For example, a 2007 study found that cognitive restructuring helped participants who experienced severe grief, while a 2003 study discovered that it reduced the symptoms and effects of PTSD. The event activates a set of Beliefs (B). If possible, generate at least two or three alternative thoughts for each overly-negative Automatic Thought. For example, you can use cognitive restructuring to mentally prepare yourself for a party or a public presentation. A person’… Box 9.8 provides examples of common dysfunctional thoughts about sleep. Black and white thinking is the tendency to evaluate things exclusively in terms of extreme categories. In part because many unanticipated but powerful obstacles often rise up and derail our best intentions. Almost always, they will have gone down at least modestly as a function of questioning your automatic thoughts and generating alternative and more realistic ones. A person’… Of course, we all play a little fast and loose with our self-talk sometimes. Just coming out of severe depression and raking a good look at myself and how I react to situations and the negative thoughts that constantly flood my brain. In fact, for many of my own clients, I often recommend a more mindfulness-based approach that involves observing negative thoughts without engaging with them. In the beginning, it’s usually best to always do your Cognitive Restructuring in the form of a Thought Record so that you can learn the process. Also, in addition to simply generating more alternative interpretations or explanations of what happened, it can be useful to notice any obvious errors in your initial thoughts and develop alternative thoughts that are more realistic. Cognitive Restructuring is a powerful technique for reducing negative thinking patterns and whatever stress, anxiety, or other negative emotions and moods they create. Wherever You Go, There You Are: How to Be Present for Your Own Life, Happy Together: 3 Principles for a Stronger Romantic Relationship, Assertiveness: A Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming More Assertive [2020], Precrastination: The Dark Side of Getting Things Done, The Ulysses Pact: An Ancient Technique for Building Better Habits, How to Do Cognitive Restructuring (Step-by-Step Plan), How to Use a Thought Record to Help with Cognitive Restructuring, Common Obstacles to Cognitive Restructuring, Case Study: How Julie used Cognitive Restructuring to lower her worry and anxiety, we can change the way we feel by changing the way we think, the secret that most productive people know, be more optimistic in your general outlook on life, sense of self can become frail and brittle, observing negative thoughts without engaging with them, “Oh great, she’s gonna fire me, I know it. Then, you’d write a couple of balanced thoughts that accurately reflect the evidence, e.g., “I’ve made some mistakes that I feel embarrassed about but a lot of the time, I make good choices.”. In any case, the important thing is to simply be flexible and come up with more interpretations than your first automatic one. ... After the example, I’ll break the process down into steps so you’ll be able to apply them right away. And in fact, not being able to “downshift” out of problem-solving mode is one of the biggest sources of excess stress and burnout. Let's say that you're depressed, and as part of your treatment for depression you visit a cognitive behavioral psychotherapist. Cognitive restructuring refers to the act of identifying ineffective patterns in thinking, and changing them to be more effective. Frequently, the technique is used as a component of a broader approach to therapy, like rational emotive behavior therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy. As such, you can use it to reframe the unnecessary negative thinking that we all experience from time to time. In the example above, the Activating Event is getting a ticket. The act of writing things down and referring to a Thought Record helps establish the basic knowledge and skills you need to complete it successfully. When Julie came back to see me one session after a visit with her mother-in-law we talked about how it went doing Cognitive Restructuring. For her, the feeling of anxiety was a good cue and reminder to begin Cognitive Restructuring. Though challenging to do, an example of cognitive restructuring make this process fairly easy to understand. Cognitive restructuring. Evaluate the evidence for/against your thought. When I asked her what kind of thoughts she experienced during this hour leading up to a visit, she mentioned things like: The first thing I encouraged Julie to do was make a plan for remembering to do her Cognitive Restructuring during these high anxiety times before a visit with the mother-in-law. Next, she described how she had remembered to pause and check in with herself (Step 1) before leaving for her in-laws. EXAMPLE: After our child makes a crucial mistake at the end of a softball game, we think to ourselves, “If only I had practiced with her yesterday when she asked me to she wouldn’t have dropped that pop-up!”.

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