Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (36 page)
Read Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Online
Authors: David D. Burns
Figure 10–3.
After eliciting his chain of automatic thoughts, using the downward-arrow method, Art identified the cognitive distortions and substituted more objective responses.
First Automatic Thought: My boyfriend didn’t call me this weekend as he promised he would.
| ↓ | “Why is that upsetting to me? What does it mean to me?” |
Second Automatic Thought: Oh, it’s awful and terrible because I can’t stand it.
This is useless. We already
know
you feel awful and terrible. The question is—what
thoughts
automatically crossed your mind that
caused
you to feel so upset? What would it mean to you if he
had
neglected you?
Here’s the correct way to do it:
1. My boyfriend didn’t call me this weekend as he promised he would.
| ↓ | “Why would that be upsetting to me? What does it mean to me?” |
2. That means he’s neglecting me. That means he really doesn’t love me.
| ↓ | “And suppose that were true. What would that mean to me?” |
3. That would mean there’s something wrong with me. Otherwise he’d be more attentive.
| ↓ | “And suppose that were true. What would that mean to me?” |
4. That would mean I was going to be rejected.
| ↓ | “And if I were in fact rejected, what then? What would that mean to me?” |
5. That would mean I was unlovable and I would always be rejected.
| ↓ | “And if that happened, why would it upset me?” |
6. That would mean I’d end up alone and miserable.
Thus, by pursuing the
meaning
rather than your
feelings
, your silent assumptions became obvious: (1) If I’m not loved I’m not worthwhile; and (2) I’m bound to be miserable if I’m alone.
This is
not
to say your feelings aren’t important. The whole point is to deliver the real McCoy—valid emotional transformation.
The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS
). Because of the crucial importance of eliciting the silent assumptions that give rise to your mood swings, a second, simpler method for eliciting them called the “Dysfunctional Attitude Scale”
(DAS) has been developed by a member of our group. Dr. Arlene Weissman. She has compiled a list of one hundred self-defeating attitudes that commonly occur in individuals predisposed to emotional disorders. Her research has indicated that while negative automatic thoughts are reduced dramatically between episodes of depression, a self-defeating belief system remains more or less constant during episodes of depression and remission. Dr. Weissman’s studies confirm the concept that your silent assumptions represent a predisposition to emotional turbulence that you carry with you at all times.
Although a complete presentation of the lengthy Dysfunctional Attitude Scale would be beyond the scope of this book, I have selected a number of the more common attitudes and have added several others which will be useful. As you fill out the questionnaire, indicate how much you agree or disagree with each attitude. When you are finished, an answer key will let you score your answers and generate a profile of your personal value systems. This will show your areas of psychological strength and vulnerability.
Answering the test is quite simple. After each of the thirty-five attitudes, put a check in the column that represents your estimate of how you think
most
of the time. Be sure to choose only one answer for each attitude. Because we are all different, there is no “right” or “wrong” answer to any statement. To decide whether a given attitude is typical of your own philosophy, recall how you look at things
most of the time
.
EXAMPLE
:
In this example the checkmark in the Agree Slightly column indicates that the statement is somewhat typical of the attitudes of the person completing the inventory. Now go ahead.
The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale
*
