What do I mean by 'applied rationality' and why did I title the book as I did? First, humans are biologically inclined toward irrationality. We are capable of consciously identifying our irrationality, and we used to value the ability to do so. Increasingly, however, we're failing to do so. Consequently, we may believe that we're thinking and behaving rationally when we are very much not. Second, this escalating failure to recognize our irrationality is increasingly our own fault. We are living in a time in which the logical principles which were developed ages ago specifically in order to apply a reality check to our irrationality are no longer widely valued in society. The sciences, thankfully, remain an exception to this. The sciences – by virtue of the governing methodology – have resisted colloquial language and the popular lure of irrationality. Psychotherapy, conversely, has been beguiled by these. That ingrained irrationality in our profession is nowhere more prevalent than in regard to trauma psychotherapy.
