Suffering from depression is not easy, but instead of grabbing a bottle of anti-depressants you might want to consider cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques as a method to get you back on the path of positivity.
The basic idea of CBT is that your thoughts impact your mood and behavior, so by thinking more positively, you will both feel better and respond better to situations. If you’ve decided to take the big step to try it, then keep reading. We’ve gathered some ways you can get the most out of CBT techniques.
Set Goals That Are Achievable
Before you start your therapy, consider what you want to get out of it. While setting your goals, think of situations where you felt depressed and unfulfilled. How would you like to feel or behave the next time something similar occurs?
Write your answer down and set it as a goal for your desired state of mind after completing cognitive behavioral therapy. Be sure it’s an achievable goal so that you will be able to reach it and won’t get frustrated if you can’t achieve it.
Reward Yourself For Successful Practice
Reconditioning your mind and how you behave is quite a task. For this reason, you should reward yourself every time you act in a positive manner that relates to your set goals. Even the smallest change should be celebrated because it takes a lot of little changes to add up to a significant difference.
Identify Negativity Before It Comes Knocking
This is the idea that you need to be able to identify when an obstacle is coming your way and deal with it before it arrives or becomes a big problem.
In other words, the best way to avoid any adverse reactions is to deal with problems and think of what might happen before it happens. Cognitive behavior therapy techniques will teach you how to do this without losing focus on being positive.
Start being more aware of negativity now so you’ll be ready to learn how to deal with it.
Be Accountable
If you feel accountable to yourself and others, you will think twice before giving in to negative thoughts and destructive behaviors.
You might want to let your loved ones know that you are using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. This will help provide you with a support system during your therapy and make it a lot easier to reach your goals.
Join A Group
As previously mentioned, your loved ones can prove to be a great support system. It may also help you to join a group of people that are also using CBT therapy techniques. This provides you with additional support and also allows you to be in the company of others that are experiencing the same emotions as you are.
Focus on Positive Experiences
The golden rule of CBT therapy techniques is that you should always focus on positive experiences. Those occurrences that give you a warm and fuzzy feeling are the ones you need to concentrate on and experience more of.
Life is unpredictable, and that means the unexpected will happen, but if you focus on the positive, you will feel better when the negative does happen.
It’s Not the End of the World
As with any treatment, you need to take this journey one step at a time. Realize that with CBT techniques you might have days of negativity. Your depression might come back, and you might feel like you are unable to get back to your happy place again.
At this point, it is imperative for you to get back to your cognitive behavioral therapy. Don’t throw in the towel. Go back to basics, study your goals, and focus on why you started. Make an effort to get yourself back on track rather than giving up.
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