Think, Feel, Act!

So, it's time to talk about the basic principles of therapy!

CBT offers us a simple and clear model, the so-called triad of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Each element of this triangle affects the other two.

For instance, recall a situation that traumatized you.

As soon as you immerse yourself in the memories, you will feel negative emotions.

You may feel sad or melancholic, or, on the contrary, you may feel anger.

After that, your body will react: you will start to sweat, your muscles will tense up, and so on.

More content in our app

You're only seeing a portion of the content. In the app, you'll find numerous interactive articles. Additionally, there are psychological tests to track your mood dynamics, a daily planner, an automatic thought journal, and much more!

As you can see, one clearly affects the other.

But there's nothing scary about this interconnection: we go through a similar cycle with positive and negative thoughts every day.

Problems start when we get trapped in a circle of negativity.

Following the first negative thought are negative emotions and reactions.

And it's these emotions that cause us to think about the same unfavorable again and again, maintaining an eternal cycle and generating an increasingly negative reaction.

Let's consider the operation of the thought triad with an example of a psychologist-patient dialogue:

I constantly feel tired and depressed, and it's starting to negatively affect my work and relationships with loved ones.

Okay, let's try to figure it out. In CBT, there's the concept of the thought-feel-act triad. Each of these elements affects the other two. Tell me about your typical day.

Well, in the morning I wake up and immediately think: "Another terrible day". Then at work, I feel unfocused and inefficient.

Great, let's analyze this. Your morning thought ("Another terrible day") affects your feeling (unfocused, depressed) and your behavior (lack of efficiency at work). See, it's interconnected.

I see... So what should I do?

Let's try to reframe your morning thought. Instead of "Another terrible day" think: "There's a chance to make this day better". This thought could influence your mood and possibly make your day more productive.

Sounds logical. But does it really work?

For many people, it does. Of course, it's not an instant process, and practice is required. But changing your internal dialogue can be the first step to changing your feeling and behavior.

Okay, I'm willing to try.

Excellent! That's the first step towards changing your thoughts, feelings, and ultimately, your behavior.

This is how the basic model works, naturally, individual response is added.

A person with an eating disorder will reflect on their figure and blame themselves for eating a pastry.

A neurotic will spend hours pondering a possible catastrophic event in the future with a minimal likelihood of it happening.

Whew! We've really laid on the gloom and doom here…

Don't despair! Everything's great because next, we're going to talk a lot about ways to break this vicious cycle.

Thus, you'll be armed with knowledge, and these problems won't affect you!