More blabberings on CBT and Core Beliefs...

Date: 21 January 2010 00:49:47

Thank you for the comments on the post below, and I hope I did communicate clearly and correctly about the aspects of CBT I touched on; I could be way off for all I know.

This module, again from the helpful Centre for Clinical Interventions website, goes into some detail in this area of changing Core Beliefs should you want to look further. [The full set of modules for Improving Self-Esteem can be found here.]

The thing that I find most draining is the amount of work it takes; it is not a one-off process: "no gain without pain" and all that. A thing I find particularly helpful with these modules from the Centre for Clinical Interventions is their realistic point of view: as the module linked above ends:

It is important to remember that changing your core belief about yourself is a difficult task that might take some time and practice. It will involve revisiting the steps in this module a number of times, reflecting on what you have written, and perhaps adding more things. It will involve continually re-training your attention in everyday life so that you take note of all the future evidence that will arise to further support your new belief. It will involve behaving differently and using experiments to help accumulate more experiences and evidence for you new belief. It is an ongoing process. Remember, you have carried this old belief around for many years, so it will take some time to adjust it and embrace your new belief. However, you will find that if you continue to apply these strategies over time, your conviction in your old negative core beliefs will decrease and your conviction in your new balanced core beliefs will rise.

While it is good to be realistic, it can be rather confronting to know there is no short-term fix. I hope this does not sound like whinging and whining, perhaps it is, but the mental and emotional drain gets to me at times. And writing positives to me seems like patting oneself on the back and grandstanding so it takes a great amount of effort currently for me to do it.

At those times all I can do, apart from crying out to God for help, or reaching out to those around me for support, is to look forward to the presence of far more balanced core beliefs, and, I pray, a better and more full life. And, as best I can and in my own small way, I am, I pray, learning to rest more in God, and even cry out to him as in Psalms 142 and 143, recited at the Orthodox service of Great Vespers. Not sure if I am twisting Scripture, but cries such as, "For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead." or "Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me!" [Psalm 143:3; Psalm 142:6b, ESV] have a particular relevance at this time.

For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
for I am your servant.

Psalm 143:11-12, ESV