see: [Dunn - CBT](x-devonthink-item://8318CF1C-48E2-4656-81BF-5527CC153F45) > [!key points] > - CBT assumes that psychological problems are based, in part, by both unhelpful ways of thinking (cognition) and also on learned patterns of unhelpful behaviour > - our *thoughts* about an event or experience powerfully affect our emotional, behavioural, and physical response to it ![[Pasted image 20241026185821.png| CBT's tenent that all humans' core beliefs can be summed up in three categories: self, others, future]] - used in anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, eating disorders - aims to help people challenge their patterns and beliefs and replace errors in thinking ("cognitive distorsions") **Assumptions:** 1. emotions are primarily caused by people's thoughts and perceptions, rather than events 2. behaviours play an essential role in the onset, perpetuation, and exacerbation of psychopathology 3. events, thoughts, emptions, behaviours, and physiological reactions influence each other 4. dysfunctional emptions are typically caused by unrealistic thoughts 5. sustained effort is necessary to modify dysfunctional thoughts, emotions, and behaviours 6. rational thinking usually causes a decrease in the frequency, intensity, and duration of dysfunctional emotions, rather than an absence of affect or feelings. **Goals:** - learn to recognise one's distorsions in thinking that are creating problems - gain better understanding of the behaviour and motivation of others - use problem-solving skills to cope with difficult situations - change behavioural patterns **components** - *arousal management* - ↓ physical symptoms of mental illness through exercises eg muscle tensing exercises, breathing exercises - *graded exposure* - face the causes of their symptoms while learning to think differently about these situations through experience - *surrender of safety signals* - learn to cope with challenging situations without things like mobile phones - *cognitive restructuring* - strategies for changing thinking patterns - *mindfulness* - create a mental state with a ==non-judgemental awareness of the present moment of experience==, including one's sensations, thoughts, bodily states, consciousness, and the environment, while encouraging openness, curiosity, and acceptance - *problem-solving training* - *acceptance and commitment therapy* - accept rather than fight thoughts and emotions. commit to core values to identify self-damaging behaviours, commit to new behaviours **Cognitive distortions** cognitive errors that negatively affect our feelings - all-or-nothing thinking: seeing things in black and white "I bombed the interview; I must be unhirable - over generalisation: predicting a never ending pattern of loss or defeat from a single event which may be exagerated "no one asked me to dance, so no one ever will" - magnification and selective attention: focusing on the negative aspects of the problem and filtering out more positive information - arbitrary inference: jumping to conclusions without considering the evidence - Catasrophizing -- small problem and blow it out of proportion - emotional reasoning - "I feel it; therefore it must be true - fortuine telling - labeling - magnification of the negative - mind reading **Defence mechanisms** methods of coping with difficult emotions *mature* - altruism - humour (as long as not too cynical or disrespectful) - sublimation -- redirection of intolerable thoughts or feelings into behaviour that is more acceptable - compensation - development of personal strengths to "compensate" for perceived personal weakness *less mature* - ==reaction formation== -- conversation of intolerable thoughts or feelings into their opposites, often expressed in behaviour (eg feeling angry so buy everyone drinks and perform excessive generosity - rationalisation -- use of simplistic but unsupported logic to explain away intolerable thoughts or feelings - intellectualisation -- using highly complex intellectual formulations to avoid being aware of intolerable thoughts or feelings - displacement -- shifting the focus of intolerable thoughts or feelings onto a person or thing that is unconnected with those thoughts or feelings - denial of a particular thought or feelings existence - identification with the aggressor *primitive* - regression to earlier stage of emotional development - dissociation - acting out - projection -- misattribution of intolerable thoughts, feelings, or impulses towards another person - idealisation and denigration -- failure to recognise any unpleasant aspects of another person ("idealisation") or any pleasant aspects ("denigration") - splitting -- common in BPD. - idealisation of self -- unconsciously maintained and impenetrable self-image and belief, in which a person considers themselves perfect and beyond reproach.