Eleven,
Thanks for contacting us. Now that you have reached session 4, "How to Challenge Your Negative Thoughts" we have asked you to keep thought records. By asking you to keep Thought Records, we’re asking you to do something that you’ve probably never done before. Like learning any new skill, learning how to keep Thought Records takes some time and practice. The first few often take quite a while to complete. However, the payoff is that after some time and practice you will have a much better understanding of the relations among your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The following tips will help.
1) Use a change in your mood as a signal to do a Thought Record
2) Try to be as specific as possible
3) Try to complete the Thought Record as soon as possible after the event
As for cognitive distortion, here are a list of common types of cognitive distortions. Which one you recognize?
1) Focus on the negative
2) Overgeneralization
3) All-or-none thinking
4) Catastrophizing
5) Disqualifying the positive
6) Emotional reasoning
7) Personalization
8) Labeling
9) Predicting the future
10) “Should” statements
11) Mind reading
Please feel free to respond to our reply. If you would like to work one on one with our moderators, then please contact us in our feedback section found at the bottom of this page.
Melanie
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The Depression Center Support Team
