Mock Therapy for Anxiety

[Music] What we're about to see next is a mock therapy session in which I'll act as a therapist, and I'm going to work with my client Ashley. Ashley experiences social anxiety, so we've already been meeting a few times, and we're going to work on a new skill today. If you recall, earlier we talked about using cognitive restructuring, and one of the ways to do that is using Socratic questioning. So we touched on that a little bit. Now we're going to see it in action. We're going to see how it really works in real life during a therapy session. Hi Ashley, it's good to see you again. Hi, how are you doing today? Hi, I'm doing okay. Yeah, just okay. Yeah, it's been a pretty stressful week. So, oh, okay, what's going on? What makes it stressful? Know, this a lot of work stress. There's some things going on at home. Um, so definitely it's been a struggle this week. Okay, what's going on at work? I know we've kind of got some layoffs that have been coming our way. Um, so that definitely does worry me a bit, and I'm hoping that, you know, that's not going to be me. Yeah, you know, yeah, I mean, that's a legitimate fear, right? Uh, we do worry a lot when those things start to happen, and that's okay. That's normal. But I remember you saying that, you know, you got those Employee of the Month awards. What do you think? Do you think that, uh, you're on the chopping block, or what does that say to you? I just, I, it feels weird, you know, 'cause it's like you never know. There were certain people that I thought, hey, maybe would have stayed around, but yeah, they got laid off, and so it just kind of makes me worry like, man, am I next, you know? So definitely it's some stress with that. Okay, how's that worry impacting you? You said things have been tough around the house too. What's going on there? Definitely been difficult. Um, with my husband, I think I kind of been like lashing out a little bit with him. Um, my sleep has definitely been off. Okay, so some struggles there. Yeah, and you know, we talked about that a bit last week and the session before about how, you know, the symptoms of anxiety sometimes they are irritability. We have trouble sleeping, and, you know, anybody that's under a lot of stress, that's kind of typical, right? So I know your main goal has been to really focus on your social anxiety. Yeah, last week we talked about, you said I think you were going to go out with your friend or maybe a couple friends. Did you end up going? I did. Um, kind of pushed myself to go, and at first I wasn't going to, you know, definitely that was a little overwhelming, you know, think I hadn't seen them in a while, and it's a group, large group of people. I tend to do, so, you know, did to do better one-on-one. Um, but I mean, went nice. Good for you. Are you proud of yourself for that? I am. Yeah, good. You should be. That's awesome because I think, you know, you mentioned the reason why you came here is you have been missing out on some of those things. So yeah, tell me a little bit about what you did to try to, you said push yourself. Yeah, what did you do to push yourself? I feel like I had to stop so many times. Like I prepared myself even before. I was like, okay, I have an hour to get ready to get there, and even on the way, like being present, you know, in the parking lot I almost turned around. Yeah, you know, but just kind of remembering the techniques that you had, you know, taught me about the deep breathing and that sort of thing definitely helped, and I said, you know, just just give it a try. You never know what, you know, what could come from it. So how'd it go once you got there? Once you know, you took those deep breaths, maybe did you sit in the parking lot a little bit before? I, so once you got in there, you saw your friends. What were you thinking? What were you feeling? You know, initially it was just kind of, you know, a little timid, you know, because it was like, again, I hadn't seen them in a while, and it's just kind of automatically I think, man, what are they going to think? You know, do I look okay? You know, do they, am I how they remember me, that sort of thing? They are they going to think that I've changed? You know, so, you know, definitely like those racing thoughts again, just remembering those techniques and just trying to settle myself, and I feel like after a while, you, they was like, okay, it was like old times. So that was a surprise to me. Yeah, I'm so glad to hear that. I know that, um, you know, last time we talked a lot about those bottom-up techniques like the deep breathing things to really just calm you in the moment, right? So that's great. I'm so glad to hear that you use those. First of all, remember how we talked about like practicing in between too? Were you able to do any of that, and was it helpful? A little bit. Um, as I didn't kind of, you know, remembered it last minute, so it wasn't as much, but you know, I think definitely that'll be something that I'll try to push more, um, when going into those social situations. So absolutely. Yeah, great. All right, first step. What do you think if you could give yourself a grade for that, what would you grade yourself as? Maybe a six. Okay, six out of ten, I think so. Yeah, great. That's excellent. That's some progress from last time for sure. Okay, wonderful. I'm glad to hear that. All right, so let's try looking at something else. Another technique that we can use since you did such a great job with using the bottom-up techniques, we're going to focus a little more on the cognitive techniques this week. Okay, so cognitive is really just a fancy word for thinking. We're going to think about our thoughts a little bit, right? So when you were meeting with your friends, you said you started worrying, right? So you mentioned I started thinking. What did you say again? Just, you know, am I, you know, how do I look to them? How do I appear to them? You know, will I, you know, be the way that they remembered me? You know, they feel like I've changed. Okay, okay, so the thought was, um, that you were concerned that your appearance might not be the same. Yeah, and did you have any thoughts about perhaps they would judge you for that? Yeah, right, and I think, you know, that's a big trigger for especially social anxiety but anxiety in general, right? Mhm. We worry about what other people are going to think. Yes, so let's see, you're there, this thought starts going through your head. What did you do? Did you try to ignore it? Did you try to think about it more? How'd it go? I know initially I was definitely like fixated on it just like on repeat in my mind. Right, oh, I don't know, I say the wrong things or, you know, whatever the case may be, but you know, then slowly but surely it's started to, you know, to stop or to see. So I was like, you know, it was better after a while, but definitely in the beginning this was like, wow. Yeah, yeah, so let's take, uh, one of those thoughts that you said. It was sort of a broader thought. So we talked about your friends potentially judging you. Are my friends going to think that I look differently? Are they going to think, uh, you know, and that I say something weird? Those are common thoughts in social anxiety. Let's take that broad one though. My friends are going to judge me. How about we do a worksheet today? Okay, so I think this is a great place to start to, uh, sort of look at that thought, and we can do it together because this is going to be a little bit, a little bit tougher than some of those bottom-up techniques, uh, that just help us to relax. We are really going to put our thinking caps on today, and we're going to work as judges. We're going to put these thoughts on trial today. Gotta. All right, so I brought this worksheet for us, and you know, we talked about CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy. That's the approach that I generally use for a lot of clients who experience anxiety but other things as well. So one of the main things about anxiety that we talked about last time, ma

