AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Table 2: Examples of restructuralization of negative automatic thoughts
AUTOMATIC THOUGHT
CONSTRUCTIVE POINT OF VIEW
When I make a mistake in grammar, the others will
laugh at me.
Maybe I will not speak in a foreign language correctly, but there is no reason why the
others should laugh at me. When they do, it is their problem, not mine.
The teacher is criticizing me.
I accept constructive criticism from people who are really interested in me. Their
opinion is very valuable for me because it is their feedback. I can improve myself
I will rather not say anything in order not to make a
mistake
Maybe I will make mistakes in a foreign language, but this is not a reason why it
should hinder me in speaking. We learn from our mistakes.
I will fail in front of my classmates
.
Classmates who like me, will accept me even though I make mistakes. They know
what qualities I have.
Within the area of cognitive restructuralization we deal first with particular automatic negative thoughts and with their substitution with
alternative and more balanced thoughts. We strengthen them by means of “behavioral experiments”. Only on the basis of knowing the most
typical automatic negative thoughts, we are able to derive “dysfunctional core conviction” that has an impact on these automatic negative
thoughts. In this way we can directly doubt the validity of this dysfunctional core conviction.
4 Targeted possibilities of coping with anxiety by means of
the cognitive and behavioral methods
In the course of several decades there have arisen many
cognitive and behavioral methods that have a wide application in
the training of coping with anxiety. In order to cope with
anxiety, we can apply methods aimed at influencing physical
symptoms (muscle relaxation, controlled breathing, etc.) as well
as methods focused on influencing evident behaviour (systematic
desensibilization, exposure, observation and planning of activity,
self-rewarding, methods for creation of new behaviour, methods
for changing the existing behaviour - operational conditioning,
etc.) as well as methods aimed at influencing cognitive processes
( stopping of thoughts - STOP technique, stopping of thoughts -
CARDS, diverting of attention, cognitive restructuralization,
self-instruction, etc.), or complex methods (training of
increasing the resistance against stress, training of social
competences, training of coping with anxiety, training of
assertive thinking, training of solving problems, etc.). In the
following text we choose some of them. These methods are
usually not used independently, but they are combined with
other methods. They require a training with the guidance of a
professional expert. More information about them can be found
in the works by
Ďurný, Možný,
Praško
(1999),
Praško, Možný,
Šlepecký et al
. (2007), Piačková (2002), Wright, Bascoová,
Thase ( 2008), etc.
Relaxation procedures
Anxiety is connected with the activation of sympathetic nervous
system and higher adrenaline in the blood. This leads to many
physical reactions (e.g. faster pulse frequency, higher blood
pressure, higher tension in skeletal muscles, shaking, faster
breathing, increased sweating, etc.). We often interpret these
physical reactions as symptoms of possible collapse or physical
disease (“I will faint!”) and therefore our anxiety is higher. If we
learn to control these physical reactions, the intensity of
unpleasant physical feelings decreases in situations when we feel
anxiety. Our understanding of these feelings changes as well (“I
will not faint, I am just nervous”). The result of these processes
is reflected it our higher self-control in difficult situations. The
basic methods used for achieving the state of physical relaxation
are based on the relaxation of skeletal muscles and calm
controlled abdominal breathing (”calming breathing”). We can
control the achievement of this state of relaxation by means of
some devices - this method is called biofeedback. The aim of
these methods is to reduce the activation of sympathetic nervous
system and to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. In
this way the state of physical relaxation can be achieved. It is
proved that the activated parasympathetic nervous system
effectively blocks anxiety and psychic tension (Možný, Praško,
1999). We have to emphasize that the usage of all these methods
leads to skills that can be acquired only with repeated and
regular practicing under the guidance of a professional expert. In
the following text we recommend some relaxation exercises such
as:
Rytmic relaxation (psychophysical relaxation)
(Žáčková,
J
ucovočová, 2000)
Lay down and listen to the sound of a metronome. Imagine a
summer meadow in a forrest full of sunshine, where you are
resting peacefully and from the distance you can hear the
chopping of wood from a woodcutter, somebody who is fixing
a hedge or a woodpecker that is pecking into a tree. The sound is
coming from the distance only, while we are listening to it and at
the same time we are resting, we are relaxed and calm.
Spiral relaxation (a type of a psychophysical relaxation)
(Žáčková, Jucovočová, 2000)
Lay down on the back, relax as much as is possible, and try to
focus on image that in your belly button there is a small earthen
marble that is nicely warming your abdominal area. This marble
is starting to make a circle around your navel in the size of little
a coin, the circles are getting bigger gradually. It is releasing a
feeling of relaxation, peace and warmth. All touched areas are
calm, relaxed and comfortably warmed. Its circles are slowly
getting bigger and reach areas of the abdomen, chest, shoulders
and hands. Circles continue to feet, neck and a head. They are
leaving a feeling of peace and warm in all these parts of body
(we repeat this formulation while we add new circles). The circle
that is made by marble, involve a head and feet and creates
closed circle where is warm and peace and protects us against
everything that could bother and stress us out. After
experiencing this feeling the marble starts to return slowly,
circles are getting smaller and it ends in the navel. A nice feeling
of peace and warmth, that it created is staying in our body. This
relaxation is very comfortable and beside the huge calming
effects has good effect on internal organs, because it starts
unusually in the area of a navel that relaxes and warms up this
area.
Short relaxation (mostly psychophysical relaxations)
(Žáčková, Jucovočová, 2000)
Duration 3-5 minutes: Sit or lay down comfortably, close eyes
and let the body relax. Now focus on the closed eye lids, that we
use as a screen where we can imagine the next pictures. These
are imaginations that create calming images – a shiny surface of
a pond bathing in sunshine, a blue sky with no clouds, a sunset
with the sounds of crickets, a night sky with many stars, a fresh
morning sunshine, the sun starts to warm up the pond´s surface.
We should experience and let the last image linger for a while,
and think about the nice rest we had, we take a deep breath,
stretch, we can also yawn like in the morning like we do after we
awake, open our eyes and we feel a great amount of energy and
strength flowing in our veins for another activity.
Calming breathing
The state of anxiety is often related to faster superficial breathing
- hyperventilation. If this hyperventilation takes longer time, it
provokes unpleasant symptoms in the body, such as nausea,
pressure on the chest, the feeling of shortness of breath, spasms
in toes, fingers and limbs. If we can control and calm our
breathing in such states, it will decrease the level of anxiety we
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