Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 

CHANGING THEIR BELIEF SYSTEM: Hopefully from the 7th session, you or your client are able to identify some negative thoughts or belief systems. Now comes the hard part, How do you help the client change the belief system that they have been holding on to for all the years. I will definitely recommend reading “Feeling Good- The New Mood Therapy” by Dr. David D. Burns. MD. I love reading a paragraph or chapter with the kids, and we just discuss it. They find it so interesting to just talk about the content of the book. I even had a teenager ask me “who wrote this book? He gets me?”. Haha.

Cognitive Distortions

I am pretty sure if you google cognitive distortions, there are tons out there. I really like using this worksheet from psychology tools.

But children get so bored with it. So, I tried to make it a little interesting. Sometimes they are interested, sometimes they are not. Good luck. You can always change this pdf to change it to fit your client’s needs.

1. Cognitive Distortion: This is an opportunity to teach them about these distortions. Like always, I usually start with if they know anything about them, and ask them to share what they know. It is also a good time to correct what they know.
2. Examples/ Definition: If there were certain ones they were not aware of, they or the provider can definitely write it down. I love asking the children to share any examples of themselves, their friends, their parents, or others they know of who might have those thoughts. They love this part. It can also lead to more exploration the relationships and self-awareness.
3. Outcomes/ Changes: This is the part where they can share what outcome occurred because of those thoughts, and if they could change the past or predict the future, what changes would they like to see.

Cognitive Restructuring

As I said before, It is really hard for people to change the way they think since they have been wearing the same “glass- how they see the world” all their life. So, I start with letting my patients know that I have that glass too. I also have those thoughts in my mind. Everyone has those thoughts. It is all about how we choose to be mindful and handle it a little differently. I discuss how the client might have been living their life without even recognizing that they were seeing the world through those cognitive distortions.

1. Recognize and acknowledge the glass by being mindful of the cognitive distorted thoughts.
2. Choose to wear a different glass with (colors, design, thickness, power, empty frame).
3. Look to use the glass that you like and that is going to make you feel good.

Then I introduce some of these LIFE CONVERSATIONS about these topics which might help them decorate or change the way they see themselves, their world, or others. I tried to match it to the cognitive distortions on the top boxes There are three parts since I could not put all of them together. Enjoy!!!