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Quote: Carl Jung - “Your vision will become clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

Brief history - CBT can be traced back to the early Behaviorists like B.F. Skinner in the 1950's. They would track observable behaviors and use desensitization techniques, exposure therapies, and the like to work with anxieties and neuroses. Then came Aaron Beck’s work in the 1960’s on depression and how our thoughts played a pivotal role in emotional disorders. This moved forward to realizing the interconnection of Thoughts, Emotions, and Behaviors.

Basic Cycle to Understand: Event → Thought → Feeling → Behavior, creating a new Event

On to the Tools:

Check out last week’s Episode on the Thought Record, a great tool

Behavioral Experiment:

1. Identify the ANT to test (“No one really wants me at the party. It was a pity invite.”)
2. Experiment or Test - Go to the party
3. Prediction - This is what you think might happen. Rate what you expect to feel after the experiment.
4. Run the Experiment -  Take notice of what actually happens and how you actually feel. Rate what you felt after the experiment.
5. New Thought - Looking at the actual evidence, what is the new thought about you?

Fact or Opinion:

Example 1 - I do bad on a test, may lead to the opinion of “I’m stupid.” If we look at the facts of the test, ie how much did I study, how do I normally perform in this subject, how my overall score compares to my friends.

Example 2 - I just had an argument with my spouse, may lead to the opinion of “My wife/husband hates me.” 

Cost/Benefit Analysis:

1. Identify the ANT you want to change, and write it out.
2. List out the negative costs in your daily life associated with the ANT and rate it.
3. List out the potential benefits of changing this thought and rate the importance.

CBT Card Decks- on Amazon here: https://shorturl.at/ikDT2