Tools/Techniques
If you have never worked with Dr. Grant and would like to, please click on the "New Patients" page to the left, read it, and follow its directions. I welcome the chance to work with you!
Do an Experiment
Test out how accurate your negative thoughts and predictions are by doing something that will prove/disprove them. If you think you will fail at something, break it into small steps (see Baby Steps) and give it a try. Don’t be satisfied with what you think—you could be wrong—test it!
Example 1: "I know if I try to talk to her she will reject me." Sounds like you are doing some "Fortune Telling" and "Mind Reading" here, aren't you? How can you test this? You could just say "hello" to her and smile and see how she responds, right? That would be a way test this idea without risking too much. If she responds with "hello" and a smile, herself, then you could ask another easy question like "how has your day been going?" If she responds with a little more conversation, even just a sentence, then your "experiment" showed that your "hypothesis" that she would not talk to you was wrong.
Example 2: "My marriage is doomed...there is no hope left." Well, there may be real problems but "doomed" and "no hope" might be a bit of "Magnification" and negative "Fortune Telling". It is true that it might end or be on the rocks but is there nothing at all, not even one thing you could do to just make an attempt to fix it? There probably is. Test your idea of a "doomed, hopeless marriage" by thinking of what positive behavior you could demonstrate to see how the marriage responds. If, after your "experiment" you find that it helps, then your "hypothesis" that nothing would help was wrong. If you find that your "experiment" showed that the marriage is really busted, then get some help to determine if there is any way to repair it if you want it repaired. Either way, test your assumptions and hypotheses because they are often distorted--don't depict reality as it truly is.
For a paper copy of the Toolbox, click here.
The CBT Toolbox
1101 Johnson Avenue, Suite 200 Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 P: 843.839.9028 F: 843.839.9029
Coastal Center for Cognitive Therapy, PA
