Janice Dorn, MD, PhD
Neuropsychological Trading Coach
Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D., has been a full-time futures trader since 1994. Doctor Janice holds an M.D. in psychiatry and is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. She holds a Ph.D. in brain anatomy. A graduate of Coach University, she is a pioneer market psychiatrist and financial neurobehaviorist. Doctor Janice has written over 500 articles on the financial markets and coached over 600 traders worldwide. She is the Global Risk Strategist for Ingenieux Wealth Management Group, Sydney, Australia.
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The strangest and most fantastic fact about negative emotions is that people actually worship them...P.D. Ouspensky
Day in and day out, our brains are under siege. Accelerating speed of technology and almost instantaneous transmittal of information across the globe is changing the way we live and way we think. We are becoming information junkies in several ways. First, we are addicted to information, can't get enough of it, need new and newer and more detailed information in order to feed the greed for it. Additionally, a lot of information is just plain junk. Either it is false, overblown, deceptive or meaningless to the way you live your life and the way you trade. In this sense, we are infojunkies becoming addicted to junk information.
In the incessant drive to get attention and outdo each other, media of every variety ( radio, television, internet) is becoming more and more driven to produce stories, films or video clips which are, for lack of a better word, outrageous. The more outrageous the better, since the brain addicted to junk needs stronger and stronger doses of junk to stimulate it. The addicted brain is tolerant to normal doses of junk, so it searches for news, sights or sounds which push past its habituated state in order to get some degree of stimulation.
see, hear and feel horrible things. Goblins, ghouls, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the whole gruesome chainsaw thing, nights of the living dead, Scream 3, Freddy vs. Jason, vampires, and endless displays of people doing insane and cruel things to other people. The addicted brain is highly sensitive to fear, as fear is a more powerful weapon than greed. The more powerful the image or sound which elicits fear, the more the brain will stop secreting dopamine and fill itself with the chemicals of fear.
Now there is something to talk about. We are afraid. Afraid that there might be another terrorist attack anywhere, anytime; afraid that the stock we are in will tank on earnings or some unexpected news overnight and we will be stuck unable to get out; afraid that our neighbor might be a child molester and our children are in constant danger; fear of flying and hundreds of other phobias with fancy medical names, afraid that "THEY" will , like thieves in the night, do something to tank the market or spike the market ( look at what happened to the ES on Oct. 22) and we will be left standing there either frozen with terror ( our brains love to do that to us), or like little kids with our noses pressed to the candy store window. We are afraid that something bad will happen and also afraid that something good might happen. In short, we are a nation and a people who both thrive on and are driven by fear.
As traders, fear instills negativity. " It's going to tank, I just know it, so I better get out now. Well, maybe if I could find just one more piece of information I wouldn't be so afraid and I would be able to pull the trigger and take the alert. Just let me look a little more and read a little more and maybe I will find something that will help me make a decision or maybe I will find something that confirms my fear that this is really the top and I am glad I am out and now too frightened to get back in." HELP!!!
Fear breeds and feeds upon negativity in a vicious cycle. Think for a minute about how many times a day you are filled with some fearful or negative thought? Think about how often your fear and negativity have kept you in or out of a position when the indicators or pleading from John told you what to do. How many times have I heard John say " I am begging just to keep you on the right side of a trade? Begging."
Among the most difficult things a trader can do is to change his or her mindset. If you are frozen in fear, then you will do nothing. That is your choice and it may be what works for you. There are traders who justify everything by saying that they were glad they did nothing. So be it. But, if you are in the markets to do nothing, why are you in the markets at all?
Consistently successful traders learned long ago that they simply cannot afford the extravagance of a negative thought. Just as addiction ends in either jails, institutions or death, negativity is the great destroyer of the trader.
Halloween is over tonight. If you want to be negative and all grim and scary and watch people's heads being cut off, then, by all means indulge yourself. THEN- make a promise to yourself that you will strive, from tomorrow on, to eliminate negative thinking while you are in the markets and away from the markets.
You can start slowly, by becoming AWARE that you are thinking negatively. Then, after you are aware, tell yourself that your negative thinking is not in your best interests as a trader. Instead of saying " I can't do this" or " I am afraid to do this" tell yourself "I can do this" and "I am not afraid because I know I can do well." "I refuse to let fear and to stop it. It's really called "Thought Stopping".
Interrupt it by standing up, walking around, turning on some music you like, going outside for a while, playing with your child or hugging someone you love.
After that, go back to your trading turret and practice being in a positive state where fear is minimal, you trust and believe in yourself and you say to yourself " I am now ready to take advantage of every opportunity that comes to me because I am in a state of calm and confidence."
This is the power of the power of positive thinking. As trite and clichéd as it may seem, it truly and totally works.
Read about successful traders and find some who will sit down and talk with you. A huge part of their success is about maintaining a positive and fearless attitude and putting themselves in a mental position where they are prepared to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. Use your addictive brain to addict you to power, confidence, positivity and winning. It's all there for you, and it works if you work it!
Burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow candles exploding like spiders across the stars. And in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awwwww!"...Jack Kerouac
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