new skill today if you recall earlier we talked about using cognitive restructuring and one of the ways to do that is using that cratic questioning so we touched on that a little bit now we're going to see it in action we're

going to see how it really works in real life during a therapy session hi Ashley it's good to see you again Hi how are you doing today h I'm doing okay yeah just okay yeah it's been pretty stressful week so oh okay what's

going on what makes it stressful know this a lot of work stress there's some things going at home um so definitely it's been a struggle this week okay what's going on at work I know we've kind of got some

layoffs that have been coming our way um so that definitely does worry me a bit and I'm hoping that you know that's not going to be me yeah you know yeah I mean that's a legitimate fear right uh we do

worry a lot when those things start to happen and that's okay that's normal but I remember you saying that you know you got those employee of the month Awards what do you think do you think that uh you're on the chopping block or what

does that say to you I just I it feels weird you know cuz it's like you never know there were certain people that I thought hey maybe would have stayed around but yeah you they got laid off and so it just kind of makes me worry

like man am I next you know so definitely it's some stress with that okay how's that worry impacting you you said things have been tough around the house too what's going going on there definitely been difficult um with my

husband I think I kind of been like lashing out a little bit with him um my sleep has definitely been off okay so some struggles there yeah and you know we talked about that a bit last week and

the session before about how you know the symptoms of anxiety sometimes they are irritability we have trouble sleeping and you know anybody that's under a lot of stress that's kind of typical right so I know your main goal has been to

