Clinical Authority & Framework
The Cognitive Distance Model
Mario J. Passaro, LCSW-R, introduces a clinical model for trauma professionals. The Cognitive Distance framework helps clients hold overwhelming emotional material as something observable rather than engulfing, restoring reflective space in the therapeutic process.
.jpg)
Inaugural Book
Restoring Cognitive Distance
A Therapist Workbook for Trauma, Emotion, and Defensive Capture
By Mario J. Passaro, LCSW-R
Restoring Cognitive Distance introduces the Cognitive Distance Framework, a therapist-facing clinical model for helping clients work with emotional, traumatic, relational, and threat-related material that has become too close, immersive, or overwhelming to hold. The workbook translates the framework into practical clinical language, therapist prompts, worksheets, case examples, treatment-planning tools, and supervision resources.
Coming 2026
About the Author
Mario J. Passaro, LCSW-R
Mario J. Passaro, LCSW-R, is a licensed clinical social worker, clinical supervisor, author, and developer of the Cognitive Distance Framework. He serves as Chief Clinical Officer at Alssaro Counseling Services, PLLC, a bilingual and bicultural outpatient mental health clinic in New Rochelle, New York.
With more than 25 years of experience in community mental health, psychotherapy, clinical supervision, crisis work, program development, and trauma-informed care, Mario’s work focuses on helping clinicians understand what happens when emotional, traumatic, relational, or threat-related material becomes too close for clients to hold reflectively.
His writing integrates clinical practice, supervision experience, and emerging theoretical work on arousal, appraisal, symbolic objectification, cognitive distance, defensive capture, persistent re-experiencing, and activation–capacity mismatch. He is the author of Restoring Cognitive Distance: A Therapist Workbook for Trauma, Emotion, and Defensive Capture and the developer of the Cognitive Distance Framework.
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Registered)
- Chief Clinical Officer, Alssaro Counseling Services
- Developer of the Cognitive Distance Framework
- 25+ Years of Clinical Supervision Expertise
Cognitive Distance Notes
Cognitive Distance Notes
Clinical Notes
Defining Cognitive Distance
March 2024
An exploration of the clinical space between the observer and the observed emotion.
Trauma and Defensive Capture
February 2024
Understanding the mechanisms and clinical presentation of defensive capture in trauma survivors.
Arousal and Appraisal Models
January 2024
How the Cognitive Distance Framework integrates with historical models of arousal and appraisal.
FUTURE WORK
The Glass Box Theory Symbolic Distance, Arousal, and the Architecture of Psychological Survival
The upcoming second book by Mario J. Passaro, LCSW-R, dives deeper into the architecture of survival. This work explores how humans construct symbolic barriers to manage intense arousal and navigate the delicate distance between the self and traumatic impact.