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PSYC 110 Section:

Substituting Irrational Thoughts Exercise (10 Points)

Beck’s cognitive-behavioral therapy identifies the faulty logic in a person’s thinking and attempts to substitute logical alternative reasoning. That is, the therapy tries to get people thinking logically. Below are examples of illogical, faulty thinking that college students may have. Your task is to substitute a logical, rational alternative for each illogical throught.

1. If I can’t make this (intimate) relationship work, I’ll never be able to make any relationship work.

Rational Alternative:

2. If I try to change majors at this point, my parents will kill me because I may need to stay in college for another semester. I might just as well drop out of college altogether and head for the Army.

Rational Alternative:

3. Nobody is ever going to love me. I’m just not attractive and interesting enough.

Rational Alternative:

4. I cannot stand my life! Nothing ever gets better. The college courses are too hard, the professors are too tough and even the social life is too difficult to break into.

Rational Alternative:

5. I really made a fool of myself at the party last night. Everyone in my dorm must have heard about it by now. No one is ever going to want to be seen with me. Everyone is going to be staring and thinking, “There goes the biggest jerk I’ve ever seen.”

Rational Alternative:

6. Make up your own irrational thought:

Rational Alternative: