Use this worksheet to understand how to challenge automatic thoughts and create healthy, positive alternative thoughts. On this page, we provided you with a CBT Unhelpful Thinking Styles Worksheet which hopefully helped you to recognize and deal with your unhelpful thinking style. You can download this worksheet here. The worksheets on this site should not be used in place of professional advice from a mental health professional.
You should always seek help from a mental health professional or medical professional. Rochelle experienced a lot of abuse as a child.
Her parents were neglectful, she was abused by a relative, and she was bullied throughout her school career. She was quick to assume that others were likely to harm her, felt anxious, and struggled to form meaningful relationships.
In therapy an examination of her automatic thoughts revealed lots of catastrophizing. Discussing some of the assumptions that she held Rochelle said that she always assumed the worst because that was what life had typically given her.
Table 1 gives some examples of cognitive errors and the associated assumptions:. Table 1 : Unhelpful thinking styles cognitive distortions and associated assumptions. The ability for humans to think in abstract ways is the product of evolution. We have brains that allow us to think about things other than the here-and-now because that ability has benefited the survival of our species.
One implication of this insight is that thinking itself is likely to have been optimized for survival rather than accuracy. Paul Gilbert published a fascinating evolutionary take on cognitive distortions in [8]. Gilbert proposes that an evolutionary explanation does not necessarily conflict with developmental explanations but can exist as a complementary view.
A summary of his argument is that:. In his view information processing is inherently biased in the service of helping us to stay alive.
The implication of this line of thinking is that some of the common unhelpful thinking styles may confer an evolutionary advantage. Consider the following biases:. This bias is likely to occur in pressurized situations when emotions are running hot or where time is of the essence. Speed can confer a survival advantage which explains why this error occurs.
This bias is especially likely to persist in situations where time is of the essence. Disqualifying the positive This can be related to modesty, which, at low levels, is seen as an attractive trait.
This evolutionary approach to cognitive distortions has interesting clinical implications for cognitive behavioral therapists working with clients who think in unhelpful ways. In CFT cognitive distortions are not necessarily combated directly. Instead, what CFT brings is a layer of scientifically-grounded understanding to thoughts. Instead of direct restructuring the approach helps clients to soften their attitude towards themselves and reduces personal responsibility by viewing them as a product of an evolved brain which it is not your fault for having.
Clinicians interested in helping clients to foster self-compassion are advised to read further regarding the Compassion Focused Therapy CFT approach. Helping clients to think in a more balanced fashion is a core component of traditional cognitive therapy. Clinicians may need to move clients through a number of stages in order to effectively help them to overcome unhelpful and habitual cognitive biases. Help your clients understand about automatic thoughts Your clients need to understand that everybody experiences automatic thoughts and images.
Essential information to impart is that automatic thoughts are involuntary cognitions which can be triggered by external stimuli in the world around us, or by internal stimuli consisting of our own emotions, body sensations, and other cognitive content thoughts, images, memories, urges. Automatic thoughts are often highly believable, and if believed or allowed to pass unchallenged they can have a profound and detrimental effect upon our emotional state. Train your clients to catch their automatic thoughts using thought records Traditional cognitive therapy is interested in our cognitive content.
This means that your clients need to know what thoughts and images are going through their minds if they are to be able to balance their thinking. Thought records are a brilliant way of catching our automatic thoughts. Clients are encouraged to complete thought records whenever they notice a significant change in how they are feeling — this is a strong clue that they have had an automatic thought.
At their simplest, thought records consist of a form with space to record information about the situation in which a thought occurred, the thought or image itself, and how it made them feel. Clients are encouraged to record their thoughts and images as close as possible to the time they occurred as that way the recorded information is likely to be as detailed as possible.
Understand and notice cognitive biases Understanding about unhelpful thinking styles can be extremely normalizing and destigmatizing. Many clients like to see handouts of cognitive biases. Judicious therapist use of self-disclosure can be helpful when working with reticent or shame-prone clients.
To help your clients learn to recognize unhelpful thinking styles in their daily life you can use the Dysfunctional Thought Record. This thought record has columns for recording standard information about situations, thoughts and emotions, but also contains prompts to help clients practice identifying the biases present in their thoughts.
Cognitive restructuring Cognitive restructuring , or challenging the content of our negative automatic thoughts is a mainstay of CBT. We discuss the process of challenging our negative automatic thoughts extensively elsewhere, but clinicians should be aware of the wide variety of techniques available to them including:. Making the restructured thinking habitual One favoured approach amongst expert practitioners is to intervene with fewer techniques but to ensure that clients benefit maximally from each.
Once clients have had sufficient practice using paper-and-pencil thought records it is worthwhile to encourage them go through the disputation practice in their head. Once symptoms have at least partially remitted shift to targeting assumptions Each cognitive distortion is underpinned by assumptions specific to that distortion.
Beck and colleagues argue that if clients hold dysfunctional assumptions like these they are more prone to thinking in a distorted manner [2]. Beck and colleagues suggest a variety of techniques for working effectively with assumptions including:.
Consider using cognitive bias modification Cognitive bias modification is a relatively recent approach with only preliminary supporting evidence. Nevertheless it is a potentially interesting method for working with unhelpful thinking styles. Preview All Resources. Premium Feature Emailing resources to clients is restricted to only the Advanced and Team plans. Editable version PPT Powerpoint. Description Our minds are always interpreting the world around us, trying to make sense of events. The ten most commonly presented cognitive distortions are: All-or-nothing thinking describes thinking or acting in extremes.
Overgeneralization describes seeing a pattern based on too little data. Mental filter or selective abstraction describes only paying attention to certain types of evidence. Magnification and minimization describe how we exaggerate imperfections and errors while minimising achievements and strengths. Personalization and blame describe occasions when you conclude — arbitrarily — that what happened was your fault even when you were not responsible. References Beck, A.
The Core Beliefs sheet allows you to explore your core belief and what methods you may be using to compensate for it. Ready to get started? Make an appointment today. Free Ebook. Therapy Resources. New Client Materials If you are a new client please download this short packet, print it, fill it out, and bring it to your first appointment. Download New Client Materials. Invisible Toolbox: Coping Skills Checklist.
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