What are some cognitive behaviour therapy exercises I can use to change negative thinking?
Basically what i did when i was recieving cognitive behavioural therapy is: get a notebook, write down your current feelings, e.g. hopelessness, anger, no confidence then next to it write down WHY you think you feel like this, bullying, parents divorcing. then write down on a scale of 1-10 how badly it affects you. You will soon have a laid out plan of your problems and it makes it easier to deal with and start to notice a change in how you challenge your self-critical thoughts. Rather than telling yourself there is no way you can cope with a situation, such as applying for a job or inviting a friend round, you might say ‘I may be able to manage it if I take it step by step’ or ‘it doesn’t really matter if I make a mistake as long as I try my best’. As the cognitive behavioural therapy goes on, you may feel more confident to test out the situation in real life to see whether these new attitudes help.
