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+ Second Semester : [2] Automatic Thoughts

Dr Dina Moftah

God Bless his service

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[1] Automatic Thoughts

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• The thoughts are called "Automatic thoughts" because they simply pop into our heads automatically throughout the day. We don't plan or intend to think a certain way.
• In fact, we usually are not even aware of our automatic thoughts. One of the purpose of cognitive therapy is to bring automatic thoughts into awareness.
• Awareness is the first step toward change and better problem solving. Once you are aware of your thoughts, a number of possibilities for change become available to you.
• To identify automatic thoughts, notice what goes through your mind when you have a strong feeling or a strong reaction to something.
• Automatic thoughts can be words, images or memories.

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[2] [11] Faulty Automatic thinking

- Beck postulates that most individuals display common errors in their thinking and that these are more likely when emotions are strong. He encourages clients to memories these errors, so they can identify these tendencies in themselves.

- Definitions of [11] Common Cognitive Errors [Beck]:

(1) All – or – Nothing Thinking:

Placing experiences in one of two opposite categories

Ex : Black or white, saint or sinner

(2) Overgeneralizing :

- Making sweeping inferences

- EX: "I'm a nervous person" based on a single incident.

(3) Discounting the positives:

- Deciding that if a good thing has happened, it couldn't have been very important .

Ex: Refusing to take pride in earning a degree because "Everyone goes to university these days"

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4) Jumping to Conclusions:

- Focusing on one aspect of a situation when forming a judgement or deciding what the data means.

Ex : " I haven't received a phone call from the team because they think I'm useless and they don't want me to play for them".

5) Mind reading:

Believing one knows what another person is thinking with very little evidence.

Ex: "I know she dislikes me because she's never spoken to me.

6) Fortunetelling:

Believing one knows what the future holds, while ignoring other possibilities

EX: " I haven't heard back about the job interview. It means I really messed it up and will never get a job".

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7) Magnifying

Evaluating the importance of a negative event, or the lack of evidence of a positive event, in a distorted manner.

EX: a woman assumed her best friend didn't really value her, when she invited a relative to be the godmother at her son's christening.

8) Making 'should' statements:

Telling oneself one should do (or should have done) something when it is more accurate to say that one would like to do (or wishes one had done) the preferred thing .

Ex : " I should have got up in time to catch the bus, then I wouldn't have driven and been involved in an accident".

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9 Emotional Reasoning :

Believing that something must be true, because it feels like it is true.

Ex : " I can just feel she's going to walk out on me- It's not anything she's said or done, specifically".

10) Labelling:

Using a label to describe a behaviour, and then imputing all the meanings the label carries

Ex : Bad mother, idiot, ……….etc.

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11) Inappropriate Blaming:

Using hindsight to determine what one 'should have done', even if one could not have known the best thing to do at the time.

Also, ignoring mitigating factors or ignoring the role played by others in a negative experience or event

Ex : " I shouldn't have gone off on holiday, then I would have been there when my father had a heart-attack and died".

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Practice Activity : Group Therapy

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Reflections

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Case study

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