Friday, April 17, 2009

Basic Cognitive Behavior Therapy

For this exercise you will need a therapy notebook and some time for self-reflection. Next time you notice yourself feeling bad, sit down with a pen and your notebook, and follow these directions:
1. Describe the situation which led to feeling bad:
2. What is your specific feeling? Sad, resentful, worried, etc.? On a scale of 1-10, how strong is the feeling? Use the SUDS Scale [see adjacent post].
3. Write down the negative self-talk that occurs as the situation unfolds:
4. Identify the twisted thinking (see David Burns' "Ten Forms of Twisted Thinking”) that is present in the self-talk:
5. Write rational responses (see Burns' “How to Untwist Your Thinking” from The Feeling Good Handbook) to the negative self-talk:
6. What is your feeling now? On a scale of 1-10, how strong is it?
Repeat as needed, any time you notice that you’re feeling bad.

1 comment:

CBT said...

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is an action-oriented form of psychosocial therapy that assumes maladaptive thinking patterns that can lead to negative emotions. CBT helps people in the ways they think and in the way they act. It addresses person’s beliefs about sleep and helps replace negative or unhelpful behavior with positive ones.