cognitive behavioral therapy

what is the focus of cognitive behavioral therapy?

thoughts

what are the basic tenants of CBT?

humans are more than animals in that our mental processes affect our actions, and there are both rational and irrational, good and bad beliefs that influence happiness

CBT: definition

feelings and behaviors are based on thinking and beliefs; psychotherapy is based on correcting dysfunctional thinking and unuseful beliefs, and subsequently feelings and behaviors

the cognitive-behavioral model

a situation triggers automatic thoughts and images in us, which elicit the reaction (emotional, behavioral, physiological)

CBT is all about changing ____

our automatic thoughts and images

the cognitive triad

view of the self, future, and world: the way we view these topics determines our outlook on the world, and our happiness

CBT: goal

change your thoughts to lead to healthier behaviors and more stable emotions and physiological states

thoughts stem from

prior experiences and previously established attitudes and belief

what is the first step in changing your thoughts?

get over your pride

as maturity increases, impact of circumstances on emotions, behaviors and physiology

decreases

negative automatic thoughts (NATS)

negative thoughts about yourself, your world, or your future that are assumed to be true

examples of NATS

catastrophizing, all or nothing, emotional reasoning, fortune telling, personalization, shoulds and musts, mind reading, overgeneralizing, filtering

NATS: catastrophizing

thinking in terms of extreme consequences of events (drama-queen)

NATS: all or nothing

seeing things in black and white (no grey areas) in terms of opinions that you feel are ultimately right or wrong

NATS: emotional reasoning

the idea that if you feel something, it must be true - extending your emotions beyond the situation to something much larger

NATS: fortune telling

making negative predictions about the future with little evidence

NATS: personalization

making everything about you/taking everything personally/blaming yourself for everything

NATS: shoulds and musts

making ironclad rules for yourself about how things are supposed to be; usually stem from authority figures in our lives

NATS: mind reading

predicting others' thinking without the appropriate evidence; not the same as hypothesizing because it's deciding what the problem is, not listing possibilities

NATS: overgeneralizing

drawing global conclusions from one or more event

NATS: filtering

biased information processing, hearing what you want to hear

NATS: disqualifying the positive

transforming positive events into negative

NATS: low frustration tolerance

when something is difficult, it is "intolerable" and "unbearable"

other categories of bad core beliefs:

helpless, unlovable, worthless, injustice, extreme

the cognitive model

core beliefs influence our assumptions, which determine our compensatory coping strategies of a situation, which will impact our automatic thoughts and images and determine our reaction emotionally, behaviorally, or physiologically

the basic goals of CBT (4)

challenge the thoughts about a particular situation by identifying the cognitive traps, help the person to identify less threatening alternatives, test out these alternatives in the real world, challenge the assumptions that lead to the NATS

cognitive traps

mind sets that are self-fulfilling prophecies or would compromise your way of thinking about a topic

CBT strategies

keep a thoughts and feelings journal, cognitive restructuring, acting "as if" something were true, carry a list of orienting statements, conduct behavioral experiments, rating scales, seek evidence

CBT strategies: keep a thoughts and feelings journal

for one month, keep dated journal entries for disruptive emotions and include: the time of day, the feelings, and the thoughts; so you can beging to pick out themses

CBT strategies: cognitive restructuring

three steps: 1. thought identification 2. thought stopping (via shocking self statements or physical paint) 3. thought substitution

CBT strategies: acting as if something were true + conducting behavioral experiments

going against your usual thought or behavior with an actual behavior that you normally wouldn't find true

CBT strategies: carry a list of orienting statements

have a prepared list of constructive thoughts or reactions to situations so that you can better handle negative feelings when they arise

CBT strategies: rating scales

often our irrational thoughts and behaviors exist in extremes, so use a 1-10 scale to put it into perspective

CBT strategies: seeking evidence

validate/invalidate your beliefs by conducting surveys, letting thoughts and emotions pass by, mindfulness, getting rid of solutions that you use to maintain funky thinking and behavior (avoidance, heavy drinnking), setting situational goals

some food-related NATs

good vs. bad foods, can't try new foods, changing my diet will ruin my life, food is my enemy, my body defines me, I must be perfect in body and remain young looking or I am bad; I was not a good athlete so I can't exercise, food allergies are common and I am allergic to everything, if I eat in a health-promoting way I won't be able to eat foods I like, cooking and shopping are too hard, if I eat perfectly I'll never get sick