DevYou

Now that we’ve looked at all ten cognitive distortions, let’s look at what to do about them.

While it’s best to learn about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques by reading Feeling Good or to actually talking to a cognitive behavioral therapist, I can outline the primary technique used to combat and ward off cognitive distortions: the Triple Column Technique. Feel free to try it out, and if you find it helpful, take a look at the book.

How To Do The Triple Column Technique

1. Grab a sheet of 8 1/2” x 11” paper and a pen or pencil.
2. Turn the paper so that the width is 11” (landscape).
3. Draw two lines from top to bottom so that the page is divided into three even columns.
4. Label the first column “Thoughts”, the second column “Distortions”, and the third “Rational Responses.”
5. Identify the negative feeling (or feelings) you’re experiencing (eg. sadness), and jot it down at the top of the page. Next to it, jot down a number between 1 and 10 that indicates how intensely you feel that emotion.
6. In the first column, try to write the exact thought you were thinking when the feeling arose. At first this can be a bit tricky, but with a little practice it’ll come more naturally. Typical thoughts might be: “I’m a failure”, “I always screw up”, “Why should I try? I’ll only fail.”
7. In the second column, write the distortions that underlie the thoughts you’ve identified. Remember to inspect each thought for each of the ten possible distortions. Note that some thoughts will actually contain multiple distortions.
8. When you’re done listing the distortions, use the third column to write rational replacement thoughts for the original distorted ones. For example: “I succeed at many things, even if I fail at a few now and then — just as everyone does. No one succeeds 100% of the time, and I recognize that I do succeed quite often.” replaces “I’m a failure.” The key here is to write rational responses to your irrational thoughts. Under the light of rational thought, distorted thoughts crumble, and the absence of distorted thoughts means the negative feelings they generate go away or never arise in the first place.
9. Now that you’ve completed the exercise, take a moment to see how you feel. Perhaps the feeling has dissipated. If not, perhaps it is less intense than before. How intense is it on the same 1 to 10 scale?

By the way, do not do this technique in your head. It’s essential that you do it on paper. There’s something about putting pen to paper that makes it truly effective.

Good luck!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Cognitive Therapy, Emotion, Mind, Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.