From the files: Clear away the cobwebs

As a companion piece to my post on Richard Carlson's work, here's an old post from October 11, 2008, covering a related approach pioneered by David Burns. Incidentally, there's now an app for this — in fact, there's more than one. For iOS, the iCouch CBT app works pretty well. For Android, the Cognitive Diary CBT app looks good, though I haven't tried it. 

Carlson's method involves not taking your thoughts too seriously. Burns's method involves subjecting your thoughts to a reality check. The common denominator of both approaches is to distance yourself from your thoughts — to look at a thought from a detached perspective, rather than letting it control you. 

Neither method is a cure-all, but both can be helpful in preventing a "thought attack" — a cascade of negative thinking that often has little basis in reality.  

~~~

In these stressful days, you may find it useful to study the ten cognitive distortions identified by Dr. David Burns. I first came across these in Burns' self-help book Feeling Good many years ago.

The basic technique is to write down a thought that's troubling you, and see which of the cognitive distortions may apply to it. Then reword the thought in more objective terms. It can also be helpful to rate your belief in the original thought and, later, in the revised thought.

For instance, suppose you are thinking, "I'll never get that promotion." Your belief in this is, say, 80% - you're almost certain of it. 

Then consider if one or more of the distorted thought processes is at work here. You might decide that #7 applies - emotional reasoning. And maybe # 5(b) - fortune telling.

Something may feel true without necessarily being true. And predicting the future is dicey business. How many times have you made a false prediction or had a feeling of doom that turned out to be unjustified?

Next, ask yourself if you can replace the thought with one that is not affected by these distortions. You might say, "It seems as if getting that promotion will be harder than I hoped." Rate your belief in this new thought - maybe you believe it 60% or so.

Now go on to the next step: why will getting the promotion be harder than you hoped? "Because the boss hates me." Write this down. You believe it 100%.

But are there distortions in this thought, too? Maybe # 5(a) - mind reading. Perhaps also # 3 - mental filter.

Have you focused only on those times when your boss has been hostile, and suppressed your memory of those times when he has been pleasant? Have you assumed he has a negative attitude toward you personally, when you actually don't know what he's thinking?

Revise your thought. Now it might be something like: "My boss can be hard to get along with sometimes." Rate your belief in this, and then ask why you feel this way. You'll come up with another thought to analyze.

Continue in this way, digging deeper into your thoughts in a step-by-step fashion, until you have arrived at a clearer perspective, one that is not clouded by distorted thinking.

This deceptively simple technique can be amazingly powerful. Give it a try.

Comments

[Julie Baxter]

Can I just reply to, "How many times have you made a false prediction or had a feeling of doom that turned out to be unjustified?" Never. not once, have I had a feeling of doom that has not proved to be a forewarning of some negative experience of one kind or other.

[Steve Hume]

You're obviously much more intuitive in that way than me, Julie.

However, I would add that I can only remember one occasion in my life when I've had an instinctive dislike of a person upon meeting them for the first time, and the feeling has proved to be unjustified (spectacularly so, in that instance). I frequently get that feeling even before someone has opened their mouth and, once, before I'd even seen the person concerned.

I never ignore that instinct now, but it took me around 40 years to start paying heed to it. Assuming I was being 'irrational', or unfair in the past had simply proved to be rather costly, and not worth the subsequent hassle.

[Julie Baxter]

With people, it's not so much instant dislike: There have been times when someone I've initially taken a dislike to has turned into a good friend later. Sometimes we dislike people solely because they're rather too much like our self! :)

What I mean is a feeling that says, quite unmistakably, 'something is very wrong here'. The feeling is one of dread right down to the pit of one's stomach.

We all suffer from nerves and anxiety at times. Stress can easily bring on such feelings. But the kind of thing I'm getting at is quite distinct from that. It's a foreboding; a knowing with certainty that all is not well with something or someone.

I seem to recall that M. Scott Peck wrote at some length about this kind of thing in his 'People of the Lie'. Until I came across that book I had never thought very deeply about the phenomenon before.

But I am sensitive. I get lots of premonitions about all kinds of things - sometimes quite unimportant things. But such feelings are always very distinct and unmistakable - feels like suddenly remembering something.

[Kathleen]

Julie, you've reminded me of this passage from Alergnon Blackwood's "The Empty House:"

“Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once their character for evil. In the case of the latter, no particular feature need betray them; they may boast an open countenance and an ingenuous smile; and yet a little of their company leaves the unalterable conviction that there is something radically amiss with their being: that they are evil. Willy nilly, they seem to communicate an atmosphere of secret and wicked thoughts which makes those in their immediate neighbourhood shrink from them as from a thing diseased.”

So I think there are definitely people who give off "bad vibes," as Blackwood so eloquently explains here. You just can't seem to put your finger on it, but perhaps we pick things up subconsciously.

[Julie Baxter]

We certainly do. But, even so, some people almost seem to gravitate towards those unpalatable types. For instance, I've never understood why people will stand behind and even protect an obviously mean-spirited bully. Is it a case of like attracting like?

At a conference some years ago I met a lady psychotherapist who had many interesting accounts to tell of the different kinds of characters she'd met over the years during the course of her professional work.

Before we parted she told me that she felt me to be 'clean all the way through'. At the time I thought oh dear, how boring I sound. Today I feel delighted to recall that she perceived me that way. And how very kind of her to tell me so. :)

[SPatel]

On intuitive feelings - I once had a strong, sudden sense that I was being attacked by *something* while staying at a friend's.

Ignored it at the time, assuming it was probably unjustified as there was no mundane reason to think there was any danger.

We got carjacked at gunpoint about an hour later after going out.

[Julie Baxter]

That's *exactly* the kind of scenario I had in mind earlier, SPatel - although a tad more extreme than anything I've experienced to date!!

[Steve Snead]

A few years ago I lost a friend from my youth. I don't live in the same area now and I heard bits and pieces of what might have happened. Ranging from suicide to something more sinister. Still, I thought so much of her. Her youth and sweetness and hard upbringing. I remember there was a pool hall in the little town we hung out in and she painted a mural of butterflies on the wall. Well, I was driving and had written a short post on a local forum about my long ago friend and thinking of things. I honestly don't remember if I was consciously thinking of her right then. But, all of a sudden I felt her presence in the car. I did something I never do. I actually reached out as if I were stroking the side of her face. It was that strong.

A little later I had (my own fault) a fender bender. Was she protecting me and that's why it wasn't worse? Was I still in a mind fog from the encounter? Was it just unrelated? I don't know. I don't know if this post belongs in this particular place right now. But, I knew and I still know that there is some connection that we have and leaning toward reincarnation I tend to believe in group souls. Of course I could be wrong. :-)