Your toilet backs up, and you believe your entire plumbing system must be replaced. You blame yourself for things beyond your control. Your child misbehaves at school. Here's a quick way to put cognitive therapy to work for you. The next time something happens that triggers a negative, potentially depressing thought, imagine it happened to a friend, who then asks your advice.
Most people are much harder on themselves than on others.
Imagine your friend's son misbehaved at school. Of course not. You'd do your best to provide comforting perspective. With cognitive therapy, you give the same gift to yourself. Writing automatically provides perspective and helps reveal distorted thinking.