“People are
disturbed not by
things but the views
they take of them”…
(Epictetus)
At the core of human
emotional
disturbance is our
tendency to
transform desires,
wants and
preferences into
rigid, unhealthy
beliefs, rules and
demands. These
demands might be: I
must…; I should…; I
have to… I’ve got
to; and … it HAS to
be!
Often these beliefs
are unconscious.
Cognitive
Behavioural
Hypnotherapy works
towards making our
operating beliefs
conscious and
identifying whether
they are healthy and
helpful, or
unhealthy and
unhelpful.
Think of your mind
as a computer. Just
as you wouldn’t want
a corrupt computer
operating system –
so you don’t want
unhealthy beliefs to
be underlying and
negatively
influencing and
informing every
action, thought,
feeling and
behaviour.
An unhealthy and
self-defeating
belief is:
Unrealistic,
irrational,
illogical, unhelpful
and creates
psychological
disturbance.
This is what it
looks like: “This is
absolutely AWFUL and
the end of my
world”! - negative
events are viewed as
being exaggeratedly
and unrealistically
101% bad.
“I can’t BEAR it”!
“I’ll NEVER survive
this”! – a perceived
inability to
tolerate discomfort
or frustration.
“I’m useless –
that’s why I wasn’t
promoted” – putting
the self down and
negatively rating
the self based on
perceived failures
and inadequacies.
Unhealthy
beliefs create:
· distorted,
unhelpful thinking
· unconstructive
behaviour
· living life in a
negatively limiting
and destructive way
A healthy belief is:
Logical, realistic,
helpful and promotes
psychological
well-being.
This is what it
looks like:
“ This is really
difficult and
painful but I know
that I will get
through this somehow
and that life will
go on, at least I
still have xyz” –
where 100% bad does
not exist as it
possible to think of
something worse.
“This is really
challenging and I
don’t like it but I
can cope with it and
work towards it
changing for the
better”– the ability
to tolerate
frustration and
discomfort despite
having a desire or
preference blocked.
“I’m really
disappointed about
not getting that
promotion but accept
that I am a fallible
human being and that
my self worth does
not depend on
getting that job”. –
accepting that all
humans are fallible
but intrinsically
worthy, regardless
of their successes
and disappointments.
Healthy beliefs
accept the fact that
we don’t always get
what we want and
that although this
may be very
difficult it is not
the end of the
world!
Healthy beliefs
create:
· clear, focused and
helpful thinking
constructive
behaviour
· living life in an
empowered, self
responsible and
positive way
We have a common
misperception that
an event, person or
situation causes us
to feel a certain
way – that something
outside of ourselves
or out of our
control determines
how we are going to
feel at any given
time, eg. “That
massive traffic jam
really made me angry
and ****** off!”
Rational Emotive
Behavioural Therapy
(REBT) developed by
psychologist Albert
Ellis, and Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy
(CBT), developed by
psychiatrist Aaron
Beck fundamentally
contest this
misperception.
They represent this
using the ABC model:
A: (Activating
event) represents
the trigger
B: Represents the
belief about the
trigger/event. This
can be healthy or
unhealthy
C: Represents the
emotional,
behavioural and
psychological
consequence that
follow from the
beliefs about A.
This model promotes
that unhealthy
beliefs will lead to
unhealthy
consequences and
that healthy beliefs
will lead to healthy
consequences.
Cognitive
Behavioural
Hypnotherapy works
with this model and
helps the client to
understand that
emotions and beliefs
are caused by
beliefs and
thinking. The ABC
model also includes
disputing irrational
beliefs (D); and
enabling the client
to implement new
effective ways of
feeling and behaving
(E).
This is done
consciously through
discussion and
various tasks, and
working directly
with the unconscious
mind in hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a
relaxed state of
altered
consciousness that
allows for creative
helpful problem
solving, negotiation
and suggestion for
implementing new
helpful and healthy
beliefs and
psychological
change.
Our thoughts truly
do create our
reality and we can
choose to create a
potentially
devastating and
negative reality, or
a potentially
hopeful and positive
reality. However
this often takes
work and self
discipline! It can
be easy to indulge
in negative, victim
self talk and create
feelings of
emotional
disturbance.
We need to listen
and watch out for
the ways in which we
disturb ourselves.
This might be by
distorting reality,
demanding, seeing
events as awful,
discomfort
intolerance and
detrimentally
judging ourselves
and others. We can
then choose to
practise healthy and
helpful ways of
thinking and
subsequently
feeling.
Through conscious
practice and
awareness positive
change is always
possible!
Unhealthy negative
emotions Healthy
negative Emotions
Unhealthy
anger
|
Healthy
anger |
Anxiety |
Concern |
Depression
|
Sadness |
Guilt
|
Remorse |
Shame |
Regret |
Hurt
|
Disappointment |
Unhealthy
jealousy |
Healthy
jealousy |
Unhealthy
envy
|
Healthy envy |