Think Good Thoughts: Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Revised and Expanded Edition)

By Wayne Douglas Smith Ph.D.

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that anxiety and depression are caused by incorrect thinking and the negative beliefs we hold about ourselves. Humans are not very good at interpreting situations in a positive way. Our brains are quick to impose some kind of meaning on events that leave us feeling bad. The first half of this book is about how CBT works. When we have irrational or negative beliefs, we start to tell ourselves stories that make us feel unhappy and anxious. And it becomes easy to fall into the trap of using the same thinking errors over and over again. If you see the world as a hopeless place that offers you nothing but sorrow, your view of everything gets darker and you withdraw from situations that could make you feel better.
The way we see the world affects our behavior. When we view the world through a distorted lens, we don't adapt well to our environment or to life's challenges. If you have anxiety, the stories you tell yourself about life might make you reluctant to go outside and find experiences that are better. But with the right techniques, you can discover why your thinking patterns make you feel bad. You can then choose to change.
From the second half of this book, you are going to discover how to transform your thinking and overhaul your relationships. More than thirty years of science tell us that cognitive behavior therapy works. It is a well-tested collection of practical techniques for managing moods and modifying undesirable behaviors through self-awareness and critical analysis. CBT illuminates the links between one's thoughts and behaviors, then uses those connections to develop concrete plans for self-improvement.
CBT is not simply about treating mental illness. It is an approach almost anyone can use for promoting greater emotional health and improving one's quality of life. Some of these issues might fall under the rubric of mental health, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or depression. Others might be considered everyday stressors, such as conflicts at work or the loss of a loved one. Others might be considered medical issues, such as chronic pain, insomnia, or weight management. CBT isn't easy, but every area of your life will change for the better if you give it a chance to work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667873039

Wayne Douglas Smith Ph.D.

Wayne Douglas Smith studied physics and psychology at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. He received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and was employed as a psychologist for forty years. The book is dedicated to Wayne's beloved mother, Zula Smith. Wayne lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, the environmentalist, Kale Warren.

Book preview

BK90072219.jpg

Wayne Douglas Smith, Ph.D.

Licensed Professional Psychologist

Think Good Thoughts:

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

(Revised and Expanded Edition)

Wayne Douglas Smith, Ph.D.

Copyright 2022

All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Disclaimer: The author is not engaged in rendering

psychological services through the reading of this publication.

Please seek expert treatment or therapy from

a competent mental health professional.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any retrieval system

without permission in writing from the author.

For my dear mother, Zula Farrior Smith

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One

Chapter 1. Psychology of Change

Chapter 2. Principles of CBT

Chapter 3. Stress and Anxiety

Chapter 4. Depression and Anger

Chapter 5. Positive Emotions

Chapter 6. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Chapter 7. Forgiveness and Meaning

Chapter 8. Changing Bad Behavior

Chapter 9. Obesity and Addiction

Chapter 10. Sleep Problems and Chronic Pain

Chapter 11. Conflict Management

Chapter 12. Resilience

Part Two

Chapter 13. Using CBT to Overcome Depression

Chapter 14. Using CBT to Overcome Anxiety

Chapter 15. Using CBT to Overcome OCD

Chapter 16. Using CBT to Overcome Apathy

Chapter 17. Using CBT to Overcome Procrastination

Chapter 18. Using CBT to Overcome Insomnia

Chapter 19. Using CBT to Overcome Guilt

Chapter 20. Using CBT to Overcome Addiction

Chapter 21. Using CBT to Overcome Jealousy

Chapter 22. Using CBT to Overcome Criticism

Chapter 23. Using Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

About the Author

Introduction

You can change your life by changing your thoughts. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has helped thousands of people repair their self-esteem and improve their relationships. It isn’t what happens to us that matters; it’s how we respond that counts. By challenging unhelpful thoughts, we can give our lives and relationships new meaning. You don’t have to be a slave to your negative thoughts. You can learn how to cope with any setback. Every part of this book contains powerful techniques that can help transform your life. You’ll be amazed by how productive you will become when you understand how your mind works.

From this book, you are going to discover how to change your thinking and overhaul your relationships. It won’t be easy, but every area of your life will improve for the better. There’s no single technique that can take away all the trials of being alive. But you can learn to take a different approach when you hit a bump in the road. You will learn how to forgive yourself for your mistakes and others for their transgressions. You will learn how to get your mind working for you, and you will learn how to think good thoughts.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that anxiety and depression are caused by incorrect thinking and the negative beliefs we hold about ourselves. Humans are not very good at interpreting situations in a positive way. Our brains are quick to impose some kind of meaning on events that leave us feeling bad. The first half of this book is about how CBT works.

When we have irrational or negative beliefs, we start to tell ourselves stories that make us feel unhappy and anxious. And it becomes easy to fall into the trap of using the same thinking errors over and over again. If you see the world as a hopeless place that offers you nothing but sorrow, your view of everything gets darker and you withdraw from situations that could make you feel better.

The way we see the world affects our behavior. When we view the world through a distorted lens, we don’t adapt well to our envir-onment or to life’s challenges. If you have anxiety, the stories you tell yourself about life might make you reluctant to go outside and find experiences that are better. But with the right techniques, you can discover why your thinking patterns make you feel bad. You can then choose to change.

