Writings on the Basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Automatic Thoughts, Intermediate Beliefs, Core Beliefs, and Motivation
Living with a chronic disease means constantly managing recurring symptoms and adapting to a new, often unwelcome, reality. This requires not just physical, but also psychological and emotional adjustment. In fact, coping with this new condition often becomes even more important than coping with the physical symptoms themselves. Research shows that automatic thoughts accompanying chronic…
Many of us want to lose weight from time to time, but when the process does not go as expected, we become frustrated and start believing that we will fail. Focusing on this thought rather than our goal often makes the process more difficult than it already is. Let’s see how someone who thinks, “I…
Many of us are constantly on the go, to the point where we can’t truly rest except when we sleep. Yet, there’s that inner voice saying, “You should be doing more.” But how helpful is the belief that we must do a lot to earn the right to rest? Let’s take a closer look. Here…
When we feel anxious, we have certain automatic thoughts more frequently. If you have noticed, our thoughts during anxiety will usually fit into this formula: Also, when we are anxious, due to intense feelings of fear, we see the world in a biased way, and believe these unhelpful thoughts more easily. This is called cognitive…
Maladaptive Assumptions in CBT In one of our previous posts, we examined Maladaptive Assumptions in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Techniques for Identifying Them. In this post, we share CBT techniques for challenging maladaptive assumptions. As you might recall, the ultimate goal of challenging a maladaptive assumption in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is to find a…
Maladaptive Assumptions in CBT Maladaptive assumptions (also called underlying assumptions, intermediate beliefs, dysfunctional beliefs) in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, are, as the names suggest, maladaptive/dysfunctional beliefs underlying automatic thoughts. They are simply the rules behind our automatic thoughts. As you might remember, CBT mentions three levels of cognitive distortions. Automatic thoughts are the most superficial of…
In one of our previous posts, “Can We Control Our Thoughts?”, we examined if it is possible to stop or control our thoughts. Here, I give an example of how to challenge an automatic thought about controlling our thinking. I use the cognitive behavioral therapy techniques for challenging automatic thoughts. In her mind, Carol is…
A CBT session with a client who asked for our help for quitting smoking. We try to understand his desire to smoke when he feels bored, and uncomfortable.
1. Know What You Want to Change You might already know what needs to be changed or you just have a sense that something in your life has to change, but you do not know what it is. Gilbert Chesterton said “Sometimes the problem is not not being able to see the solution, but not being able…
Continuing our session with Claire. She is having images on her mind in which her house burns down, and these are followed by compulsive checking rituals. In the previous part, part 1, we tried to help her see that the image on her mind is a thought, not the reality. In this part, we are working…