 8/n

CBT triangle showing behavior, thoughts, and emotion leading into each other

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

One effort, the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology, considers anx/fear disorders under an Internalizing dimension + then specific Fear and Distress subdimensions. This highlights how hard it can be to reliably distinguish fear/anx from other connected emotional experiences (eg depression). 7/n

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

DSM disorders, incl. anxiety-related disorders, are categorical (yes/no diagnosis). Here are criteria for GAD. If a person is a “yes” to each item, they can receive a diagnosis. All disorders require a level of distress/impairment above healthy and helpful levels of occasional fear/anx 4/n

diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

The DSM-5 is the most common system for classifying anxiety-related disorders, and they generally fall into three categories: anxiety (eg generalized anxiety, social anxiety), trauma/stress (eg PTSD), and obsessive/tic (eg OCD) disorders. All involve fear or anxiety, and (usually) avoidance. 3/n

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Good god, I'm not sure it's worth the risk...this pic I think is ten years old and I'm convinced those same turkeys are still around, waiting to resurrect the spirit of Meehl with fury and human sacrifice. We just want to talk with him, not channel him back to our material plane😬

Turkeys outside Elliott hall at university of Minnesota

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

yeah and then it sets me up with flattery like this, only to wreck me later 😅

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

I don't know how to feel about this, except that "'i-just-got-a-phd-confidence'" hits real hard for this long time postdoc, and the "cutting down on starter packs" is just good sense blueskyroast.com/roast/samcoo...

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

As a flier I feel confused by the contradicting signs regarding entertainment, as an academic I feel judged but also seen

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

He thanks you, even if he's too cool to stop pretending he's a human at a coffee shop enjoying a drink

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

to be fair, bsky didn't have this in gif form, which is the real answer and life motto

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

also for the new influx of folks, Frank says hello and would you please give him a treat thx

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 23/10/2024

Frank is just here for the party and would like everyone to get your hat game on point

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 03/10/2023

important update: i realized I did not have a banner image here yet, so it is now frank the dog, seen below being a dog. thank you, carry on

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 03/10/2023

oh and the banner in question

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Sam Cooper PhD @samcooper.bsky.social · 26/09/2023

and here is cool research word cloud that very clearly calls out my interests

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