Cognitive Behavior Theory

Figure 1 Source: oogleyboo-kbil. Cognitive imagination. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.deviantart.com/art/Cognitive-imagination-124515031

“We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us.”

Epictetus

Figure 2 Source: TheHeroicStoic.com. The story of Epictetus. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.heroicstoic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Epictetus-Feature.jpg

BEHAVIOR

Figure 3 Source: psychminded. Cognitive behaviour therapy. (2011). Retrieved from https://psychminded.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/cog-triangle.jpg

THOUGHTS

FEELINGS

Cognitive Restructuring

Figure 4 Source: Boyes, A. (2013). Try these cognitive restructuring exercises to improve your mood and reduce stress. Retrieved from http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Dz5-uTqu--/18d818ynhy1e2jpg.jpg

Cognitive restructuring is a technique that helps to identify and challenge irrational or maladaptive thoughts known as cognitive

distortions (Mills, Reiss & Dombeck, 2015).

Cognitive Distortions •  All-or-Nothing Thinking •  Overgeneralization •  Mental Filter •  Discounting the Positive •  Jumping to Conclusions •  Magnification •  Emotional Reasoning •  Should Statements •  Labeling •  Personalization and Blame (Burns, 1999)

Emotional Reasoning “I feel like an idiot, therefore I am an idiot.”

“I feel inadequate, therefore I must be a worthless

person.”

Emotional reasoning plays a role in almost all depressions. Because things feel so negative to a

depressed person, such a person assumes the reasoning is correct.

One common side effect of emotional reasoning is

procrastination (Watson, 2015).

Untwist Your Thinking

•  Identify the Distortion •  Examine the Evidence •  The Double-Standard

Method •  Experimental Technique •  Thinking in Shades of

Grey •  The Survey Method •  Define Terms •  The Semantic Method •  Re-attribution •  Cost-Benefit Analysis

(Burns, 1999)

Figure 5 Source: fc07. Thoughts. (2011). Retrieved from http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/251/a/6/ a6b0b700dc0305c8b44fe92a5775010a-d4987pa.jpg

Your Thoughts & Feelings •  Sadness or Depression •  Guilt or Shame •  Anger, Irritation, Annoyance, or Resentment •  Frustration •  Anxiety, Worry, Fear, Nervousness or Panic •  Inferiority or Inadequacy •  Loneliness •  Hopelessness or Discouragement (Burns,

1999)

Identify one cognitive distortion you have and how you can

reconstruct it.

References •  Burns, D. (1999). The feeling good handbook. Retrieved from

http://www.apsu.edu/sites/apsu.edu/files/counseling/COGNITIVE_0.pdf

•  Mills H., Reiss N. & Dombeck, M. (2015). Cognitive restructuring. Retrieved from http://www.sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=15670&cn=117

•  Watson, A. (2015). To "emotionally reason" is to take your emotions as evidence for the truth. Retrieved from http://essex-behavioural-therapy.co.uk/article.asp?aid=54&topic=emotional-reasoning