Indicting and Rehabilitating Thoughts
Worksheet 6-5 Jeremy’s Revised Thought on Trial Worksheet
Accused thought:
I couldn’t stand to see the look of repulsion on her face.
Defending the Thought Prosecuting the Thought
People are repulsed by burn scars. Actually, there are a few people I know who haven’t been shocked or repulsed by my scars. That thought is overgeneralizing.
I’ve seen the look of shock on people’s My family seems to have gotten
faces before. used to my scars. If they can, it’s
certainly possible that others could do the same — especially if they cared about me.
I can remember my mother crying when Just because my mother cried she saw how badly I was burned. doesn’t mean that she can’t stand
looking at me.
Defending the Thought Prosecuting the Thought
After one surgery, a physical therapist The physical therapist was right in made a comment that my burns were that I do have to live with this. But permanently deforming and I’d just have that doesn’t mean I can’t have a to learn to live with them. relationship. This thought involves
enlarging and overgeneralizing.
Sometimes when I go for a checkup, I My burns are noticeable; it doesn’t hear people talking about me. mean people don’t like me when
they talk about me. Here, I’m mind reading.
Lots of people with disfiguring disabilities have partners. In many cases, they found those partners after the disfigurement occurred.
If someone really likes and cares about me, she ought to be able to look past my scars.
If I don’t try, I’ll never have a relationship. This thought isn’t helping me.
If she does reject me, it doesn’t mean that everyone will. I’ve handled the pain of burns;
rejection can’t be that much worse.
At this point, Jeremy carefully reviews the case presented in his Revised Thought on Trial Worksheet. He finds his accused thought guilty of inflicting unnecessary misery. He and his therapist agree to work on a replacement thought for his most malicious thought (see the sec- tion “After the Verdict: Replacing and Rehabilitating Your Thoughts” later in this chapter).
After he creates the first replacement though, he continues putting his other malicious thoughts on trial and replacing them, one at a time.
Putting your thoughts on trial
You guessed it; it’s your turn to visit Thought Court. Don’t be concerned if you struggle in your initial attempts; this important exercise takes practice. (And if you’re still confused after examining your own thoughts, you can find several more examples to illustrate further how this process works.) The first step is to complete a Thought Tracker (see Worksheet 6-6) by following these instructions:
1. Pay attention to your body’s signals and write them down whenever you feel some- thing unpleasant.
2. Search for a feeling word that captures your emotion and jot it down.Refer to the Daily Unpleasant Emotions Checklist in Chapter 4 for help finding the right feeling words.
3. Rate your feeling on a scale of intensity from 1 (almost undetectable) to 100 (maximal).
4. Ask yourself what was going on when you started noticing your emotions and your body’s signals.The corresponding event can be something happening in your world, but an event can also be in the form of a thought or image that runs through your mind. Be concrete and specific; don’t write something overly general such as “I hate my work.” Instead, ask yourself what happened at work that you didn’t like.
5. Record your thoughts in the Thoughts/Interpretations column of the worksheet.
Describe how you perceive, interpret, or think about the event.Refer to The Thought Query Quiz in Chapter 4 if you experience any difficulty figuring out your thoughts about the event.
6. Review your thoughts and write down the thought or thoughts that evoke the great- est amount of emotion — your most malicious thoughts.
Worksheet 6-6 My Thought Tracker
Feelings & Sensations Corresponding Events Thoughts/Interpretations (Rated 1–100)
My most malicious thoughts:
1. ______________________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________________
You can find this worksheet on the Web at: www.dummies.com/go/adwbfd. Download as many copies as you need and be sure to practice this technique often. In time, you’re likely to start changing the way you think and, therefore, the way you feel. Just give it some time.
The Thought Tracker prepares you for the next step: Thought Court. Thought Court takes some planning and preparation. Take a malicious thought and consider the Prosecutor’s Investigative Questions in Worksheet 6-3. Reflect on your answers in Worksheet 6-7.
Worksheet 6-7 My Reflections
Now you’re ready to put a malicious thought on trial. After you put one thought on trial using the instructions that follow, proceed to put other malicious thoughts through the same process.
1. In Worksheet 6-8, designate one of your most malicious thoughts as the accused thought and write it down.
2. In the left-hand column, write all the reasons, evidence, and logic that support the truth of your accused thought.In other words, defend your thought as best you can.
3. In the right-hand column, write refutations of all the reasons, evidence, and logic presented by the defense. Then write down any additional points that help prose- cute the thought.