Cognitive Therapy for Dummies: Part One



Cognitive therapy for dummies? Am I insulting you? Absolutely not! I was skeptical about cognitive therapy when I first heard about it. Then I found out how simple it was and how it could be broken down into one step at a time.

 Now don't take the 'dummy' part personally please. It is just that the whole idea of cognitive therapy seems kind of ominous and complicated and I thought if we could just 'dummy' it down a bit, we all might find it more digestable and then maybe more user friendly. Besides, we are crazy, we are not dumb, right?

'Cognitive therapy for dummies' is a rather serious topic for this 'festive' season, but you may find that you will need this method desperately during the holidays so please read on.

 'Cognitive behavioral therapy' is a highly regarded form of help for the mentally ill, well, for anyone really and you can do it without a professional if you are willing to give it a try. It is all about changing the way you think so that you can change the way you feel.

 If you like definitions, here goes. So first, what does cognitive mean? Here is a definition I like:"of or pertaining to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes."

In other words REASON vs EMOTION.

Now here is a definition for therapy:

"any act, hobby, task, program, etc., that relieves tension."

In other words HELP for TENSION.

What I like about cognitive therapy is that, unlike other forms of therapy, it has nothing to do with your past but everything to do with your present. It is all about changing the way you think so that you can change the way you feel.

And so before we really get into it, I have to ask you a question. Do you think you could change the way you think? Are you willing to change the way you think?


You will need to decide that before we proceed.

If you want to get a head start you could buy yourself the book "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies" as a personal Christmas gift.

But wait, would you like to try it right now? I will use an example from my own life. One of my thoughts at this time of year is "I hate Christmas". Now if I was going to correct that thinking I might say this to myself: "Wendy, you don't really hate Christmas, you hate the busy times surrounding it, you hate the pressure to participate, you hate the social stuff etc. You just find Christmas hard. But you could try some changes, right?"

Ready to hear more about cognitive therapy next time?

WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling today? How are you coping with Christmas coming? Have you ever tried cognitive therapy? Could you use some help?


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