Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) 2

Question 1

What are the Level of Cognition?

Answer 1

• Automatic thoughts
• Dysfunctional assumptions
• Core beliefs

Question 2

Repeat again, What are Automatic thoughts?

Answer 2

happen to everybody, most of the time.
You do not have to think about them, they just happen automatically and without effort.
They are fairly easy to identify once you pay attention to them.

Question 3

What are Dysfunctional assumptions? Give example

Answer 3

they bridge the gap between the core beliefs and the automatic thoughts.
They can be thought of as “rules for living” that often take on the form of conditional “if…then” propositions or as framed as “should” and “must” statements. They often represent attempts to live with negative core beliefs.

Question 4

What are Core beliefs? Give example

Answer 4

Represent your core beliefs about yourself, other people, or the world in general.
Most of the time you are not aware of them and they have to be deducted from observing your characteristic thoughts and behaviors.
Eg: “I am bad”, “Others cannot be trusted”. They are usually learned early on in life as a result of childhood experiences.

Question 5

Give example of a situation, by explaining it in each Level of Cognition?

Answer 5

• Automatic Thoughts
“I am being boring”, “I don’t know what to say”, “They think I am stupid”, “I am a failure”, “She doesn’t like me”

• Dysfunctional Assumptions
“If people get to know me, then they will find out how useless I am and reject me”, “I must be good at everything I do, otherwise my uselessness will be revealed”

• Core Beliefs or Schemata or worldview (self,others…)
“I am unlovable”, “I am useless”

Question 6

How to spot thinking error?

Answer 6

Using the ABC technique

Question 7

What is the ABC technique?

Answer 7

it is a a central CBT technique

Question 8

What are the component of ABC technique?

Answer 8

• Central concept in CBT: the ABC parts of a problem
o A = Activating Event (either an external event that occurred to you, a future event that might occur, or an internal event in your mind, like an image, memory, or dream)
o B = Beliefs (including your thoughts, your personal rules, the demands you make on yourself or other people, and the meaning that you attach to events)
o C = Consequences (including your emotions, behaviors, and physical sensations that accompany different emotions)

Question 9

How do you imply the ABC technique? Give an example

Answer 9

Writing down your problem in ABC form can help you to differentiate between the actual trigger event, and your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
• For example:
o A = You do not get a phone call back after a job interview.
o B = You think “I should have done better, they probably saw many candidates that are more qualified and present better than me, I will never get a job, I am a failure”.
o C = You experience depression (emotion), loss of appetite (physical sensation) and stay in bed to avoid the outside world (behavior).

Question 10

What are “Thinking Errors”?

Answer 10

Slips in thinking that everyone makes from time to time.

Question 11

To help you identify some common thinking errors, CBT psychologists have made a list of the most common ones. What are they?

Answer 11

o	Catastrophizing:
o	All-or-Nothing Thinking (also called Black-or-White Thinking)
o	Fortune-Telling 
o	Mind-Reading
o	Emotional Reasoning
o	Overgeneralizing
o	Labeling
o	Making demands
o	Mental Filtering/Selective abstraction
o	Disqualifying the Positive
o	Low Frustration Tolerance 
o	Personalizing

Question 12

What is the Catastrophizing thinking error?

Answer 12

Taking a relatively minor negative event and imagining all sorts of disasters resulting from that one small event.

Ex: “Sheesh, I already made a mistake on this report — I’ll never finish it, or if I do, it’ll be so full of mistakes, it won’t matter. I’m getting fired no matter what.”

Question 13

What is the Fortune-Telling thinking error?

Answer 13

Predicting a negative future as if you actually know what will happen.

Ex: My thoughts are so powerful, just by thinking it, something bad will happen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1sFKg_xl-o

Question 14

What is the Mind-Reading thinking error?

Answer 14

Assuming that others are thinking negative things about you or have negative intentions.

Ex: I know exactly what she is thinking….; He thinks I’m ridiculous

Question 15

What is the Emotional Reasoning thinking error?

Answer 15

Taking your feelings as facts.

Ex: I feel hopeless, I must really be hopeless.

Question 16

What is the Overgeneralizing thinking error?

Answer 16

Making general conclusions for the future about one single event or fact, generally by using words such as “always”, “never”, “people are…”, etc.

Ex: If I get sick, I will never recover, and never be able to be happy again; You can’t trust anyone these days;

Question 17

What is the Labeling thinking error?

Answer 17

Using shortcuts or “labels” to describe an event, a person, or a situation, therefore excluding potential for change or improvement.

Ex: instead of thinking “I’ve made a mistake”, you will think “I’m a loser”

Question 18

What is the Making demands thinking error?

Answer 18

Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, puts “demands” at the heart of emotional problems. Thoughts and beliefs that contain words like “must”, “should”, “need”, “got to”, etc. are often problematic because they are too rigid.

Question 19

What is the Mental Filtering/Selective abstraction: thinking error?

Answer 19

Only paying attention to information that fits the belief you hold; ignoring contradictory information.

Ex: You receive many positive feedbacks on your presentation, but you only think about that one negative comment

Question 20

What is the Disqualifying the Positive thinking error?

Answer 20

Minimizing positive events by ignoring positive feedback, and disqualifying or distorting positive attributes or experiences.

Question 21

What is the Low Frustration Tolerance thinking error?

Answer 21

Assuming that something that is difficult to tolerate is “intolerable”, therefore refusing to tolerate temporary discomfort.

Question 22

What is the Personalizing thinking error?

Answer 22

Interpreting events as if they are all related to you personally.

Ex: A mother feels responsible for her daughters’ poor grades at school and concludes ‘I am a lousy mother’

Question 23

What is the All-or-Nothing Thinking thinking error?

Answer 23

(also called Black-or-White Thinking)

Thinking in extremes (either extremely good or extremely bad) that can lead to extreme emotions and behaviors.

Ex: “I’m good at something or I’m bad at something,” If I don’t do it perfectly, then I’m rubbish