Tanner40
15-04-14, 23:13
I just responded to a post to someone who could possibly have been helped in easing their anxiety by reducing their automatic, irrational thought with rational thoughts.
CBT has helped me immensely in my battle against HA and anxiety in general. Replacing our irrational thoughts with rational thoughts can ease our anxiety, and with daily practice, can make life so much simpler.
Just an example of how I would use it when in the middle of a panic attack.
Example of how it could work: your leg is killing you. What are your thoughts? Maybe something like the following.
1) oh no, my leg and my calf is hurting. I wonder if it could be a DVT. I bet it's a blood clot. It could go to my lungs and kill me.
2) I'm going to have a PE and there won't be anything that can save me
3) there's no one here to help me and I'm going to die.
4) man, this is hurting. This isn't normal. There must be something really wrong.
5) I feel dizzy and sick and I'm hyperventilating. I'm not going to be able to breathe.
All of these are automatic thoughts and by their very nature, irrational.
How can you replace these automatic, irrational thoughts with rational thoughts?
Think about the possible types of distortions in your automatic thoughts.
All or Nothing Thinking - are you looking at things in a black or white category, with no in between.
Overgeneralization - using words like Always or Never
Mental Filter - dwelling on a single, negative event at the exclusion of all other things
Discounting the Positive - think that the positive experiences don't count because they weren't quite good enough.
Jumping to Conclusions - interpret things badly when there is no evidence to back up your conclusion.
Magnification - magnify the importance of your problems or short comings.
Emotional Reasoning - feeling scared about something so assuming that it must be really bad.
Should Statements - telling yourself things should or shouldn't be this particular way.
I find that if I can find the distortion in my thought and replace it with a calm, rational statement and that if I practice this often enough, it helps me tremendously.
Hang in there, Roxy. You can take control and make this better.
CBT has helped me immensely in my battle against HA and anxiety in general. Replacing our irrational thoughts with rational thoughts can ease our anxiety, and with daily practice, can make life so much simpler.
Just an example of how I would use it when in the middle of a panic attack.
Example of how it could work: your leg is killing you. What are your thoughts? Maybe something like the following.
1) oh no, my leg and my calf is hurting. I wonder if it could be a DVT. I bet it's a blood clot. It could go to my lungs and kill me.
2) I'm going to have a PE and there won't be anything that can save me
3) there's no one here to help me and I'm going to die.
4) man, this is hurting. This isn't normal. There must be something really wrong.
5) I feel dizzy and sick and I'm hyperventilating. I'm not going to be able to breathe.
All of these are automatic thoughts and by their very nature, irrational.
How can you replace these automatic, irrational thoughts with rational thoughts?
Think about the possible types of distortions in your automatic thoughts.
All or Nothing Thinking - are you looking at things in a black or white category, with no in between.
Overgeneralization - using words like Always or Never
Mental Filter - dwelling on a single, negative event at the exclusion of all other things
Discounting the Positive - think that the positive experiences don't count because they weren't quite good enough.
Jumping to Conclusions - interpret things badly when there is no evidence to back up your conclusion.
Magnification - magnify the importance of your problems or short comings.
Emotional Reasoning - feeling scared about something so assuming that it must be really bad.
Should Statements - telling yourself things should or shouldn't be this particular way.
I find that if I can find the distortion in my thought and replace it with a calm, rational statement and that if I practice this often enough, it helps me tremendously.
Hang in there, Roxy. You can take control and make this better.