“externalizers” see the world this way: “I do what I have to do, even if it hurts others. I have to take care of Number One. I have a reputation to maintain and I won’t be disrespected. I have no need to change.” These patterns, importantly, are not conscious in these young people. These children and adolescents are functioning from lower brain regions that chronically activate the fight/flight response. To change their surface behaviors will require interventions that work to change their unconscious patterns of thinking, feeling, and behavior. We need to provide patterned repetitive
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