Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Dummies

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go From Here
Part 1 Introducing CBT Basics
Chapter 1 You Feel the Way You Think
Using Scientifically Tested Methods
Understanding CBT
Combining science, philosophy and behaviour
Progressing from problems to goals
Making the Thought–Feeling Link
Emphasising the meanings you attach to events
Acting out
Learning Your ABCs
Characterising CBT
Chapter 2 Spotting Errors in Your Thinking
Catastrophising: Turning Mountains Back Into Molehills
All-or-Nothing Thinking: Finding Somewhere In-between
Fortune-Telling: Stepping Away From the Crystal Ball
Mind-Reading: Taking Your Guesses with a Pinch of Salt
Emotional Reasoning: Reminding Yourself That Feelings Aren’t Facts
Overgeneralising: Avoiding the Part/Whole Error
Labelling: Giving Up the Rating Game
Making Demands: Thinking Flexibly
Mental Filtering: Keeping an Open Mind
Disqualifying the Positive: Keeping the Baby and Throwing Out the Bathwater
Low Frustration Tolerance: Realising You Can Bear the ‘Unbearable’
Personalising: Removing Yourself from the Centre of the Universe
Chapter 3 Tackling Toxic Thoughts
Catching NATs
Making the thought–feeling link
Becoming more objective about your thoughts
Stepping Through the ABC Form I
Creating Constructive Alternatives: Completing the ABC Form II
Chapter 4 Designing and Conducting Behavioural Experiments
Seeing for Yourself: Reasons for Doing Behavioural Experiments
Testing Out Predictions
Seeking Evidence to See Which Theory Best Fits the Facts
Conducting Surveys
Making Observations
Ensuring Successful Behavioural Experiments
Keeping Records of Your Experiments
Chapter 5 Pay Attention! Refocusing and Retraining Your Awareness
Training in Task Concentration
Choosing to concentrate
Tuning in to tasks and the world around you
Tackling the task concentration record sheet
Becoming More Mindful
Being present in the moment
Letting your thoughts pass by
Discerning when not to listen to yourself
Incorporating mindful daily tasks
Tolerating upsetting images and unpleasant ideas
Part 2 Charting the Course: Defining Problems and Setting Goals
Chapter 6 Exploring Emotions
Naming Your Feelings
Thinking What to Feel
Understanding the Anatomy of Emotions
Comparing Healthy and Unhealthy Emotions
Spotting the difference in thinking
Spotting the difference in behaving, and ways you want to behave
Spotting the difference in what you focus on
Seeing Similarities in Your Physical Sensations
Identifying Feelings about Feelings
Defining Your Emotional Problems
Making a statement
Rating your emotional problem
Chapter 7 Identifying Solutions That Cause You Problems
When Feeling Better Can Make Your Problems Worse
Getting Over Depression without Getting Yourself Down
Loosening Your Grip on Control
Feeling Secure in an Uncertain World
Surmounting the Side Effects of Excessive Safety-Seeking
Wending Your Way Out of Worry
Preventing the Perpetuation of Your Problems
Helping Yourself: Putting the Petals on Your Vicious Flower
Chapter 8 Setting Your Sights on Goals
Putting SPORT into Your Goals
Homing In on How You Want to Be Different
Setting goals in relation to your current problems
Making a statement
Maximising Your Motivation
Identifying inspiration for change
Focusing on the benefits of change
Completing a cost–benefit analysis
Recording your progress
Part 3 Putting CBT Into Action
Chapter 9 Standing Up to Anxiety and Facing Fear
Acquiring Anti-Anxiety Attitudes
Thinking realistically about the probability of bad events
Avoiding extreme thinking
Taking the fear out of fear
Attacking Anxiety
Winning by not fighting
Defeating fear with FEAR
Repeatedly confronting your fears
Keeping your exposure challenging but not overwhelming
Shedding safety behaviours
Recording your fear-fighting
Overriding Common Anxieties
Socking it to social anxiety
Waging war on worry
Pounding on panic
Assaulting agoraphobia
Dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder
Hitting back at fear of heights
Chapter 10 Abolishing Addictions
Putting a Name to Your Problem
Familiarising Yourself with the Many Faces of Addiction
Accepting Yourself and Your Addiction
Securing Suitable Support
Deciding to Desist
Counting the costs
Being honest about the benefits
Transforming Intention into Action
Making a date
Cruising through cravings
Extending the time between urge and action
Dealing with deprivation
Putting positive obstacles in place
Leaving nothing to chance
Creating constructive conditions for continued recovery
Cleaning house
Taking up supportive socialising
Planning to Prevent Relapse
Chapter 11 Building a Better Body Image and Beating BDD
Making Friends with the Mirror
Do I have BDD?
