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Most of know we have to change our thoughts if we want to change our life and the article below confirms that theory. When we change our thinking we also change the way we view the world, so things that bothered us in the past, no longer matter.
The article is pretty lengthy but well worth the time it takes to read because it teaches us how to look into our past to see how our upbringing affects us as adults. There is a link at the end of the text you can use yo continue reading the article.
Before reading the article, you may want to watch the video below. It explains CBT and it's only about 10 minutes long. It's well worth the effort to watch the video as you'll gain a deeper understanding of cognitive behavioral therapy.
How Do We Change Irrational Thinking
By Monica A. Frank, Ph.D.As you may realize as you read the articles on this site, the underlying core issue for many problems resides with irrational thinking styles.
That, of course, is the basic premise of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). We develop styles of thinking based upon our learning experiences, our parents' thinking, and societal/community beliefs and expectations.
Childhood Learning Experiences Shape Our Life as Adults
1) Learning Experiences. When we are growing up, we have many experiences and the outcome of these experiences contribute to beliefs or ways of thinking that we develop.
For instance, as a child I was very shy and fearful of speaking in public due to fear of making a mistake and being ridiculed. In the 7th grade I had a teacher who encouraged me to attend speech competitions.
I was so excited that she thought I could be good at this that I was willing to face my fear and engage in speech competitions which I continued even throughout high school.
As a result, I developed the belief "Even though talking in front of people causes anxiety I am capable of doing it."
Now, if I had not had that experience and my main experience was being embarrassed in front of my class because I couldn't say the word "peculiar" when I was reading out loud (it sounds different than it looks and I couldn't get my brain to switch from the visual to the auditory because I was so anxious), I may have developed the belief "Talking in front of people leads to embarrassment which I must avoid."
Black and White Thinking is Irrational but Easy to Correct
The problem that causes this belief to be irrational is that it is black and white--it leaves no room for alternatives. I would be assuming that talking in front of people always leads to embarrassment.
Instead, by doing speech competitions I learned that talking in front of people could be enjoyable and could lead to awards.
Childhood Trauma can Shape Your Beliefs and May be Hard to Alter
Trauma is an important subset of learning experiences that severely affects an individual's belief system. For example, an individual who survived a fire has a fear of low probability catastrophes.
Due to the fact that a low probability catastrophe occurred to him or her, it is more difficult to challenge the thinking with a statement such as "It is unlikely to occur."
Or a person who was raped and then told it was her fault because she left her door unlocked may tend to unreasonably blame herself for things that happen.
Our Parents Unwittingly Teach Us Irrational Thinking
Parents' Thinking. Sometimes our parents teach us irrational thinking directly such as "What would the neighbors think?" if they saw a dirty house implying that the neighbors would think we are bad people because the dishes aren't done and the beds aren't made.
They may catastrophize about situations and pass their worries onto us "I don't want to fly because the airplane might crash."
Often, they don't recognize that their thinking is irrational and so they don't tell us there might be alternative ways to think. For instance, they don't typically say "I have an irrational fear of crashing but airplance travel is actually the safest form of travel.
Even if our parents don't directly tell us how to think, they impart certain ways of thinking based on their behavior and how they handle situations.
For instance, I remember my father speeding past a bunch of cars and then coming to a stoplight which caused all the cars he had passed to catch up with him and he slammed his hand on the steering wheel and said "They're all laughing at me."
At first I was confused, but then I came to understand what he meant and that others laughing at him was a catastrophe. From this I came to learn that I had to be careful in how I behaved so that people wouldn't have the opportunity to laugh at me.
Teachers and Society Shape Our Early Life
3) Societal/Community Beliefs and Expectations. We learn a great deal of thinking based on the culture we grow up in. For instance, a professor of mine once described his experience as a teacher in the Virgin Islands.
He said they did not have the same concept of time that we do in the U.S. College students in the U.S. typically arrive to class on time but as soon as the class is over they are out the door even if the instructor is in mid-sentence.
However, in the Virgin Islands college students might arrive 20-30 minutes late but they also tended to stay longer and be involved in discussions after class.
Neither of these scenarios are right or wrong, they are just different behaviors based upon cultural influences. However, sometimes those societal beliefs and expectations can lead to problematic behaviors.
Here in the U.S. the perfectionistic tendencies that are imparted to us as we grow up can lead to being overwhelmed and not trying. I believe much of our problem as a society with obesity can be related to these attitudes: "I can't make myself stay on a diet and exercise daily, so why should I bother trying?" (see Thinking Your Way to a Healthy Weight)
Cognitive Restructuring Can Change Your Life
Therefore, due to these various influences we develop our thinking styles, both rational and irrational. You may already recognize some of your irrational thinking styles and how they developed, but you want to know, "How do I change this thinking?"
In fact, many times you've probably have had people tell you "Think this way!" But no one tells you how to "Think this way!" So, you still have the question, "How do I think that way?"
The answer is that you are already halfway there. Half of the battle is recognizing the thinking that is problematic for you. You can do this by reading other articles on this site as well as the recommended books.
The next step however, is the part that requires more active work and that is challenging the thinking, repeatedly and often. This part of therapy is known as "cognitive restructuring" and can change your life for the better.
To learn any new skill, we first have to identify how to complete the skill correctly and then we have to practice the skill repeatedly.
So, for instance, if you want to learn how to hit a ball with a bat, you need to learn how to hold the bat and how to stand and when to swing. But, just because you know intellectually how to hit a ball doesn't mean that you will be able to.
The next step is to practice swinging the bat at the ball and adjusting your stance until you can hit the ball. However, even then it doesn't mean that you can automatically hit the ball whenever it is thrown to you.
At this point you need to practice swinging the bat at the ball again and again until you develop the muscle memory to do it automatically.
That way, when you are under the stress of two outs in the ninth inning, you will be able to automatically engage in the behavior you need to hit the ball.
Change Your Life by Altering Your Thoughts
Well, learning a new way of thinking is learning a new thinking skill and the process is the same as learning to hit a ball with a bat. You need to identify the thinking you want to learn and then you need to engage in it repeatedly until it becomes automatically. Just as your body doesn't feel comfortable at first when you are learning to hit a ball, your brain doesn't feel comfortable at first with a new way of thinking.
However, the more you engage the new thinking, the more comfortable you will become with it and the more you will believe it and be able to rely on it.
The most difficult part of creating the new way of rational thinking for most people is the repetitive practice. Some people, however, may have difficulty with recognizing how their thinking is irrational.
In which case they may need further assistance from a therapist. However, for everyone else, the process at this point is to develop methods of practice.
Continue reading this article.Please be sure to post a comment and include a link to your website so I can visit your site. I post comments on sites I visit so if you post a comment here... I'll do the same.
