define and cope with any real problems that exist.
Summary . When you are experiencing a blue mood, the chances are that you are telling yourself you are inherently inadequate or just plain “no good.” You will become convinced that you have a bad core or are essentially worthless. To the extent that you believe such thoughts, you will experience a severe emotional reaction of despair and self-hatred. You may even feel that you’d be better off dead because you are so unbearably uncomfortable and self-denigrating. You may become inactive and paralyzed, afraid and unwilling to participate in the normal flow of life.
Because of the negative emotional and behavioral consequences of your harsh thinking, the first step is to stop telling yourself you are worthless. However, you probably won’t be able to do this until you become absolutely convincedthat these statements are incorrect and unrealistic .
How can this be accomplished? You must first consider that a human life is an ongoing process that involves a constantly changing physical body as well as an enormous number of rapidly changing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Your life therefore is an evolving experience, a continual flow. You are not a thing; that’s why any label is constricting, highly inaccurate, and global. Abstract labels such as “worthless” or “inferior” communicate nothing and mean nothing .
But you may still be convinced you are second-rate. What is your evidence? You may reason, “I feel inadequate. Therefore, I must be inadequate. Otherwise, why would I be filled with such unbearable emotions?” Your error is in emotional reasoning. Your feelings do not determine your worth, simply your relative state of comfort or discomfort. Rotten, miserable internal states do not prove that you are a rotten, worthless person, merely that you think you are; because you are in a temporarily depressed mood, you are thinking illogically and unreasonably about yourself.
Would you say that states of mood elevation and happiness prove you are great or especially worthy? Or do they simply mean that you are feeling good?
Just as your feelings do not determine your worth, neither do your thoughts or behaviors. Some may be positive, creative, and enhancing; the great majority are neutral. Others may be irrational, self-defeating, and maladaptive. These can be modified if you are willing to exert the effort, but they certainly do not and cannot mean that you are no good. There is no such thing in this universe as a worthless human being.
“Then how can I develop a sense of self-esteem?” you may ask. The answer is—you don’t have to! You don’t have to do anything especially worthy to create or deserve self-esteem; all you have to do is turn off that critical, haranguing, inner voice. Why? Because that critical inner voice is wrong ! Your internal self-abuse springs from illogical,distorted thinking. Your sense of worthlessness is not based on truth, it is just the abscess which lies at the core of depressive illness.
So remember three crucial steps when you are upset:
1. Zero in on those automatic negative thoughts and write them down. Don’t let them buzz around in your head; snare them on paper!
2. Read over the list of ten cognitive distortions. Learn precisely how you are twisting things and blowing them out of proportion.
3. Substitute a more objective thought that puts the lie to the one which made you look down on yourself. As you do this, you’ll begin to feel better. You’ll be boosting your self-esteem, and your sense of worthlessness (and, of course, your depression) will disappear.
Chapter 5
Do-Nothingism: How to Beat It
In the last chapter you learned that you can change your mood by changing how you think . There is a second major approach to mood elevation that is enormously effective. People are not only thinkers, they are doers, so it is not surprising that you can substantially change
Summary . When you are experiencing a blue mood, the chances are that you are telling yourself you are inherently inadequate or just plain “no good.” You will become convinced that you have a bad core or are essentially worthless. To the extent that you believe such thoughts, you will experience a severe emotional reaction of despair and self-hatred. You may even feel that you’d be better off dead because you are so unbearably uncomfortable and self-denigrating. You may become inactive and paralyzed, afraid and unwilling to participate in the normal flow of life.
Because of the negative emotional and behavioral consequences of your harsh thinking, the first step is to stop telling yourself you are worthless. However, you probably won’t be able to do this until you become absolutely convincedthat these statements are incorrect and unrealistic .
How can this be accomplished? You must first consider that a human life is an ongoing process that involves a constantly changing physical body as well as an enormous number of rapidly changing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Your life therefore is an evolving experience, a continual flow. You are not a thing; that’s why any label is constricting, highly inaccurate, and global. Abstract labels such as “worthless” or “inferior” communicate nothing and mean nothing .
But you may still be convinced you are second-rate. What is your evidence? You may reason, “I feel inadequate. Therefore, I must be inadequate. Otherwise, why would I be filled with such unbearable emotions?” Your error is in emotional reasoning. Your feelings do not determine your worth, simply your relative state of comfort or discomfort. Rotten, miserable internal states do not prove that you are a rotten, worthless person, merely that you think you are; because you are in a temporarily depressed mood, you are thinking illogically and unreasonably about yourself.
Would you say that states of mood elevation and happiness prove you are great or especially worthy? Or do they simply mean that you are feeling good?
Just as your feelings do not determine your worth, neither do your thoughts or behaviors. Some may be positive, creative, and enhancing; the great majority are neutral. Others may be irrational, self-defeating, and maladaptive. These can be modified if you are willing to exert the effort, but they certainly do not and cannot mean that you are no good. There is no such thing in this universe as a worthless human being.
“Then how can I develop a sense of self-esteem?” you may ask. The answer is—you don’t have to! You don’t have to do anything especially worthy to create or deserve self-esteem; all you have to do is turn off that critical, haranguing, inner voice. Why? Because that critical inner voice is wrong ! Your internal self-abuse springs from illogical,distorted thinking. Your sense of worthlessness is not based on truth, it is just the abscess which lies at the core of depressive illness.
So remember three crucial steps when you are upset:
1. Zero in on those automatic negative thoughts and write them down. Don’t let them buzz around in your head; snare them on paper!
2. Read over the list of ten cognitive distortions. Learn precisely how you are twisting things and blowing them out of proportion.
3. Substitute a more objective thought that puts the lie to the one which made you look down on yourself. As you do this, you’ll begin to feel better. You’ll be boosting your self-esteem, and your sense of worthlessness (and, of course, your depression) will disappear.
Chapter 5
Do-Nothingism: How to Beat It
In the last chapter you learned that you can change your mood by changing how you think . There is a second major approach to mood elevation that is enormously effective. People are not only thinkers, they are doers, so it is not surprising that you can substantially change
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