really focus on your social anxiety yeah last week we talked about you said I think you were going to go out with your friend or maybe a couple friends did you end up going I did um kind of pushed

myself to go and at first I wasn't going to you know definitely that was a little overwhelming you know think I hadn't seen them in a while and it's a group large group of people I tend to do so

you know did to do better oneon-one um but I mean went nice good for you are you proud of yourself for that I am yeah good you should be that's awesome because I think you know you mentioned the reason why you came here is you have

been missing out on some of those things so yeah tell me a little bit about what you did to try to you said push yourself yeah what did you do to push yourself I feel like I had to stop so many times

like I prepared myself even before I was like okay I have an hour to get ready to get there and even on the way way like being present you know in the parking lot I almost turned around yeah you know

but just kind of remembering the techniques that you had you know taught me about the deep breathing and that sort of thing definitely helped and I said you know just just give it a try you never know what you know what could

come from it so how' it go once you got there once you know you took those deep breaths maybe did you sit in the parking lot a little bit before I so once you got in there you saw your

friends what were you thinking what were you feeling you know initially it was just kind of you know a little timid you know because it was like again I hadn't seen them in a while and it's just kind of

automatically I think man what are they going to think you know do I look okay you know do they am I how they remember me that sort of thing they are they going to think that I've changed you

know so you know definitely like those racing thoughts again just remembering those techniques and just trying to settle myself and I feel like after a while you they was like okay it was like old times so that was a surprise to me

yeah I'm so glad hear that I know that um you know last time we we talked a lot about those uh bottomup techniques like the deep breathing things to really just calm you in the moment right so that's

great I'm so glad to hear that you use those first of all remember how we talked about like practicing in between too were you able to do any of that and was it helpful a little bit um as I

didn't kind of you know remembered it last minute so it wasn't as much but you know I think definitely that'll be something that I'll try to push more um when going into those social situations so absolutely yeah great all right first

step I what do you think if you could give yourself a grade for for that what would you grade yourself as maybe a six okay six out of 10 I think so yeah great that's excellent that's some progress

from last time for sure okay wonderful I'm glad to hear that all right so let's try looking at something else another technique that we can use since you did such a great job job with using the bottom up techniques

we're going to focus a little more on the cognitive techniques this week okay so cognitive is really just a fancy word for thinking we're going to think about our thoughts a little bit right so when you were meeting with your friends you

said you started worrying right so you mentioned I started thinking what did you say again just you know am I you know how do I look to them how do I appear to them you know will I you know

be the way that they remembered me you know they feel like I've changed okay okay so the thought was um that you were concerned that your appearance might not be the same yeah and did you have any thoughts about perhaps they would judge

you for that yeah right and I think you know that's a big trigger for especially social anxiety But anxiety and general right mhm we worry about what other people are going to think yes so let's see you're there this thought starts

going through your head what did you do did you try to ignore it did you try to think about it more how' it go I know initially I was definitely like fixated on it just like on repeat in my mind

right oh I don't know I say the wrong things or you know whatever the case may be but you know then slowly but surely it's started to you know to stop or to see so I was like you know it was better

after a while but definitely in the beginning this was like wow yeah yeah so let's take uh one of those thoughts that you said it was sort of a broader thought so we talked about your friends potentially judging you are my

friends going to think that I look differently are they going to think uh you know and that I say something weird those are common thoughts in social anxiety let's take that broad one though my friends are going to judge me how

about we do a worksheet today okay so I think this is a great place to start to uh sort of look at that thought and we can do it together because this is going to be a little bit a little bit tougher

than some of those bottom up techniques uh that just help us to relax we are really going to put our thinking caps on today and we're going to work as judges we're going to put these thoughts on trial today

gotta all right so I brought this worksheet for us and you know we talked about CBT cognitive behavioral therapy that's the approach that I generally use for a lot of clients who experience anxiety but other things as well so one of the main things about

anxiety that we talked about last time maybe the time before is those thoughts that maybe aren't so helpful yeah they might be irrational um negative generally just not very nice right so we remember that in CBT that there's some sort of triggering

event that causes us to have a thought so you went out you met with your friends and the thought was I'm really worried about what they're going to think of me they might judge me yeah what do you think the feeling was with

that definitely fear fear okay okay um i' say just you know worry too yeah yeah what about the behavior did you notice that you did anything differently because of that fear or worry yeah that's why it took me longer to leave

there sure you know just back and forth in the mirror you know trying to you know examine myself and I know sometimes for me I'm just very hard on myself and I know that that day made it even worse

well for sure we are all our own worst critics that that is true so but the the reason why I asked about those uh sort of feelings and behaviors related to that is because that negative thought was really what started to create those

negative feelings and probably those maladaptive or not so good behaviors that prevent us from enjoying our time or seeing friends so today we're going to focus back on that thought okay because if we can if you remember for CBT if we can

change that thought we can also change our feelings that go with that thought and then our behaviors so again this is not going to be an overnight thing this is just step one uh for CBT anyway way you've got

step one with all of those calming and coping skills that's great so we're going to take it to level two now okay okay so as we said before with Socratic questioning it really allows us to look at our own thoughts a little bit deeper

and question them so you know I know thoughts just come and go so quickly you don't usually take the time to sit and think about was that accurate was that valid is it true so this exercise is designed

specifically to make us do that okay um and once we do that it will help us to continue to practice this method and work to change our thoughts okay all right so the first thing that we're going to do is identify that

thought to be questioned so let's use that uh I'm worried that my friends are going to judge me that's a great one because that is a general one that we can apply to a lot of different situations with social anxiety so that's

the main one that sticks in my mind on a daily basis right not the first time you had that thought no okay yeah so um it's important to know that as we go through these try to answer them as thoroughly

as you can okay um so you want to elaborate and explain why or why not in your responses whenever you can okay and I might push you a little bit more for some more information if we need to

okay all right again the thought to be question is my friends are going to judge me all right so what is the evidence for this thought what's the evidence that will support this thought can you think of anything I guess for me you know and

having that thought it's past experience and it may not even necessarily be with this group of friends um but just you know another a different group of friends or a different setting and just remembering how I felt judged at that

point in time and so it's like I almost approach every situation like that so it's like it's stuck with me absolutely and it does it absolutely does so uh good job you've identified where where is this coming from right so past

experiences do support uh those sort of native feelings thoughts all those things so I think you mentioned that first day that we met that this kind of goes back to Childhood that um you know you always had a little bit of a

difficult time making friends and so I think when when that happens we start to worry more and more what if I can't make friends what if these people judge me what if I'm alone right yeah all right so great job for the evidence for we've

had past experiences that this has happened what about some evidence against this so that's harder yeah right yeah it's like so many times I guess my mind is filled with the things that make that real like oh yes that's a real thought

and as opposed to no well maybe that's not the case you know so I don't know I guess I didn't really kind of question you know what would be the evidence like that yeah kind of dispels that you know

right well let's let's work together and try to figure out um some evidence that would Point against this so all right your friends will judge you um have you hung out with these friends before it's been a while okay okay why are they your

friends um I'd say for the most part we definitely share common interest um you know we were went to school together you know so that's one of the biggest things we kind of had met there met in college

but I think you know just having those commonalities that's really what draws me to them and you know just had brought us together so oh so in that I heard you say that you all have been friends for a

long time this is a long these are long-standing relationships right yeah do you think that could be some evidence against that thought that they would judge you I would say so yeah that's now I consider it yeah yeah I think that for

you know for most people those people in their lives that have been there for a long time are the ones that they want there and those people want to be there right yeah so yeah if they were judging

you and thinking badly about you I doubt that they'd invite you out like they do right that's true okay all right let's dig a little bit deeper here that was hard but I think that's great it it's it

is very difficult especially when those feelings those thoughts and those feelings feel so real yes right remember what we talked about that first day is thoughts are not facts yes right they feel really trying to live that every

day yes yes we got to keep that in mind as we go through this ah that just happens to be our next question so what do you think are you basing uh that thought that thought that you're going to be judged are you basing

that on facts or are you basing it on feelings say maybe a mixture of both okay explain that a little bit feeling wise like I know like what the feeling is that I get like when whether I'm with

a group of friends or co-workers or whatever um but then I think part of it could be fact because of my past experience but then again it's the reality of well that wasn't this group of people yeah yeah and that's a good

way to think it through a little bit yes this is true in the past yes people have judged me MH but it is possible that these people who have been my friends for a long time it's probably not a fact

it's a possibility but probably not a fact more of a feeling in this case okay let's dig a little bit deeper again so do you remember uh last time we talked about cognitive distortions right those thinking errors that we all have

sometimes so that main number one cognitive distortion that so many people with anxiety experience is that all or nothing thinking mhm black and white thinking right it's either or MH it's all good or all bad let's think about

this thought my friends are going to judge me is that a black and white thought or is there more complexity to this that we could look into I guess I don't know I guess initially before just like having this

opportunity to like walk through it with you it was like it was cut and dry it was like black and white was like yep that's what's going to happen for sure you know and like we've you know discussed in previous sessions like

that's where I spend most of my time it's like just knowing that you know what that's what's going to happen and not really realizing well maybe this could be different this time so and I'm glad that you can recognize that because

I think not only with anxiety but with a lot of different mental health conditions and just stressors in life we do think very rigidly we're stuck in either the black or the white area we don't really look for that Gray we've

already made up our minds okay so what what makes this particular thought more complicated I guess it's you know had I applied it again to you know past experiences and so I was just I based most of things off of that and then it's

like not until I got into the situation and seeing that things were different it's like oh maybe it's not that way you know so I guess you know actually going through with meeting with them and you know taking that time you know and kind

of getting over my fear of you know having a social type of situation with them kind of you know helps me to realize a new thought pattern right absolutely and and I think that's important you know we aren't you're

talking about being judged by friends right we aren't going to like every single thing every single part of our friends we're not going to like every single part of ourselves right yeah um nobody's perfect so of course there's

that black and white area where some things they're going to like some some things they're not going to like but we need to live more in that gray area where we can see that both of those things can be true and that doesn't

necessarily mean that our friends don't like us all right is there anything um within this thought so my friends are going to judge me that you might be misinterpreting the evidence are you making any any assumptions about this I guess the biggest one is that I'm

comparing this set of friends to past people and it's like that's not you know that's not the right way to be cuz how would I feel if that's what somebody did to me like basing it off of a completely

different situation applying those things to the situation with me and so I mean you know that's something that I'm like man that's tough that's like you know I shouldn't do that I put something on them that shouldn't be there yeah

absolutely and I think sometimes we start reading into things too much so because like you said the past experiences that we've had you know we might be sitting with our friends who we've never we're not sure that they've

ever judged us we don't have any evidence to support that but we see like a weird look you know somebody does one of these and we automatically start interpreting that as oh my goodness they're judging me they think I'm weird

they think I'm awkward right yes we've all been there we're all a little self-conscious I think so it's important to stop and check with yourself dur even in that moment and say it's possible let's look back at that

black and white thinking here it's possible she could be making that that face at me or she might not like the smell of that food she just ordered that's not very good we have to look for uh some some other information in the

situation okay all right so how do we do that though uh the next question says might other people have different interpretations of the same situation put yourself in someone else's shoes for this all right so um let's put yourself in one of your

friend shoes they're there and they hear you know you tell them this thought that H I'm so worried that you're going to judge me I look different now things have changed how do you think they would feel in that situation what do you think they

would actually say to you I guess I don't I don't know it's a kind of have conflicting thought pattern cuz I'm just thinking like initially in my you know my mind when I'm putting myself in other people's position I'm

automatically like thinking the negative like yeah yeah they would be thinking that um but then just kind of really I guess thinking about who they are um and how long we've known each other and just the stuff that we we've gone through you

know they may just probably be would be shocked I would think like really you think that I would think that yeah can you put yourself in their for a minute so let's say it's you sitting at the restaurant and you're waiting for these

old friends to come in how do you how do you think you'd be feeling while you're sitting there and you say in their shoes it's kind of I feel like for them they would be at ease they would be excited yeah um

especially I mean it's been a while so it's like yeah definitely they're ready for this you know right so absolutely uh they've been asking you for what has it been 2 years now you SE him okay yeah I

don't think they keep asking for two years if they didn't want to see it yeah all right let's think about if you're looking at all of the evidence here or do you typically just look at what supports your thought so think about

when you first walked in there and you had that thought they are going to judge me were you looking at all the evidence probably not yeah probably not you said right away I was think about you know my past experiences when people

picked on me when they weren't very nice when they judged me and you didn't really take the time to look at other information right like true like your friends like you they've hung out with you they've been your

friends for quite a while yeah how's this feel do you think this is helpful as we're going through I know these are a lot of questions but I think sometimes when we look through all of these different ones we get a different uh

picture of what's going on and it really helps us to to try to reframe our thinking how's this working for you it has I mean it's kind of you know brought an awareness to me because I kind of you

know as you know I live in this confined space you know it's either this or that you know not necessarily always getting out of that and realizing oh you know what there are actually other thoughts or other you know people feel other ways

than what I feel that they would feel or you know so it it's definitely helpful and it's getting me outside of my mindset you know and building that wall so yeah and you know what when we sit here and really think about it we can

practice some of those other skills as well you know in the moment sometimes it's tough but we talked about previously like the bridge statement so we just have to allow for the possibility so they might like me they

maybe are excited to see me it's a possibility that they aren't going to judge me we have to live in that gray area think about those Bridge statements the mights the ifs it's possible all right let's do a couple

more before we wrap up today could my thought be an exaggeration of what's true so the thought is my friends are going to judge me and we'll take it even a step further my friends are going to judge me they're

not going to like me they're going to think I'm weird they're not going to invite me out again I would put all those things in there yeah okay um I I would say initially yeah it is you know it's like wow you know I

kind of I can take it a bit far when I'm like in my own thoughts of thinking of something like that but then it's like you wonder like man that's probably not even anywhere near true you know when

you really think about it so and I think you know a lot of times when we are uh in those more intense situations that do cause us anxiety we're really working off of emotion rather than that sort of

logic and reason out the window yes exactly exactly and so sometimes those emotions just keep ramping up ramping up and it does cause us to exaggerate what's going on the next question is am I having this thought out of

habit or do the facts support this I think this one's going to be easy one for you yeah it's almost sometimes like a mixture but it's almost like you know the it's just it's a constant what I go

to you know right it's just like that's my goto right there I just know that's the thought the faulty thought is what I'm going to go to and not you know the truth yeah and you know that's very

common we we talk about automatic thoughts those thoughts that sort of just pop in our head there are go-to thoughts we don't even think them through and ultimate they they lead to anxiety yes so all right so definitely important that we make sure

that we're trying to get out of that habit that habit thought so it's important to take a step back and think about that thought it's a tough thing y yeah but the more we do that the easier it's going to be we start to change

those automatic thoughts so I think a good scenario would be you know currently right now you have think of your mind like um a big field with a lot of grass you picture like like a big open field with this tall flowing grass

yeah okay so currently you have been walking this same path over and over and over again for 20 years right so that grass is all pushed down it's the easy path it's the automatic path we don't even think about taking another route

right so it becomes habit we don't even think about it we just do it that automatic thought that's what this path is it's the automatic thought what do you think what if you started making a concerted effort to go a

