Thinking Traps VI: Emotional Reasoning
“Something bad is going to happen I can feel it.” Claudia was about to start a new job, the first step toward her dream job as a designer. “This is going to end badly”. “There she was laughing, rubbing his shoulder, rubbing my face in it!” Oscar’s classmate and former love interest Amanda had recently […]
Thinking Traps V: Personalisation
It’s all my fault! “It’s all my fault” Rebecca lamented. Her son had recently been fired due to testing positive on a workplace drug screen. “I knew he was using; I should have done more to stop him!” It is a good thing to take responsibility for your actions and their outcomes. When we […]
Thinking Traps Part IV: Catastrophising
“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened” – Michel de Montaigne Imagine you have a superpower – the ability to see calamities before they occur. You wake in the morning and you see that your boss will call you into her office to discuss your poor performance. You go […]
Thinking Traps Part III: Labelling
Apprentice carpenter, Steve, loves loud music, drinking beer and violent sports. He was seriously injured in a fight he started while out on the weekend. Label: Jerk Pasqual has never had a girlfriend. He is currently unemployed. He spends most of time gaming or trawling YouTube and Reddit. Label: Loser Krystal fired three staff members. […]
Thinking Traps II: Black and White Thinking
Part II in the Thinking Traps series. Looking at Cognitive Distortions from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) “If she can’t be counted on, she isn’t worth knowing”. Carol* was on the verge of breaking up with one of her latest best friends, Renee. Carol separated the world into two types of people – good people and […]
Thinking Traps Part I: Jumping to Conclusions
This is the first of a series of posts on Thinking Traps, also called Cognitive Distortions or Stinky Thinking. Thinking Traps are common mistakes of reasoning and logic that seem to naturally occur in the human mind. A primary aim of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is to help people identify and challenge these unhelpful thoughts […]
Negative Automatic Thoughts
Inner Radio All the body’s organs work. The heart beats. The lungs breathe. The brain thinks. Only a dead brain is free of thoughts. The conscious mind is endlessly active. If we become aware enough, we can listen to these thoughts. They are usually like a constant stream of dialogue, an inner radio. This radio […]
Nerves that fire together wire together
How does psychotherapy work? People who come to see a psychologist hope and expect that they will change from the process. I ask all new clients “what do you hope to get out of therapy?” Most people hope and expect that they will change perspective or habits or both. But what does this change mean? […]
