Psychological Methods Used to Address Issues:
Cognitive Psychotherapy

Cognitive psychotherapy is a treatment intervention which focuses on changing negative reactions to circumstances or events. Negative automatic thoughts, ideas, beliefs, or images are how some people size up a situation. They may be situation specific such as, “He doesn’t care about my feelings.” Negative underlying assumptions are rules that people use to organize negative perceptions such as, “You can’t count on men to be there for you.” Core level negative basic beliefs or schemas are inflexible, unconditional beliefs people have such as, “I’ll always be alone.” Cognitive psychotherapy involves changing thinking patterns, emotional reactions, and behaviors so that they are more adaptive.

People who are suffering from distorted thinking, incorrect assumptions, and inadequate or incorrect information can learn to develop a more balanced way of evaluating experiences by using the concepts in cognitive psychology. Alternate explanations can be used to challenge dysfunctional beliefs. For example, a person may use the following self-talk to help themselves:

There is no one who cares about me.
What evidence exists to substantiate or prove my thought?
My best friend hasn’t called me.
Might there be another or different explanation for her behavior?
My best friend is starting a new life. In the past when she is doing something new many times she gets scattered or flaky. This doesn’t mean I don’t matter.