Do I have an eating disorder?
Considering hypothetical cases
Taking Advertising and Media Messages with a Pinch of Salt
Recognising your own body image issues
Accepting yourself
Seeing yourself as a whole person
Saluting Your Body for Services Rendered
Enjoying scintillating sensations
Doing your daily duties
Valuing your vehicle for experience
Choosing to Change for All the Right Reasons
Maximising enjoyment
Bringing out your best
Being daring
Chapter 12 Deconstructing and Demolishing Depression
Understanding the Nature of Depression
Looking at What Fuels Depression
Going Round and Round in Your Head: Ruminative Thinking
Catching yourself in the act
Arresting ruminations before they arrest you
Activating Yourself as an Antidepressant
Tackling inactivity
Dealing with the here and now: Solving problems
Taking care of yourself and your environment
ACTing against Depression
Practising acceptance
Considering compassion
Obtaining a new outlook
Managing Suicidal Thoughts
Contemplating Complex Forms of Depression
Bipolar disorder
Cyclothymic disorder
Dysthymic disorder
Chapter 13 Sleeping Soundly
Assessing Your Sleep Situation
Eliminating Unhelpful Sleep Expectations
Getting Into a Clean Sleep Routine
Tiring yourself out
Establishing a sleep window
Slowing down on stimulation
Building a better bedtime routine
Relaxing your muscles
Limiting the (blue) light
Making your bedroom oh-so-cosy
Chapter 14 Overcoming Obsessions
Identifying and Understanding Obsessional Problems
Understanding obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Identifying Unhelpful Behaviours
Acquiring Anti-Obsessional Attitudes
Tolerating doubt and uncertainty
Trusting your judgement
Treating your thoughts as nothing more than thoughts
Being flexible and not trying too hard
Using external and practical criteria
Allowing your mind and body to do their own things
Normalising physical sensations, emotions and unpleasant thoughts
Facing Your Fears: Reducing (and Stopping) Rituals
Putting up firm resistance
Delaying and modifying rituals
Being Realistic about Responsibility
Dividing up your responsibility pie
Retraining your attention
Chapter 15 Overcoming Low Self-Esteem and Accepting Yourself
Identifying Issues of Self-Esteem
Developing Self-Acceptance
Understanding that you have worth because you’re human
Appreciating that you’re too complex to globally measure or rate
Acknowledging your ever-changing nature
Accepting your fallible nature
Valuing your uniqueness
Using self-acceptance to aid self-improvement
Understanding that acceptance doesn’t mean giving up
Being Inspired to Change
Actioning Self-Acceptance
Self-talking your way to self-acceptance
Following the best-friend argument
Dealing with doubts and reservations
Selecting the Self-Help Journey to Self-Acceptance
Chapter 16 Cooling Down Your Anger
Discerning the Difference between Healthy and Unhealthy Anger
Key characteristics of unhealthy anger
Hallmarks of healthy anger
Assembling Attitudes That Underpin Healthy Anger
Putting up with other people
Forming flexible preferences
Accepting other people as fallible human beings
Accepting yourself
Developing high frustration tolerance
Pondering the pros and cons of your temper
Imparting Your Indignation in a Healthy Way
Asserting yourself effectively
Coping with criticism
Using the disarming technique
Acting Assertively in the Workplace
Putting your point across positively
Remaining professional
Dealing with Difficulties in Overcoming Anger
Chapter 17 Healing Illness Anxiety
Analysing the Anatomy of Illness Anxiety
Getting to know Medically Unexplained Physical Sensations
Minimising Your Fear of Missing an Important Symptom
Feeling Secure in an Uncertain Body
Part 4 Looking Backwards and Moving Forwards
Chapter 18 Taking a Fresh Look at Your Past
Exploring How Your Past Can Influence Your Present
Identifying What Core Beliefs Are
Introducing the three camps of core beliefs
