Re: Socialising patients in cognitive therapy

The patient is right. One cannot think logically when in the throes of an emotional episode. However, thinking logically is not the point. Here's one of the motivational type things I talk about:

Think of negative, counterproductive emotional episodes as a problem of habitual thinking. The goal is to learn to develop healthier thinking habits. This is the point of cognitive-behavioral homework assignments. Analyzing the ATs {automatic thoughts} or the iBs {irrational beliefs} (depending on your orientation) and coming up with newer, healthier thoughts that lead to less maladaptive feelings -- that is the point.

As you begin to analyze the way you WERE thinking, and learn more adaptive ways you COULD HAVE BEEN thinking, and doing this over and over and over and over - you will begin to integrate the new way of thinking into your cognitive habits. The more you do it, the easier it gets, and the more natural it becomes. And suddenly, one day, you will start to FREAK OUT with anger, anxiety, panic, depression, etc. and one of those adaptive thoughts will pop into your head because you have been practicing, and you will start to reap the rewards of emotional self-control.

It's the same theory that tells you playing catch can make you a better baseball player, or that rehearsing offstage can make you a better actor. Developing better habits when the pressure is off can pay off when the pressure is on.

Jim, am I making sense?

Willie Deuel, MS
Clinical Behaviorist
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

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