Stress Center Peer Support

Thought recording comes from an outside source that I've found. It is similar to the negative thought replacement however it has a few add-ons.

<IMG ALIGN="left" SRC="http://imd.dundee.ac.uk/degshows/2007/r ... record.png">

Situation;
time, place and everything leading up to how you are feeling.

Moods;
the emotions you are feeling and the intensity (0-100% scale)

Automatic Thoughts;
the place you write the immediate thoughts that come to mind and in this set of thoughts, you pick out the one that is the most intense...this is called the hot thought.

Evidence that Supports;
This is what supports your hot thought...things like, people have told me that i cannot do it, I've been criticized about this before, I failed before...etc.

Evidence that doesn't Support;
This is where you write out times where you did it successfully, if your hot thought was something like; I never do anything right then you can write in this box about simple things you've done right like tying your shoes, basically anything that proves the thought is not an extreme or fixed. (as you know as humans, we are constantly changing in body, mind and soul...we aren't static and have the potential for anything).

Alternative/Balanced Thought;
This is where you look at the evidence against and for and you write out 1 realistic sentence and you rate the percent you believe in that statement.
ie. I have troubles socializing and sometimes it feels like i cannot manage but I've had times where I have socialized and I've even enjoyed it. I can get back to that state again, it just might take some time and practice.
Believe 80%

Lastly Rate Moods Now;
You rerate the emotions you are feeling now again in %.


Mike

Hi NinjaFrodo..Very interesting and useful. It is possible some people will have an easier time doing thought replacement this way. It is easier to do some things on paper than just in your mind, especially when you are a beginner. It will also help people to see that there is NO evidence that supports there scary thoughts. Great idea!!!

Oh yes, it definately is useful. I just started to use it about a week or 2 ago. I find that it actually makes me feel even better doing it this way as opposed to the thought replacement from the program. Both are good however and you cannot always carry the thought record sheets with you everywhere you go but you can carry a small notepad so the thought replacement is more portable you could say and quicker to work through.

Technically there is still evidence to support hot thoughts...like if someone's situation is a social event and their main automatic thought is "they can't handle it". Evidence that supports could be, "I've tried before and i had to leave", "my anxiety gets worse" stuff like that...but for the Evidence against it the person could say "I've stayed and enjoyed myself before in the past", "my anxiety lessened after a few minutes".


Mike

I did something similar to this while working through one of David Burns' books. This can be really helpful, and as I recall it worked really well to lift my mood. Some people may not like the work involved in doing this, but I thought it was extremely effective and well worth the effort.

In fact, I think I will start another one to have on hand for reinforcement. Thanks for bringing this up.

You're very welcome.

I believe what you are refering to if i'm not mistaken is the Daily Record of Dysfunctional Thoughts. I noticed the setup for both were definately very similar. This does take more work than the thought replacements that we do in the program but i agree with you, it is extremely effective and well worth the effort. I felt like the thought replacement we do was mostly dealing with the very surface stuff...but techniques like the dysfunctional thoughts and Thought record go in alot deeper.

I'm actually learning more about this Thought Record right now, There is waaaaaay too much information for me to put into a single thread. I tried to do the Thought Record before i really read up on how to do it. I got too anxious to get better and now i'm finding that I wasn't doing it anywhere close to what they suggested. But now that i've read more, I'm finding that the way they suggest is 100X more effective.

If you are intrested, check out the book it's called Mind over Mood. It is pretty good too because they give you many examples of how to do it and they slowly ease you into it instead of giving you the whole sheet and possibly getting overwhelmed.


Mike

Ninja, the worksheet is quite a contribution.