Seeing how your core beliefs interact
Detecting Your Core Beliefs
Following a downward arrow
Picking up clues from your dreaming and screaming
Tracking themes
Filling in the blanks
Understanding the Impact of Core Beliefs
Spotting when you are acting according to old rules and beliefs
Understanding that unhealthy core beliefs make you prejudiced
Making a Formulation of Your Beliefs
Limiting the Damage: Being Aware of Core Beliefs
Developing Alternatives to Your Core Beliefs
Revisiting history
Starting from scratch
Chapter 19 Moving New Beliefs from Your Head to Your Heart
Defining the Beliefs You Want to Strengthen
Acting As If You Already Believe
Building a Portfolio of Arguments
Generating arguments against an unhelpful belief
Generating arguments to support your helpful alternative belief
Understanding That Practice Makes Imperfect
Dealing with your doubts and reservations
Zigging and zagging through the zigzag technique
Putting your new beliefs to the test
Nurturing Your New Beliefs
Chapter 20 Heading for a Healthier and Happier Life
Planning to Prevent Relapse
Filling In the Gaps
Choosing absorbing activities
Matchmaking your pursuits
Putting personal pampering into practice
Overhauling Your Lifestyle
Walking the walk
Talking the talk
Getting intimate
Living in Line with Your Values
Reflecting your values through action
Staying focused on what’s most important
Reshuffling priorities
Chapter 21 Overcoming Obstacles to Progress
Tackling Emotions That Get in the Way of Change
Shifting shame
Getting rid of guilt
Putting aside pride
Seeking support
Trying a little tenderness
Adopting Positive Principles That Promote Progress
Understanding that simple doesn’t mean easy
Being optimistic about getting better
Staying focused on your goals
Persevering and repeating
Tackling Task-Interfering Thoughts
Chapter 22 Psychological Gardening: Maintaining Your CBT Gains
Knowing Your Weeds from Your Flowers
Working on Weeds
Nipping weeds in the bud
Spotting where weeds may grow
Dealing with recurrent weeds
Tending Your Flowers
Planting new varieties
Being a compassionate gardener
Chapter 23 Working with the Professionals
Procuring Professional Help
Thinking about the right therapy for you
Meeting the experts
Tracking Down the Right CBT Therapist for You
Asking yourself the right questions
Speaking to the specialists
Making the Most of CBT
Discussing issues during sessions
Being active between sessions
Part 5 The Part of Tens
Chapter 24 Ten Philosophies for Living That Work
Assuming Emotional Responsibility: Owning the Way You Feel
Thinking Flexibly
Valuing Your Individuality
Accepting That Life Can Be Unfair
Understanding That Approval from Others Isn’t Necessary
Realising Love Is Desirable, Not Essential
Tolerating Short-Term Discomfort
Enacting Enlightened Self-Interest
Pursuing Interests and Acting Consistently with Your Values
Tolerating Uncertainty
Chapter 25 Ten Self-Esteem Boosters That Don’t Work
Putting Others Down
Thinking You’re Special
Trying to Get Everyone to Like You
Placing Yourself above Criticism
Avoiding Failure, Disapproval, Rejection and Other Animals
Avoiding Your Emotions
Attempting to Feel More Significant by Controlling Others
Over-Defending Your Self-Worth
Feeling Superior
Blaming Nature or Nurture for Your Problems
Chapter 26 Ten Mythical Monsters of Mental Health
Psychological Problems Mean You’re Weak
I Should Be Able to Get Better on My Own
Mental Health Is an Either/Or Issue
You Get Better All at Once
The Drugs Don’t Work; They Just Make You Worse
Certain Types of Psychological Disorders Are Glamorous
Mental Illness Is Unpreventable; It’s Just Bad Luck
Everyone Can Tell when a Person Has a Mental Illness
Having a Mental Illness Means You’re Dangerous
Seeking Help Will Go on My Medical Record and Hurt My Future Prospects
Part 6 Appendixes
Appendix A Recommended Resources
Appendix B Forms
Index
EULA