I’ve been reading “Feeling Great” by David Burns and it seems to have very similar ideas.
His thing is, when the patient has negative thoughts & feelings and says they wish they didn’t, he says “Hang on are you sure you want to get rid of those? Let’s think about all the ways that those negative thoughts & feelings are helping you, and let’s think about all the ways that those negative thoughts & feelings exemplify awesome aspects of your personality.”
Like the thought “I’m a hopeless case” is helpful because you don’t have to keep working hard to get better, and you don’t have to feel at fault for still having problems. And having that belief shows that you’re a realistic and observant person. Etc. etc.
And they don’t even start trying to get rid of the negative thought until they’ve talked about this for a while and the patient is satisfied that they have a path to keeping those positive aspects, or that they’re really OK giving up on those positive aspects.
It rings true to me and has seemed to be helpful so far, and it definitely seems related to what you’re saying here. And the book makes that process really straightforward and step-by-step. :-)
I’ve been reading “Feeling Great” by David Burns and it seems to have very similar ideas.
His thing is, when the patient has negative thoughts & feelings and says they wish they didn’t, he says “Hang on are you sure you want to get rid of those? Let’s think about all the ways that those negative thoughts & feelings are helping you, and let’s think about all the ways that those negative thoughts & feelings exemplify awesome aspects of your personality.”
Like the thought “I’m a hopeless case” is helpful because you don’t have to keep working hard to get better, and you don’t have to feel at fault for still having problems. And having that belief shows that you’re a realistic and observant person. Etc. etc.
And they don’t even start trying to get rid of the negative thought until they’ve talked about this for a while and the patient is satisfied that they have a path to keeping those positive aspects, or that they’re really OK giving up on those positive aspects.
It rings true to me and has seemed to be helpful so far, and it definitely seems related to what you’re saying here. And the book makes that process really straightforward and step-by-step. :-)