Me, Myself, and I: COVID CBT

       

      Self-Talk: We all do it (come on, admit it, you talk to yourself, I do!). Based on my dialogue with many of you as well as what I have read the past few months, we are all probably doing more of it these days, in part due to the increase in time we are spending in isolation (whether this is in turn due to 'stay in place' or self-selected). In any case, we may as well do it right, to our own benefit and on behalf of others.

       Hearing Our Own Voice: We can all relate to statements like "...I did this to myself...I got myself worked up...I'm too hard on myself...I have got to get myself motivated!..." These and a vast amount of others you can come up with that are more 'personalized' (what are your own 'go to' statements?) represent our appreciation of the relationship between self-talk, feelings, and outward behavior (or lack thereof). In Cognitive Restructuring and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) a primary objective is to identify, then modify various (dysfunctional) thinking and unrealistic beliefs, which in turn eventuates in more functional behavior patterns. In other words, change our internal dialogue. The description of CBT I frequently offer my audience, not as technical as those in the professional literature but user friendly, is that of 'Think and Do'. That is, what can we do with our minds and bodies to mitigate negative thoughts?

       CBT in Action: As Maria told the von Trapp children (while she herself was experiencing anxiety the first night away from the convent and in a stranger's home), while you can't always control when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when COVID comes to town (mine), when you are feeling sad (or anxious, or...) you can think of a few of your favorite things. As you do so, you can also hear a softer version of your own voice (if you're lucky, Julie Andrews). The main ingredient of CBT here is that you can't always control your conditions you find yourself in (vicissitudes again!), but you can control how you engage and even redirect the feelings that are understandably associated with these challenging conditions. Who knows, you might even find yourself singing out loud or, if singing is not your thing,  whistling a happy tune (ever hear the phrase "whistling by the graveyard"? If not, look it up). So go ahead, keep on talking!