SLWK 606 Chapter 9: CBT Chapter 9
Document Summary
People with psychological disorders often misconstrue neutral or even positive situations, and thus their automatic thoughts are biased. Automatic thoughts are a stream of thinking that coexists with a more manifest stream of thought. Most people will take their thoughts into automatic reality testing, but people in distress may not engage in this kind of critical examination. Automatic thoughts become fairly predictable once the patient"s underlying beliefs are identified. Automatic thoughts are usually quite brief, and patients are often more aware of the emotion they feel as a result of their thoughts than of the thoughts themselves. Automatic thoughts can be evaluated according to their validity and their utility. Be alert to both verbal and nonverbal cues in the patient. Ask them how they are/were feeling and where in their body they experience the emotion. Elicit a detailed description of the problematic situation. Request that the patient visualize the distressing situation.
