Questions to Guide your Thinking about Cognitive Therapy

Who controls the past ... controls the future: who controls the present controls the past. - -- George Orwell (1934)

  1. What do we normally (and naively) think controls our emotions? What do cognitive theorists have to say about this issue? Pay attention to your own thoughts about what causes you to feel as you do.

  2. What common themes characterize our irrational beliefs? We act as though these are "needs." Are they? If not needs, what are they?

  3. What mistakes in thinking do we make? What are healthier approaches?

  4. Beck describes common types of negative evaluations made by people who are depressed (e.g., the cognitive triad). Apply these to a real situation. How might you expect someone to think and talk if Beck's descriptions held true here?

  5. Beck's first goal in therapy is to stabilize the person. How would you do this with someone who is suicidal?

  6. How do Beck (cognitive therapy) and Ellis (rational-emotive therapy) approach getting clients to change their thinking patterns? In what ways are their approaches similar? How are they different? Think about how you might use their approaches to change your own "stinking thinking."

    "Whine, Whine, Whine"
    (To the tune of "The Whiffenpoof Song," by Guy Schull)

    I cannot have all of my wishes filled-
    Whine, whine, whine!
    I cannot have every frustration stilled-
    Whine, whine, whine!
    Life really owes me the things that I miss,
    Fate has to grant me eternal bliss!
    And since I must settle for less than this-
    Whine, whine, whine!

    		 "Love Me, Love Me, Only Me!"
    (To the tune of "Yankee Doodle")

    Love me, love me, only me or I'll die without you!
    Make your love a guarantee, so I can never doubt you!
    Love me, love me totally; really, really try, dear;
    But if you must rely on me, I'll hate you till I die, dear!
    Love me, love me all the time, thoroughly and wholly;
    Life turns into slushy slime 'less you love me solely!
    Love me with great tenderness, with no ifs or buts, dear:
    For if you love me somewhat less, I'll hate your goddamned guts, dear!
    (Lyrics by Albert Ellis, copyright 1977 by the Institute forRational-Emotive Therapy.)

    Syllabus
    Paper
    topics
    Home