For my first blog post, I thought I would lead off with one of the most important skills that I work on with young adults in therapy. In graduate school, I was trained in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT; among other modalities) and found that I really enjoyed the structured and collaborative nature of this modality. After many hours of training, and books purchased, consumed, and applied, at this point I probably have a cognitive behavioral filter that my brain drops in to and now its just how I think about and conceptualize cases. It doesn't hurt that CBT has been found to be efficacious and effective for addressing the symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, ASD, externalizing and PTSD. More on that
here.
In CBT, we believe that distressing emotions are caused and maintained by error(s) in our thinking. If we can determine the error(s) in our thoughts, then we can correct the error(s) by gathering evidence, reframing the thought, and working to generalize the reframed thought. Evidence is objective information related to the thought. Often in session young adults and I will come up with behavioral experiments to test an alternative or reframed thought as part of generalizing it, or rehearsing it and intentionally looking for evidence that supports it.
Therefore, an essential component of CBT is having an awareness of one's thoughts. In my experience on this side of the couch, knowing what one is thinking is often challenging, even for adults. Thoughts are what we say to ourselves about ourselves, others, and the world. They are not right or wrong, good or bad, they just.....are.
Let's pause here for a
visual. This is not a perfect representation of what I'm trying to say, but it illustrative of some of the points I'm trying to make.
One key take home: you cannot address a distressing thought if you do not know what that thought is. Our brains are busy taking in and making sense of all that happens to us each day, which can make it challenging to observe our thoughts. Taking time to journal, doing one thing at a time, and practicing mindfulness (e.g., breathing practices, present moment awareness) are all strategies we can use to make it easier to build awareness of our thoughts and the narratives we are creating about ourselves, others, and the world.
How do thoughts help us regulate our emotions? In therapy, we use awareness of our thoughts to help us determine actions we can take that are in alignment with our goals, and then we come up with a plan to ensure we follow through on these actions. This can often be the first step to becoming more flexible in our thinking. As we begin to act in a different manner, this can open up possibilities we could not previously see. We also tend to get a boost to our mood when we are making progress on our goals. As was stated in the video, when we are aware of our thoughts, we are better able to respond to stressful situations as opposed to reacting to them in a manner that can lead to further negative outcomes for us. Consider also the benefit to our mood that comes from bringing ourselves closer to the things and people that are important to us.
I hope this post has given you some food for thought (sorry, couldn't help myself). If you know a young adult who might benefit from this approach or just have questions, please reach out today!
