Understanding Emotions
What is the purpose of anger?
Helps you identify problems, protect yourself, and motivate you to change
What is opposite action?
noticing what the emotion wants you to do and acting in a way that is different or opposite
What information do physical sensations provide us?
They are body clues, they give us information into how we are feeling and the emotions we are experiencing
Define an automatic interpretation
processing a situation without thinking
Define detective thinking
re-evaluation of our automatic thoughts
What is the purpose of sadness?
Something is missing, signal for support
Provide an example of opposite action
Provide examples of body clues (physical sensations) and what emotion they are associated with
Rapid heart beat - stress
Feeling warm - anger
Other similar examples
Why are automatic thoughts not helpful?
They may not be right
1. Identify the automatic interpretation
2. Identify the thinking trap
3. Evaluate the evidence - use detective questioning
4. Identify a realistic outcome
5. If this outcome were to occur, could you cope with it?
Describe emotional behavior and provide an example
Describe the relationship between activities you enjoy and your mood?
Typically, as you do more activities you enjoy, your mood increases
What is the body's fight or flight response
Our bodies reaction to something scary or sudden. It gives us the energy to run or fight off what we perceive as a threat
Define the "ignoring the positive" thinking trap
telling yourself that your achievements or successes don't count or you just got lucky. Or always focusing on the negative rather than the positive
Identify 3 types of detective questions
Client lists questions that can be used to evaluate automatic thoughts
Define the three parts of emotions
thoughts - what we think
physical sensations - what we feel in our bodies
behaviors - what we do
Describe an example of avoidant behaviors?
client provides an example in which they avoid doing certain behaviors to avoid feeling uncomfortable emotions
Describe the body scan activity and what the purpose of the activity is
Helps us notice any physical sensations in our body, bring awareness to the ones we are experiencing currently
What is magical thinking?
believing that, through your actions, you have the power to control things that you actually can't control
What are the 5 steps to problem solving?
1. define the problem
2. identify some solutions
3. create a pros/cons list for each solution
4. pick a solution and try it out
5. If necessary, go through the process again
Describe the ARC of emotions
(Hint: this is what we go through every single week)
Trigger - what caused the emotion
Emotion - along with the accompanying thoughts, physical sensations, and behaviors
Consequences: both short term and long term
Why are avoidance behaviors not helpful?
We feel relief in the short-term, but we end up feeling more stress in the long-term
Perform one of the sensational exposures:
Run in place for 1 minute
hold breath for 30 seconds
hold a push up position for as long as possible
What emotion does that exposure mimic?
Client corresponds exposure to an emotion
Client provides an experience of a thinking trap
Describe a scenario in which you can use the problem solving technique, go through each of the steps
The client provides an accurate scenario and describes problem solving