Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is the best evidence-based treatment approach for mild depression and anxiety, and Dr. Bernadette Melnyk, OSU’s Chief Wellness Officer, has been working to develop programming to deliver CBT strategies to the public. The University Health Plan covers counselors who provide CBT, but even if seeing a professional isn’t in the cards for you right now, Dr. Melnyk has shared some strategies to incorporate skills from CBT into our everyday life. Be on the lookout for her online CBT curriculum, MINDSTRONG, which will be available to faculty and staff in the coming months, but here are some tips for now.
The principle behind CBT is that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected, and that by addressing inaccurate or negative patterns of thoughts, one can address negative feelings and then behaviors. A catchy mnemonic to help remember what happens to cause negative thought patterns and how to interrupt them is ABC:
- A stressor (or Activator) occurs, which triggers a
- Negative thought or Belief or cognitive distortion
- Stop and replace the negative/inaccurate thought or belief with a positive/accurate one
- Consequence- a more positive thinking pattern and/or behavior
I know what you’re thinking, “That mnemonic device is terrible! It confuses information with action steps, and the most important action step isn’t even represented in the mnemonic!” Well, you’re right. Yes. BUT, this is a perfect opportunity to practice some CBT in a low-stakes way! Are you feeling angry about the terrible mnemonic? That’s the stressor!
Now stop and identify the negative thought, belief, or cognitive distortion you’re having. I’d like to add, here, that there are lots of CBT worksheets available online that suggest common types of cognitive distortions to help you identify what your tendencies are, and make it easier to reframe them. Common ones include all-or-nothing thinking, focusing only the negative, polarized thinking, negative self-labeling, catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, jumping to conclusions, mind reading, should statements, disqualifying the present, dwelling on the past, blaming, and the fairness fallacy. If you’d like more examples or explanations of these, let me know; I can gather that for you.
So! With my terrible mnemonic, perhaps your negative thought might be, “Nothing ever goes my way, everyone keeps trying to give me helpful resources that end up being junk! Don’t get me started on ‘a pint is a pound, the world round!’”
Next, recognize that as the cognitive distortion that it is, and intentionally reframe it. “Actually, plenty of times, resources I’ve gotten have been helpful, and even when they aren’t perfect, I can absolutely get some benefit from them.”
With practice recognizing the triggers, identifying the specific negative thought pattern, identifying why it’s distorted, and trying to correct the distortion, you’ll find that the automatic loop between the stressor and the negative feeling or even behavior is interrupted, and you can start to reroute the mental train onto a new track. (Mindfulness is helpful in giving you the skills necessary to be able to step back and identify and analyze your thought patterns, by the way.)
I know the example I used is silly, but the action steps are real. I’d be happy to talk more about how to apply the steps to your specific thought patterns, and remember, the OSU Health Plan covers CBT providers in Columbus. And be on the lookout for MINDSTRONG, Dr. Melnyk’s online CBT curriculum we can all do ourselves on our computers.