Hmmm.."rightly having a negative thought". What an interesting concept. Some negative thoughts that come to mind for me: these fries are soggy; I'm freezing out here waiting for the bus; I hate doing laundry. The ones that are more concerning are very different: I hate myself, I'm a loser, no wonder I have no friends, life sucks, life is never going to get better, etc. Can you see the difference? CBT can be hard to wrap your head around at first but keep trying. I refer you back to the program and encourage you to keep at it. It does work and be patient with yourself- it takes time.
Distracting yourself from thinking sounds like it helps. I do think you should also try to negate the negative thought by thinking something positive. It's as simple and complex as thinking positive!
I find challenging negative thoughts rather difficult. Sometimes, I am uncertain whether I am rightly having a negative thought or I am having a negative thought beacuse I am depressesed. Pretty confusing, eh. i m stuck at this level actually, wander around other lessons and come back to negative thoughts.
I try to control the clear and absurd negative thoughts by just stoping the thinking process. I midway tell myself its not happening, nothings happening or hum something alound - only enuf loud for my ears- to distract myself. Listening to music helps too, something to keep the brain occupied and away from the thoughts. It is difficult as it is not in control but I try and try and try.
I am interested in hearing what other members have to say.
Generally we advise members to schedule times when they plan on working on the program. We also encourage members to reward themselves for completing sessions. This program is hard work but it is well worth it so stick with it!
...or to be more specific, a lack thereof. I decided to restart putting myself through this program back in late Septemeber after giving it a try a year or so ago. I just worked rather quickly through the first few sections I had already gone through and got into the more difficult (at least for me) sections about negative thoughts. Boy, do I have negative thoughts mastered! Anyway, it seems like after a blink of an eye three weeks have gone by and I haven't done a damn thing, so now I'm back trying to re-jump start myself again. I guess now I have a new negative thought about myself to explore.
So to my question...how have people who have successfully navigated this process managed to do so while being stuck in a depression?
