Alternative Thoughts & Beliefs
Goal
To be able to construct alternative thoughts and beliefs
Thinking Mistakes
Once the thoughts or beliefs associated with stuck points are challenged, new truths need to be identified. By practicing the new and more realistic way of looking at what happened and the role that you had in it, over time your feelings will positively respond to your new way of thinking.
Alternative Thought Exercise (Barlow, p. 105)
Instructions: Use the table on the next page to construct alternative thoughts to various situations. Complete the exercise once per day for the next 7 days. Identify and rate your thought(s)/belief(s) and emotion(s) about a situation and challenge your thought(s) just like you did in prior lessons. Next, determine if you are making a thinking mistake. Then, ask yourself what else you could say instead of your original thought(s). Lastly, rerate your original thought(s) and reexamine your feeling(s) about the situation. Keep in mind that if you do not make a thinking mistake, you likely will not experience a change in your feeling(s).
| Thought Record | Situation | Thought(s) & Emotion(s) | Challenge | Thinking Mistake | Alternative Thought(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Describe what led to the unpleasant emotion(s). | List your primary thought(s) about the situation and specify your emotion(s). Rate how strongly you feel the emotion(s) from 0-100%. | Use the questions in lesson 4 to examine your initial thought(s). | Use the thinking mistakes table in lesson 4 to determine if this is a particular pattern of thinking. | What else can I say instead of my initial thought(s)? How else can I interpret the event? Rate your belief in the alternative thought(s) from 0-100%. Rerate how much you now believe your initial thought(s) from 0-100%. List the emotion(s) you are experiencing about the situation now and specify how strong it is from 0-100%. |
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Next Step
It takes time for a new thought to replace the original, problematic thought. Once you have completed this exercise, you may find it helpful to reread what you wrote down to help solidify your shift in thinking. You may also find it helpful to continue doing this exercise for situations related to safety, trust, power/control, esteem, and/or intimacy.
