Best Life Therapy Blogs - Grief, Anxiety, Stress & More
- posted: Feb. 11, 2025
Have you ever heard the saying "You are what you think you are." Our thoughts have such as strong impact on our emotions. One common evidenced based treatment modality is cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT. It's a technique that helps people change their thinking and behavior by teaching them to identify unhelpful thoughts. CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts impact how we feel, and those things impact our behaviors. If we can change our thoughts, we truly can change our world.
CBT is commonly used to treat depression, PTSD, anxiety and more. During therapy, clients work with their therapist to identify thought patterns that are unhelpful. Learning to look at problems differently can help people view challenging situations in a more effective way. When we view things differently, we tend to behave differently as well.
Common Thinking Errors
Catastrophizing: This is when we expect the worst-case scenario to occur. When doing this, we often magnify the problem and, in our mind, it becomes a bigger problem than it actually is. Most of us have done this at one time or another. For some people, it becomes a habit that is hard to break.
Shoulds: This thinking error involves setting up rules for a situation without considering the specifics of that situation. Albert, Ellis, famous American psychologist coined the phrase "Don't should on yourself." Shad Helmstetter, one of my favorite authors, wrote the book "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself." He expanded on this concept of using the word should in his book when he discussed the fact that the words "I should" put judgement on us and often cause us to feel guilt and disappointment.
All of nothing thinking: This type of thinking is when we believe that something is good or bad with no middle ground. We don't consider the "gray" and are not flexible with our thoughts. People often do this with exercise. If they set a goal to work out every day and they don't reach it, many times they just give up even though we know that they won't make any progress when they give up. We also know that three times a week of exercise is better than nothing at all. When we deal with all or nothing thinking, we often feel stuck and are less inclined to think of solutions.
Mind Reading: We often assume that we know what others are thinking. These assumptions are not helpful and many times, those thoughts are completely inaccurate. When you find yourself doing this, ask yourself "how do I really know this thought is true? What evidence do I have to support this?" There is a popular saying "your anxiety is lying to you." As frustrating as it can be, that is often the case with anxiety and depression.
Overgeneralization: Taking one situation and making broad interpretations from it. An example of this might be that you are bad at communication because you stumbled on your words once during a conversation. When we take a blanket statement and apply it to more situations, we are overgeneralizing. Using the words "always" or "never" are often clues that we might be overgeneralizing. Statements like "I never get what I want" or "they always pick that person over me." When we use those words, we are talking in absolutes that do not reflect reality.
It's easy to read these things and conclude that is all so simple. Knowing about CBT is one thing but being able to apply these strategies consistently sometimes requires support. Repeated thought patterns over time can be difficult to break and that's why having a trained therapist to assist you with reframing is so helpful. Changing our self-talk can change our beliefs, attitudes and our feelings. With practice, we can get better at identify these thought patterns and challenging them.
If you feel like you need help with this, schedule your appointment at Best Life Therapy. We have online scheduling available on our website. Just click the request an appointment button on the first page to reserve your first appointment. Remember the saying by Zig Ziglar "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--- you're right." If you're thought patterns are causing you to feel sadness, anxiety or stress, feel free to reach out. We are here to help you!
- posted: Feb. 11, 2025
Have you ever heard the saying "You are what you think you are." Our thoughts have such as strong impact on our emotions. One common evidenced based treatment modality is cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT. It's a technique that helps people change their thinking and behavior by teaching them to identify unhelpful thoughts. CBT is based on the idea that our thoughts impact how we feel, and those things impact our behaviors. If we can change our thoughts, we truly can change our world.
CBT is commonly used to treat depression, PTSD, anxiety and more. During therapy, clients work with their therapist to identify thought patterns that are unhelpful. Learning to look at problems differently can help people view challenging situations in a more effective way. When we view things differently, we tend to behave differently as well.
Common Thinking Errors
Catastrophizing: This is when we expect the worst-case scenario to occur. When doing this, we often magnify the problem and, in our mind, it becomes a bigger problem than it actually is. Most of us have done this at one time or another. For some people, it becomes a habit that is hard to break.
Shoulds: This thinking error involves setting up rules for a situation without considering the specifics of that situation. Albert, Ellis, famous American psychologist coined the phrase "Don't should on yourself." Shad Helmstetter, one of my favorite authors, wrote the book "What to Say When You Talk to Yourself." He expanded on this concept of using the word should in his book when he discussed the fact that the words "I should" put judgement on us and often cause us to feel guilt and disappointment.
All of nothing thinking: This type of thinking is when we believe that something is good or bad with no middle ground. We don't consider the "gray" and are not flexible with our thoughts. People often do this with exercise. If they set a goal to work out every day and they don't reach it, many times they just give up even though we know that they won't make any progress when they give up. We also know that three times a week of exercise is better than nothing at all. When we deal with all or nothing thinking, we often feel stuck and are less inclined to think of solutions.
Mind Reading: We often assume that we know what others are thinking. These assumptions are not helpful and many times, those thoughts are completely inaccurate. When you find yourself doing this, ask yourself "how do I really know this thought is true? What evidence do I have to support this?" There is a popular saying "your anxiety is lying to you." As frustrating as it can be, that is often the case with anxiety and depression.
Overgeneralization: Taking one situation and making broad interpretations from it. An example of this might be that you are bad at communication because you stumbled on your words once during a conversation. When we take a blanket statement and apply it to more situations, we are overgeneralizing. Using the words "always" or "never" are often clues that we might be overgeneralizing. Statements like "I never get what I want" or "they always pick that person over me." When we use those words, we are talking in absolutes that do not reflect reality.
It's easy to read these things and conclude that is all so simple. Knowing about CBT is one thing but being able to apply these strategies consistently sometimes requires support. Repeated thought patterns over time can be difficult to break and that's why having a trained therapist to assist you with reframing is so helpful. Changing our self-talk can change our beliefs, attitudes and our feelings. With practice, we can get better at identify these thought patterns and challenging them.
If you feel like you need help with this, schedule your appointment at Best Life Therapy. We have online scheduling available on our website. Just click the request an appointment button on the first page to reserve your first appointment. Remember the saying by Zig Ziglar "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--- you're right." If you're thought patterns are causing you to feel sadness, anxiety or stress, feel free to reach out. We are here to help you!
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- Photo taken at Flushing County Park, Michigan