different way a different direction the grass will start to get squashed down there right yeah and in the other side that we were going down all the time that grass will start to come back up so the more we practice uh

fighting those habits and those automatic thoughts easier it's going to be so the more we walk that path of less anxious thoughts more realistic thoughts taking the time to really think things through the easier it is going to

be to go down that path right now is still you are going to catch yourself all day every day going to that automatic thought but when we do catch ourselves we can help to re-root ourselves oh this is an interesting one

so we talked uh in the beginning about like past experiences right this one really uh pertains to past experiences as well where do you think this thought came from did someone pass this thought or belief on to you has anyone ever told

you or at least uh showed you that we should be afraid of people judging us and like you know definitely we've talked before about like you know the just the past like bullying experiences um but also too um I think like my older

siblings sometimes have kind of mentioned oh well you know that's just how people will be they're going to judge you so it's always been my mind like will let me already know that that's going to happen that's what

they're going to do y and that can be one of those core beliefs that we talked about that is the lens that we're looking through at everything people are going to judge you that's just how people are that's how it is yeah so

makes sense but what do you think is your sister a reliable source like sometimes she's not okay yeah but I guess it's just you know as like hearing that as you know when I was younger and just thinking you know what

she says is like truth you know she's big sis so it's like yes I know okay that's what she says is it's exactly what it is so I think you know I think that'll take some undoing for sure you

know to try to get away from that thought yeah it didn't get that way overnight and it's not going to change overnight either it's definitely going to take some time and you know I I have a feeling that if you continue to

practice and do all these things that you've been doing you're going to notice that it gets a little bit easier every day okay all right last one and then we'll wrap up for today I know this has been a

lot of work yeah all right what do you think is your thought a likely scenario or is it a worst case scenario maybe somewhere in between I know that's what I'm thinking like definitely could be likely cuz I feel

like you know it will be a thought that maybe other people would have yeah um but then again and it's like I don't think it would be worst case you know yeah initially going into that yeah I felt that way um but yeah and so I think

it's important to again live in that gray area here you know what it could happen use this bridge to again it could happen it's possible it's also possible that it won't happen that I'm just thinking things are a little worse than

they actually are all right so I'm going to give you this sheet so that you can take it home with you and practice I think this is going to be a really good thing um to help you with thought logs so next week

we're going to make a concerted effort to try to monitor our thoughts regularly okay so we'll talk about the thought log and how we use that uh to really track our thoughts so we can identify some of the patterns in our thinking some that

you've identified today so what do you think before we wrap up what do you think you would like to work on this week what would be a good goal one two maybe even three things that you want to work on it is

definitely have taking the time just to pause um and just take in my thoughts and not just kind of let them run away yes um with me so and just to kind of you know really you know just put it in

a realistic perspective of you know like we were saying with that last question is this like worst case scenario type of thing or is it like common you know and just really not you know let those feelings of fear kind of overwhelm me so

like kind of stopping in their tracks hopefully and I I think that's so important exactly what you said pause take a moment step back and think about it you know a lot of times like we said that automatic thought we don't even

think about it it's just going it's just going and we just run with it we just believe it and nothing's might not turn out so well we take a step back like we would with anything else you know if

you're um going to do something really important in life you're probably going to plan for it a little bit probably going to think about it you're not going to just rush right into it the same thing with the little things in life we

need to take a step back and think more clearly about them all right well it has been a pleasure meeting with you today Ashley I'm super excited to start working on some other activities next week to help challenge some of those negative

thoughts and to identify some that might be more helpful yes all right well I will see you next week on Wednesday at the same time okay all right thank you all right bye Ashley bye you might have noticed during that

segment that as we talked through the socratic questioning method it became more and more difficult for Ashley to stick with that original thought and keep it so black and white with doing this questioning she was able to look at

the bigger picture and identify things that might not be true might not be facts by doing so and practicing this again and again over time it will help us to create more realistic and rational thoughts that have more validity to them

ultimately decreasing our anxiety symptoms