Personality Compass with Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala

01/29/2026

📍 Mental Health Providers: Tomorrow is the big day!

You can still register for this continuing education event:

🧭 BPD Compass: A Cognitive-Behavioral Roadmap for Personality Symptoms
Learn more & register here: https://lnkd.in/eP3iFERd

Learn a transdiagnostic framework to address borderline personality disorder symptoms + comorbid conditions in short(er) term outpatient care.

Perfect if you’re a generalist and want to adequately address BPD without getting expensive certifications for long-term, intensive treatments

Perfect if you’re a BPD specialist and you have people on your caseload with lower acuity BPD and might not need all the bells and whistles of gold-standard BPD treatments

DM me WORKSHOP and I’ll send the link to register your way.

01/28/2026

One of the hardest parts of my job as a psychologist is knowing I can help—and not always being able to.

People from all over the country reach out asking if they can participate in my research on personality change. And because of licensing laws, I often have to say no unless they live in Kentucky.

That’s frustrating, because the need is clearly much bigger than one state.

Even in places with relatively good access to care, only a fraction of people receive evidence-based mental health treatment. And the reality is that there will never be enough therapists to meet the demand for one-on-one care alone.

We 100% need to train more therapists in evidence-based methods.

AND we need to be considering additional, responsible ways to share science-backed tools with people who don’t need—or can’t access—weekly care.

That’s why I created a self-guided program using the same personality change methods I test in my clinical trials.

Science only matters if it reaches people.
This is one way I’m trying to make that happen.

If you'd like to learn more about my self-guided program, visit my site: https://tinyurl.com/hardestpartfb

01/23/2026

Personality change isn’t about being fake, masking, or becoming someone you’re not.

It’s about experimenting with new ways of showing up in small, real moments—and letting those experiences update what you believe is possible for you.

Instead of assuming how others will respond, you collect data.
Instead of staying stuck in old patterns, you test new ones.

That’s how personality patterns actually change: gradually, intentionally, and never inauthentic.

I teach the full framework to shift the traits that keep you stuck inside The Personality Edit.

It is the same method I've used to help the 100s of people who have participated in my clinical trials....in a comprehensive self-guided format.

Learn more about The Personality Edit and to see if it's what you've been looking for to finally achieve your personal growth goals here: https://tinyurl.com/personalitychangeisfb

01/15/2026

Where I stand as a grant-funded mental health research, clinical psychologist, and human: Healthcare is a human right and that includes mental healthcare.

01/15/2026

Comment EDIT to learn how to design behavioral experiments that actually change patterns.

Fear has a way of feeling like a warning — when it’s often just making a prediction based on old data.

Behavioral experiments let you test what your mind is telling you will happen.

When the feared outcome doesn’t occur (or isn’t nearly as bad as expected), your system updates.

That’s how personality patterns shift: new behavior → new data → new beliefs → more flexibility next time.

The key is doing these experiments intentionally and systematically — not randomly or all at once.

If you want the research-tested framework I use to teach this process, comment EDIT.

01/12/2026

If you’re waiting to feel motivated before you start, you’re not alone.

But motivation is usually the result of momentum - not the cause.

Swipe to see how small, personality aligned steps change the equation.

Want clarity on the right steps for you? Comment QUIZ and I’ll send you the link to take my free, science-backed personality test!

01/05/2026

01/05/2026

Personality is often talked about as set in stone. The common advice is to identify your “type” and then choose careers and partners that match.

The research tells a different story.

Personality traits can shift in meaningful ways, especially when people:
• question self-limiting beliefs
• experiment with new behaviors
• practice new patterns over and over until they become the new normal

Sometimes, the biggest challenge to self-improvement is sorting through all the advice out there to find what’s evidence-based, nuanced, and actually helpful.

My work is guided by a simple goal:
To make high-quality, science-grounded tools for mental health and self-improvement accessible — without glossing over the complexity of how change really happens.

If you’re interested in a more responsible, research-informed way to think about personality change, you’re in the right place.

01/05/2026

We’re often taught that personality is who we are.

And that trying to change it means being fake or self-critical.

But in psychology, personality is better understood as a pattern.
And patterns aren’t identities — they’re systems of shiftable thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

When you stop letting your “type” define what’s possible for you, growth becomes more intentional, realistic, and sustainable.

Everything I teach starts with understanding your personality patterns.

If you’re curious, there’s a free, research-based personality test linked in my bio.