How to Break Out of a Bad Mood
Hi Everybody!
For a long time, Fabrice has wanted to do a show on my list of “Fifty Ways to Untwist Your Thinking” called “Fifty Ways in Fifty Minutes.” So we finally did it, and it was fun!
If I’m helping you overcome depression or anxiety, I’ll ask you to fill out a Daily Mood Log, so you can list your negative thoughts and feelings at some specific moment when you were upset. You may be thinking, “I’m a failure,” or “I should not have made that mistake,” or “I’m unlovable.”
Your negative thoughts will nearly always be distorted, but you’ll still believe them, and that’s why you’re feeling depressed and anxious. And the moment you discover that your negative thoughts aren’t true, you’ll immediately feel better. But that’s not going to be easy, because you’ve probably been giving yourself the same negative messages for years, or even decades. And friends and family members, and even your therapist, may have been trying, unsuccessfully, to talk you out of them.
That’s why I’ve developed more than fifty methods to help you crush the negative thoughts at the heart of your suffering. So today, you’ll take a look at the landscape!
However, it took two fifty-minute shows to cover all the methods. In today’s episode, David and Fabrice describe and discuss 24 of the 50 techniques, which fall in the following categories:
- Basic Techniques
- Compassion-Based Techniques
- Truth-Based Techniques
- Logic-Based Techniques
- Semantic Techniques
- Quantitative Techniques
- Humor-Based Techniques
- Role-Playing Techniques
- Philosophical / Spiritual Techniques
- Visual Imaging Techniques
Next week we will complete the remaining 26 techniques on the list.
One of our podcast fans: Simin Osa, has kindly put time codes for each technique, making it easier to listen to the description of any technique of interest. Feel free to contact him at siminosa@gmail.com if you want to thank him for his kind help!
No. 1. Empathy 6.20-7.05
No. 2. The agenda setting 7.06-8.45
No. 3. Identify distortions 8.46-12.08
No. 4. Straightforward Technique 12.09-15.12
No. 5. Double Standard Technique 15.13-18.43
No. 6. Examine the Evidence 18.45-21.02
No. 7. Expermental Technique 21.03-23.25
No. 8. Survey Technique 23.26-25.25
No. 9. Reattribution 25.26-27.10
No. 10. Socratic Method 27.11-30.00
No. 11. Thinking in Shades of Gray 30.05-31.55
No. 12. Semantic Method 32.00-35.27
No. 13. Let’s Define Terms 35.30-37.55
No. 14. Be Specific 37.56-41.15
No. 15. Self-Monitoring 41.16-43.30
No. 16. Worry Breaks 43.31-45.52
No. 17. Paradoxical magnification 45.46-47.36
No. 18. Shimmer talking exercises 47.37 – 50.17
No. 20. Fear fantasi 50.15-52.17
No. 21. Fear fantasy 50.18-55.00
No. 22. Time projektion 55.00-57.50
No. 23. Humores imaging 57.45-100.15
No. 24. Cognitive hypnosis 100.15-106.00
Why are there so many techniques? Well, if someone has a negative thought, like “I’m a hopeless case,” or “I’m a worthless human being,” you never know what technique will be effective for that person. So the philosophy is: fail as fast as you can. That’s because the faster you fail, the faster you’ll get to the technique that will change your life!
Hope you enjoy today’s podcast!
* Copyright © 2018 by David D. Burns, MD
Fabrice and I hope you like our Feeling Good Podcasts, and also hope you can leave some positive comments for us and five star ratings if you like what we’re doing!
Attend a Summer Intensive!
This year, I am offering a July summer intensive in Whistler, Canada, and one in August at the South San Francisco Conference center. The intensives are almost always my most exciting and fun workshops of the year. Hope you can join us at one of these locations.
Here are some details:
Advanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:
A Four-Day Intensive Training in TEAM-CBT
July 3 – 6, 2018 Whistler, BC, Canada
For more information, contact Jack Hirose & Associates Inc.
Phone: 604.924.0296, Toll-free: 1.800.456.5424
* * *
High Speed, Drug Free Treatment of Depression and Anxiety Disorders–
A Four-Day
Advanced TEAM-CBT Intensive
August 6 – 9, 2018, South San Francisco Conference Center, California
For more information, click here, or call IAHB.org at 800-258-8411
If you can only attend one of my workshops, consider attending one of these intensives!
