CBT Diary
If you are feeling stressed or anxious or depressed it can be helpful to keep a diary.
In cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) the particular format you use is sometimes called a Thoughts Diary because it is a feature of CBT that you use it to log the thoughts that are going through your mind when you are in the negative emotional state and then to try to find ways of dealing with those negative thoughts to put them in perspective or assess how realistic they are.
When working as a life coach using CBT techniques, I used a variety of different kinds of diaries in working with clients, tailored to the needs of individuals. Some common features included in most of them:
- Recording what you did during the day
- Recording any anxious or stressful episodes
in the day and noting down in that respect:
- The situation which triggered you to feel stressed or anxius
- Your thoughts in that situation
- What you tried to do to help deal with the anxiety or stress
- The outcome - Did what you tried to do help?
- A rating of your satisfaction with how the day went
- A constructive comment on the day.
Why Keep a CBT Diary?
If you are in a negative mood you may tend to focus on what you haven't done or to feel that you haven't achieved very much. Recording what you have done can help to put this in perspective. If there is something that you are particularly anxious about, it can also help you to realise that other things happen in the day which are not connected to that anxiety.
Recording your actions to manage anxious or stressful events and the results can help you to identify what strategies work for you in dealing with anxiety or stress.
Recording your daily satisfaction can help you to see how your mood is over a period of time.
Making a constructive comment on the day can help to move you to seeing things in a more balanced way if you have a tendency to be negative. If the day has gone well then it's easy to record a constructive comment. If it's not gone well still record a constructive comment - even if it's just to remind yourself of one thing that you did get done or of some small part of the day you enjoyed, or of things that could have been even worse but weren't, or that tomorrow you are going to start afresh and put today behind you - or even if it's just to make a note that at least you have managed to complete the diary!
If you are stressed, anxious or even just curious, then try keeping a diary like this to see if you find it helpful.
Like This Page? Share it on Social Media:
- - - - - - - - -- - -
For downloadable ebook Self-Help Guides to different topics go to:
Self-Help ebook Downloads