mousme: A view of a woman's legs from behind, wearing knee-high rainbow socks. The rest of the picture is black and white. (seat)
[personal profile] mousme
Here's the latest installment in my series of CBT stuff which is part of my Crusade to Help the World!

Ahem. ;)



This is the next step after learning what kind of "automatic thoughts" we tend to indulge in.

For a quick definition of the different cognitive distortions, I'll refer you to This post.

This is what David Burns calls the "triple-column technique." It involves a bit of writing, and a lot of practice, but you can basically do this exercise in about fifteen minutes each day.

Step one: Take a piece of paper and divide it into three columns.

Label the first "Automatic Thought." Label the second "Cognitive Distortion." Label the third "Rational Response."

What you're doing now is the first step in "talking back" to your "bad" thoughts.


Step two is to write down your automatic thoughts in the left-hand column. Say you're late for a meeting. You're gripped with panic and self-loathing. Stop for a minute and ask yourself: "What am I thinking? What thoughts are going through my head that are making me feel bad?"

You might think something like: "I'm always late. I never do anything right. Now they're all going to look down on me and think I'm unreliable. I'll make a fool of myself. I'm such an idiot!"

So write each sentence separately and leave lots of room in the other columns to make sure you'll have space to write.


Step three: look at the Cognitive Distortions list and try to identify what's wrong with your thoughts.

Going back to the example.

I'm always late. overgeneralisation

I never do anything right. ]overgeneralisation

Now they're all going to look down on me and think I'm unreliable. mind reading; overgeneralisation; all-or-nothing thinking; fortune teller error

I'll make a fool of myself. labelling; fortune teller error

I'm such an idiot! labelling

Step four: This is the more difficult part, but it gets easier with practice. Now what you want to do is find a rational response to those thoughts, what Burns describes as "substituting a more rational, less upsetting thought" for the one you have in the right-hand column.

Don't worry if at first you can't find a response to every single thought. Even getting one done is a big step. When you can't find a response, just leave that one alone and come back to it in a few days.

Let's go back to the example, shall we?

I'm always late. Response:] That's silly. I'm not always late. Look at all the times where I've been punctual. If lately I've been tardy more often than I'd like, then I can work on that and devise a method for being on time more often.

I never do anything right. Response: That's hardly true. I do a lot of things right.

Now they're all going to look down on me and think I'm unreliable.
Response: Someone might be disappointed that I'm late, but it's not the end of the world. The meeting might not even start on time.

I'll make a fool of myself. Response: Oh come, now. I'm not a "fool." I may, this once, appear foolish by coming late, but this doesn't make me a fool. Everyone comes in late once in a while, and not everyone's a fool.

I'm such an idiot. Response: That's just silly. I'm not an idiot at all, and certainly being late doesn't make me one.

A word of caution from Dr. Burns: Writing down yor negative thoughts and rational responses may strike you as simplistic, ineffective, or even gimmicky. You might share the feelings of some patients who initially refused to do this, saying, "What's the point? It won't work —it couldn't because I really am hopeless and worthless."

This attitude can only serve as a self-defeating prophecy. If you are unwilling to pick up the tool and use it, you won't be able to do the job.


It seems a little harsh, but essentially what he means is "don't knock it until you've tried it."

It may not be the solution to the world's problems, but it certainly doesn't hurt, and even helps a lot. :D

Daphne


Good day, and good mental health! ^_-

Date: 2003-01-07 03:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caersidi.livejournal.com
I think a lot of folk tend to downplay the usefulness of certain types of Behavioral Therapy. It can be reductionist *but* can often assist in problems such as you've outlined above. Of course, one of the problems with people who suffer from depression is their becoming 'frozen' in terms of not using simple self-help methods.

Last January I wrote on the image of the Prison of despair (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=caersidi&itemid=61269) in relation to JKR's use of Azkaban and the Dementors. Referred to website of psychologist Dorothy Rowe (http://www.dorothyrowe.com.au/). (Her site seems to be having some problems at moment but here (http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Mind%20Matters/rowe52.htm) is link to article by her.

Saving this and your former entry to memories.

Vivienne

When I was actively CBTing...

Date: 2003-01-07 04:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fearsclave.livejournal.com
...my shrink had me record my the intensity of my feelings of despair and angst and so forth on a scale of 1 to five, both upon the occurence of the automatic thought and following my running the process. It was interesting, in that I could quantify the improvement...

Profile

mousme: A view of a woman's legs from behind, wearing knee-high rainbow socks. The rest of the picture is black and white. (Default)
mousme

July 2025

S M T W T F S
   1 2 3 4 5
6 7 89101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 16th, 2025 03:09 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios