Topic Tuesday // Tues, 15 March, 7pm AEDT // Managing and changing your thoughts

[Lookingup]

Situation = sitting alone in a cafe
Thoughts = I'm not good enough to be here with someone
Consequence = i feel sad

[Polly48]

I feel like this when I am down i.e. . depressed 

[Shimmer]

@Polly48 CBT can be helpful with impulsive spending and decluttering - it usually helps to break these things down into smaller parts to tackle one by one using the ABC model - is there a small part of either that you could try putting into the ABC model as @CherryBomb suggested?

[CherryBomb]

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@Lookingup wrote:
Hi. I can relate to personalization and lebelling. I find that I have a series of criticisms that i say to myself regularly. So would it help to replace each theme with a positive one and each time i find myself having these negative thoughts then using the positive affirmation?

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Hi @Lookingup

What a great question. Can we park your questio? I believe @Shimmer will talk about challenging unhelpful thinking with counter thoughts soon. 

[Shaz51]

Hi @Shimmer, @CherryBomb 

A) The situation = _Lawn mowing ____________

B) The thoughts = __everyone will think I didn`t do a good job _____________

C) The consequences: ____feeling anxoius and start to panic __________

[CherryBomb]

Thanks for contributing your ABC model scenarios @Jacques, @Lookingup, @Shaz51 anyone else want to join in? We're about to move on what you can do next with @Shimmer. 

[Shimmer]

Wow great work @CherryBomb, @Jacques and @Lookingup in identifying the ABC model of tricky situations.

So the next step is identifying the unhelpful thinking style. Can any of you identify any in the thoughts you described?

@Lookingup you are ahead of the game, good on you! We will get to how to modify them next 🙂

[CherryBomb]

@Shimmer ok so focusing on the unhelpful thoughts in our scenarios, mine would be:

"I'm not good enough, and others know it - they can see right through me"

"I should have prepared more"

"The other person's presentation was SO much better"

"I don't belong here, I feel like an imposter"

What about others?

[Shimmer]

Thanks @CherryBomb - so which of the types of unhelpful thinking styles from the sheet do you think could be coming into play in those thoughts?

[Polly48]

Situation my husband continually says I spend unwisely 

Thought Wish he would stop nagging me always seems negativehatehis repetitive criticism 

Consequences My reaction is always angry and aggressive. Need to work on changing this