This session was led by Alexandra Williams, MA. @AlexandraFunfit // www.FunandFit.org // info@funandfit.org //IG: AlexandraFunFit
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Cognitive Therapy has an apporach called ABC that is a way of analyzing and seperating behaviors from emotions, then creating more helpful response patterns.
A: Activating Event – What happens BEFORE the belief? What triggered your response? Many times your immediate, interpretaion of the event is such a habit that it’s not longer obvious and you have to consciously try to track back to link the actual event to your immediate interpretation.
B: Beliefs – Do you have a rational or irrational belief and evaluation of the event?
C: Consequences – How you feel and what you do as a consequence of your beliefs and interpretations of the event.
According to cognitvie theory, our thinking can be distorted in 10 ways:
1. Black-and-White – Thinking or either / or thinking
2. Making Unfair Comparisons – usualy in the negative
3. Filtering – honing in on the negative, forgetting the positive.
4. Personalizing – The Self-Blame Game
5. Mind-Reading – thinking we know what others think (negatively)
6. Catastrophising – imagining the worst case scenerio
7. Overgeneralizing – “I always mess up…”
8. Confusing Fact with Feeling – “If I think or feel this way when my thoughts/feelings must be correct.”
9. Labelling – I’m a loser vs. I made a mistake.
10. “Can’t Standitis” – being unnecessarily intolerant
A does not cause C. B is the missing link, and is also the part that’s on autopilot. Identifying B will help you change your irrational beliefs to rational ones to create a new C.
According to this counseling theory, we have 3 “MUSTs” that lead us to irrational thinking:
* I must do well and win the approval of others for my performances or else I am no good.
* Other people must treat me considerately, fairly and kindly, and in exactly the way I want them to treat me. If they don’t, they are no good and they deserve to be condemned and punished.
*I must get what I want, when I want it; and I must not get what I don’t want. It’s terrible if I don’t get what I want, and I can’t stand it.
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(Live blogged/transcribed by Emily, www.FitandFreeEmily.com)