From the second half of this book, you are going to discover how to transform your thinking and overhaul your relationships. More than thirty years of science tell us that cognitive behavior therapy works. It is a well-tested collection of practical techniques for managing moods and modifying undesirable behaviors through self-awareness and critical analysis. CBT illuminates the links between one’s thoughts and behaviors, then uses those connections to develop concrete plans for self-improvement.

CBT is not simply about treating mental illness. It is an approach almost anyone can use for promoting greater emotional health and improving one’s quality of life. Some of these issues might fall under the rubric of mental health, such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or depression. Others might be considered every-day stressors, such as conflicts at work or the loss of a loved one. Others might be considered medical issues, such as chronic pain, insomnia, or weight management. CBT isn’t easy, but every area of your life will change for the better if you give it a chance to work.

*Although someone’s past might play a role in shaping their cognitive distortions, it is more productive to focus on the present. A CBT therapist might talk about a client’s childhood to work out where their negative beliefs came from, but they should encourage the client not to dwell on them. The exercises in this book don’t require you to analyze your past in much depth.

Bio-Psychosocial Model

Change can be complicated. It’s not just an internal, individual process. We need to look at external factors as well. When you change your mind about the way you’re going to think about something, on a basic level you are altering how your brain works. This can trigger changes in others around you in complex ways.

It’s helpful to use the bio-psychosocial model to understand the process of change. Imagine a Venn diagram with three circles: one for the biological factors, one for the social context, and one for the psychological factors. Some characteristics might reside in just one circle, but others might lie in two or more.

Research

There are a number of different ways to change one’s behavior, emotions, or relationships. There are a number of psychoactive agents that can act with one’s biology and change an individual’s mood and behavior. In addition, there are a limited number of surgeries that influence the way an individual feels. Another way to change behavior is through psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a special type of psycho-therapy to improve one’s management of emotions and interpersonal skills. There has been research using brain scans and functional MRIs that analyze whether or not there are changes in brain activation as a consequence of someone engaging in psychotherapy.

The psychotherapy most commonly studied in these research studies is CBT for depression and CBT for anxiety. A study conducted by Kimberly Goldapple (2014) analyzed CBT versus an antidepressant called Paxil. The subjects in both groups became less depressed after engaging in CBT or taking Paxil. In fact, they were considered to be remitted from their depressive episodes. But in terms of changes in brain activation, the subjects were different depending on what kind of treatment the individual received. For CBT, there was more hippocampus activation. For Paxil, there was more prefrontal activation.

Although the brain effects are clear, researchers don’t have a consistent explanation for how psychotherapy rewires the brain. Apparently, the social interaction and talking with the therapist has the power to change the brain. Training sessions and educational videos also facilitate a sort of rewiring as we learn new skills.

There is a common set of factors that make therapy beneficial. Some of these benefits include the therapeutic alliance, which is a professional empathy. It may be a corrective emotional experience to the client. But CBT goes much further. You get new life skills. Medications can also cause changes in brain activation, but you don’t have to intervene on that level unless you choose to do so.

The decision is partly dependent on where you are in terms of risk or severity. Positive change of some sort is always possible, regardless of your age or background; but it might not be the change that you were expecting. Learning how to assess yoursituation and select an appropriate way to proceed is important.

References

Fenn, K. & Byrne, M. (2013). Key Principles of Cognitive

Behavioral Therapy. Innovait 6.

Goldapple K. Z. (2004) "Modulation of Cortical-Limbic Pathways

in Major Depression: Treatment Specific Effects of CBT."

Archives of General Psychiatry 61, 1.

Martin, B. (2019). In-Depth Cognitive Behavior Therapy.

Psychcentral.com/lib.

Part One

"Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference."

Serenity Prayer, Reinhold Niebuhr, 1944

Chapter 1

Psychology of Change

The question of what you can change and what you cannot is vital to your success in therapy and in life. You will learn that there are things you can do to lessen suffering and improve your sense of well-being. This may mean following a program to change something about yourself, but many times it will mean learning how to value things about yourself that you simply can’t change.

The kind of change people want for themselves may vary. If you want biological change, we might talk about medicine or drugs. For psychological change, we would talk about emotions and cognitions. For social change, we would talk about the relationships in our lives. We’re also going to consider cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), and we’re going to look at the underlying theories to tell us how CBT works. We’re going to present a specific sets of skills to facilitate change when it’s possible. Ultimately, you can become your own CBT therapist with the tools that you learn. But it takes practice, and it takes commitment.

You might think that things like social skills are easy to change. You can change your relationships, or you can try to change your beliefs. But we know that things like introversion and extroversion are very difficult to change, and they very much affect our capacity to learn and to use social skills. You can certainly end a relation-ship, but you may recreate the same relationship dynamics with another person.

In terms of our personal beliefs, it’s really is not so easy to make a change. Personal beliefs aren’t just an internal process. There are external factors that contribute to what we believe. But remember that even if you can’t change an actual event or belief, you might be able to change the way you think about it or react to it.

We are all biological beings. So when we talk about changing ourselves, we’re talking about changing our brains. And these changes may trigger changes in others in complex ways. It is helpful to use the bio-psychosocial Venn diagram to understand this process. There is one circle for the biological, one circle for the social, and one circle for the psychological.

Some factors might reside in just one circle, some may reside in two circles, and some might reside in the center to include the biological, psychological, and social factors. If we think about cognitive behavior therapy, the psychological circle comes to mind, since we are talking