# What CBT exercises do you?



## roverred (Dec 23, 2007)

Do any of you practice regular CBT sessions? What kind of exercises do you do?


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

Abdominal breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation. I do them only when I feel like, which is rare. I can't keep myself motivated.

edit: oh wait, these have nothing to do with cbt. lol.


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## MissMay1977 (Oct 25, 2008)

I do meditation. I also do the triple column method of automatic thoughts/cog. distortions/Rational response. aka talking back to your negative thoughts.


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## shychick2 (Oct 20, 2008)

I can say what I did do (no particular order). 
Before CBT I was writing up my PhD thesis at home and was on the Internet and not going out much.
I went into uni and went to lunch with a colleague regularly
I went to the departmental coffee room for tea breaks and sat with acquaintances
I went into shops and made a comment to the cashier
I spent less time on the Internet
I tried smiling at people
I tried eye contact with anyone I passed in the street


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## Black_Widow (May 23, 2008)

Things I've so far tried from CBT self help books and suggestions at previous CBT sessions (when I went for a short while back in 2007) include:

Relaxation exercises (so far I've found breathing exercises most helpful out of these, though really only works on anticipatory anxiety rather than when i'm directly in a situation that causes me anxiety)

Thought records + distraction exercises (find these help sometimes but not always)

Also currently trying to tackle deep rooted negative core beliefs and develop alternatives to them to try and reduce feelings of anxiety/depression as well as other negative feelings.

I'm also thinking of trying Graded Exposure. Though haven't started this just yet.


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## socially inept (Mar 6, 2009)

roverred said:


> Do any of you practice regular CBT sessions? What kind of exercises do you do?


i use cbt on myself. i use it to look for evidence that contradicts beleifs icreated int he past, i use it to find evidence for new beleifs and i also use it when im actaully in a difficult situation e.g if im a a social event and i find myself saying ''these people think im weird '' then becasue of cbt i can identify what type of thought that is , its''mind reading''. so then i can say to mself ''o there i go mind reading again'' which helps to decrease the anxiety


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## roverred (Dec 23, 2007)

MissMay1977 said:


> I do meditation. I also do the triple column method of automatic thoughts/cog. distortions/Rational response. aka talking back to your negative thoughts.


Lost me there for a second

Thanks for the replies. I have forgotten somethings about CBT and I have been getting less active with CBT these several months, after I have been getting more into society. But it is not necessarily because I'm doing better.

But it looks like i'm doing it correctly. I conjure up previous or faux situations that give me high anxiety. I ask myself what is the worst that can happen? Is it really that bad? And then of think of what is causing me to be anxious. Then counter belief. The hard part is making sure I have the right reason and a good counter belief. I repeat several times and then store that counter belief for when anxiety strikes.

I've never tried the exercise where you repeat phrases over and over again each day.



socially inept said:


> I find myself saying ''these people think im weird '' then becasue of cbt i can identify what type of thought that is , its''mind reading''. so then i can say to mself ''o there i go mind reading again'' which helps to decrease the anxiety


Is that all you say? This one I actually have trouble convincing me to stop thinking. My old phrase was "You have no idea what he/she is thinking." Did you create like a subconscious link that mind reading is bad first? After that counter, do you have to push the thought away or does the counter neutralize the need to think.


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## this portrait (Jul 18, 2009)

The only part of CBT that I've really managed to somewhat practice is the elimination of negative thoughts.

However, I've recently started getting into meditation, and I've decided to add aromatherapy to my recovery as well. I've found that lavendar essential oil tends to put my mind at peace and relieve anxiety.


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## socially inept (Mar 6, 2009)

roverred said:


> Lost me there for a second
> 
> Thanks for the replies. I have forgotten somethings about CBT and I have been getting less active with CBT these several months, after I have been getting more into society. But it is not necessarily because I'm doing better.
> 
> ...


no thats not al i say but the sentence always starts of with '' o there i go mind reading again''

after that i follow with othr cbt techniques like decatastrophizing like ''so what if they think i weird whats so bad about that, its not the end of the world ''


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