Hybrid Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or “Gett’n Rid of Stink’n Think’n”

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (a form of psychotherapy or talk therapy) can be quite effective for improving our mental health and, indirectly, our physical and spiritual health as well. It has proven helpful for lowering stress, decreasing anxiety (heightened fear), quitting smoking, losing weight, lifting depression, managing diabetes and many other challenges we face in life. Mainstream Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has two main components. The cognitive component helps people examine and change negative thinking patterns or what I like to call “Stink’n Think’n”. Through a process of positive reframing we can gradually shift negative thought patterns into increasingly more positive ones. The underlying premise of the theory is that our cognitions or thoughts strongly influence our affective or emotional state which, in turn, directly drives our behaviours or actions.

Many of us have grown to believe if we want to change we simply need to change our behaviour. CBT, however, suggests we can be more successful and achieve more permanent change by understanding and altering the thoughts underneath our negative behaviour. This can, for example, put an end to the repetitive cycles of quitting/starting or fad dieting/overeating that are so common in smoking and eating behaviours. This approach may sound more simplistic than it is to actually put into practice, yet, it does not have to take a long time to see results with CBT. SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT Discussing your thought patterns with a trained and experienced CBT therapist/coach, identifying the positive reframes to alter the negative patterns and, then, consistently inserting the new thoughts requires courage, hard work and patience. This could be referred to as a mental health workout because as the thoughts are shifted, emotions also become more positive or “pumped up” and the emotional strength helps us push away from negative behaviours toward more positive ones.
The behavioural component of CBT seeks to change our actions or reactions. When shifted to more positive ones, behaviours can also have a positive influence on our thought patterns. A few effective behavioural techniques include deep breathing, relaxation exercises, emotional management strategies, communication changes and increasing self-awareness behaviours. Parenting and relationship skills training, family reforming and reorganization counselling are other behavioural strategies that can improve our overall mental or psychological health.

While traditional CBT is fine, what about our connection to others, the meaning we give to our existence or what some refer to as our spiritual dimension? In addition to our thoughts, feelings and behaviours, we are influenced by our connection to others and to our world. The meaning we give to life and our experiences shape how we view both our selves and our world. This sense of soul or spirit influences our values and beliefs, which also has an important impact on our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

We can, most times anyway, choose our thoughts or interpretations about ourselves and about others. We can also select our perception about events or situations. Many times though we are just “too busy” to really sit down and track our thoughts in order to assess whether they make us feel a certain way or not. At other times, significant life events or situations occur making our ability to manage thoughts, feelings and behaviours extremely difficult. You can benefit from support and assistance during these challenging times to avoid negativity from developing.

If you have a behaviour that you want to change, take some time this week to discover or uncover some of the negative thoughts that are connected to negative emotions about that particular behaviour (e.g. feeling anxious, tired, frustrated, guilty or ashamed). Ask yourself how many times you think the negative thought(s)…hourly, daily, weekly?... do the math. It adds up!
Think of your mind as a computer hard drive. Who initially stores information onto our hard drive? Yes, parents and…

… who else? Interestingly, we tend to think all the thoughts in our minds are our own, yet others, the media and almost everything actually writes to our mind or hard drive. We have both positive and negative stored on our minds. With some effective questions and conversations, we can uncover the negative thoughts (“Stink’n Think’n”) that are giving us emotional and behavioural troubles. In keeping with the computer analogy, we can make more positive icons on our desktop and quarantine out the negatives ones. We can, indeed, become more effective managers of the amazing wealth of information in our minds.

Do you really believe you can “change your mind” Why not shift out thoughts to those that make us feel more positive feelings (e.g. joy, happiness, excited, calm, confident, energetic)? Through the process of exploration and thought shifting, this hybrid CBT model affords us the ability to more positively and effectively shift our emotions and behaviours. Reorganizing and upgrading our minds with a mental health workout is definitely hard work and work that is well worth it.
To change your behaviours by shifting thoughts (positive reframing) you may find it helpful to recruit an advanced therapist/coach/conversationalist like our counsellors. I encourage you to work consistently at identifying, minimizing and/ or quarantining out Stink’n Think’n. Let’s inject more positives!
Think About It !