Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and negative basic beliefs (NCBS) - identification

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and negative basic beliefs (NCBS) - identification

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is effective psychotherapy for a wide range of emotional and psychological problems. The basic idea of ​​CBT is that our emotions are influenced by our cognitions. In other words, the way we think influences how we feel.

A CBT therapist wants to help people suffer from emotional problems by helping them identify the paths where their thinking can cause their problem. A first step in the CBT is therefore the identification of "negative automatic thoughts" (or short "nats") - these are the thoughts that accompany unpleasant or non -helpful emotions such as depression or anxiety.

A closely associated goal of the CBT therapist is the identification of so-called “thinking errors”. These are habitual (and not helpful) types, like a person thinks about themselves, others and the world around them. These mistakes of thought will often turn or distort experiences by making the person appear dangerous or uncomfortable as a failure, others as hostile and the world.

The identification of NATs and the associated defect in thinking is half the battle in the CBT - as soon as a person is aware of their non -helpful thoughts and mental habits, they can decide to think more rational and healthier. A CBT therapist can lead them through this (rather uncomplicated) process.

As a psychiatrist and therapist who works in Edinburgh, I use CBT techniques extensively. Some of my customers are very satisfied with the results they achieve when they simply question their NATs and mistakes - they feel much better and don't feel like deepening further. However, the majority of clients want to "get to the bottom" why they had their emotional problems at all. I tend to promote this further work because it contributes to consolidating the progress made so far and, in my opinion

This further work includes a search for "negative core defines" (or "ncbs"). These are the not helpful beliefs that a person had during their later childhood and their adult life. They are the core components of the personality of the person and they are the main cause of the person's mistakes and ultimately for their nats. If a CBT therapist can help a person to change their negative basic beliefs (or to find more realistic, more rational and healthier alternatives), the person's mistakes and nats will decrease and their emotional problems will be (normally!).

A difficulty in NCBS is that a person rarely perceives them. Even if someone is able to identify NATs and mistakes, the cause of these problems can be hidden. But we can use NATs and mistakes as information.

In my experience as a psychiatrist in Edinburgh, I found two techniques that are most useful when looking for my clients' NCBs.

On the one hand, there is the method of "Repeated Questioning". I ask the clients what a certain NAT he identified means for him - he will give an answer, and then I ask him what this answer means for him. He will give a second answer, and then I will ask him what this second answer means for him, and so on. Within a very short time, the client receives an unexplored overall statement. This is a negative belief in core. It is probably best to demonstrate from an example:

customer: "There are plenty of garbage in Edinburgh" (he is angry)

CBT therapist: "What does that mean?"

client: "That I am the only one who takes care of it"

CBT therapist: "What does it mean if you are the only one who takes care of it?"
client: "People are not interested in things that are not their personal property"

CBT therapist: "And what does it mean if people only take care of their own things?"
customer: "People are only on themselves"

("People are only on themselves. This is the negative basic conviction of the client - a global statement that is uncompromising and will clearly influence the way he sees others and interacts with them in other areas of life, not only when throwing away!)

A second method for identifying negative basic beliefs is to search for the "topics" that are due to many NATs and mistakes in thinking. Such topics can be "I am a failure" or "Life has no sense" (very often in depression) or perhaps "the world is a dangerous place to life" (often in anxiety).

As soon as the negative basic beliefs of a client have been identified, the CBT therapist (together with the client) will try to research alternative and more rational ways of thinking about themselves, others and the world in general. Here there is a real, sustainable recovery of emotional problems, and I will discuss this in a follow -up article entitled "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and negative basic beliefs (NCBS) - treatment".

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