Individual\'s Power to Change Self-Defeating

¶ … individual's power to change self-defeating patterns and emotional reactions.

you largely feel the way you think

*cognitive psychology contends you can change

*emotionally disturbed people retain irrational beliefs (IB's)

*humans have goals and if thwarted, then they may act constructively or deconstructively

*in REBT, clients must do work on own to change their own thinking/therapist can only do so much

How we create our own feelings

*Emotion is a life process

*emotion consists of: (1) perceiving, (2) moving, and (3) thinking

*emotions have no single cause or result

you can think yourself out of an emotional disturbance

*people CREATE unhealthy emotions

*if you change your thinking and follow it up with effective action, then you can change unhealthy emotions

*however, feelings of great loss or grief cannot be changed as they arise from biological need for preservation

*encourage people to get hones with real feelings because as humans we are highly suggestible

*our beliefs create emotional reactions

*RB's follow the facts of life

*emotion is forceful thinking and sustained emotion requires repeated evaluation

*feelings are connected with values

*3 ways to control feelings: (1) chemical, (2) perceiving-moving system (dance/yoga), and (3) willing and thinking processes

Chapter 7

-you can overcome the influences of the past!

*two kinds of pain: (1) physical (physical pain alone does not make you miserable, your attitude toward the pain makes you miserable) and (2) mental (you have more control over this kind of pain) when you start feeling hurt over another's actions, you also might start "discovering" other bad traits, leading to worse feelings

*parental rejection teaches children to hate themselves

*we can (1) increase objectivity and (2) break habits where we put selves at risk, (3) rid selves of agendas that conflict with higher priorities, (4) replace self defeating rants and damnation with realistic preferences, and (5) accept ourselves for being imperfect.

Unit Paper: Reading response to online readings

The readings assigned within this unit focused upon the notion that as individuals we are not powerless in the face of negative thoughts. When contrasted with much of the information on the Internet, we see that there is a great deal of controversy when it comes to mental illness, its causes, and its treatment. When one peruses the Internet, it is relatively easy to find articles which will help you to self-diagnose yourself and then self-treat yourself for whatever psychosis or neurosis you might have. In conducting the research, several articles addressed some of the issues raised in the book in which I had further questions relating to negative thoughts and the personal will to address and treat them.

There is a consensus that diagnoses of mental and psychological illness are increasing in the United States. It seems that what used to be melancholy or the doldrums or a case of the blues is now diagnosed as mild to moderate depression. What used to be considered antsy is now ADHD. One of the articles addressed this issue and provided helpful guidance and clarification that this is not necessarily an increase in the amount of mental illness in America; rather, it is reflective of a more technologically advanced America that has the capability to uncover disease and then treat it. Additionally, another article commented that upon receiving a diagnosis, many individuals actually feel relieved because now there is a name for what they are experiencing as well as a treatment plan.